Returning to the world of golf again, Sandra Haynie is another openly gay female golfer in a world that contains surprisingly few openly gay men. Haynie was only 18 when she turned professional, appearing on her first LPGA tour in 1961. A year later, she won her first LPGA Tour Championship before she turned 20. That was the first of 42 career wins, including four majors.
Haynie, who has never made any secret of her sexuality, played for an incredibly long time at the professional level. Her final season was in 1989, nearly thirty years after her debut. By that time, she'd already been a member of the World Golf Hall of Fame for over a decade; a major highlight that also included multiple LPGA Player of the Year awards during the 1970s. Even after retiring from playing, she represented the USA in the Handa Cup (a senior pro's tour) four times from 2006 to 2009, with the team winning the competition in each year.
Chefs made their way into celebrity land a while ago. But how many celebrities that weren’t trained as professional cooks are actually whizzes in the kitchen? Here are several that come to mind.
Actress Julia Roberts is confident about her cooking skills. “I’m quite a good cook,” she told E! News. “I’m like a closet home ec teacher…I can really cook anything.” Roberts has said she often cooks fish for herself and her kids. And speaking of her three children, “They think that I’m a good cook,” Roberts told People. “They actually told me that I should open a restaurant.” She also relishes cooking for the holidays, particularly shredded Brussel sprouts. Roberts hasn’t published a cookbook, but we did find recipes attributed to her for peach crisp and banana hemp muffins. Or you can make the same summer salad the actress supposedly eats.
Chrissy Teigen started off as a supermodel. Then her love of cooking filtered into her professional life too. At this point, she’s created recipes for a limited Blue Apron release and also just launched her own home and cooking line at Target named “Cravings,” after the two cookbooks she’s released. Teigen describes cooking as “a time of peace” for herself. So maybe peace out to her tuna melt sandwich or the fried chicken wings that are a favorite of her husband, John Legend.
Lady Gaga, whose real name is Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta, comes from a cooking Italian family. Her father started his own restaurant in New York and also published a cookbook. And apparently, Lady Gaga has inherited the family’s cooking genes. Her Instagram account occasionally features photos of her culinary activities. Sure, sometimes it’s topless cooking. But other times it’s more poignant like in the post she shared about her bringing food to the family of her dear friend who passed away. Want to try a Gaga/Germanotta family favorite? Check out her recipe for whole wheat pasta with a sweet fennel sauce.