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Folks, it’s hard to believe (and it makes us feel roughly as ancient as our last couple of presidents), but we’ve been bringing you the latest hot takes, wild rumors, and embarrassing DUI mugshots for the past two decades.
Yes, it was 20 years ago today that THG went live with an article about the latest drama in the life of Lindsay Lohan.
And just like LiLo, we’re also doing surprisingly well in the big ’26, thank you very much!
Our milestone anniversary has inspired us to take a look back at the year it all began — a time when Dubya was in the White House, Tony Soprano still ruled New Jersey with an iron fist, and your average American could watch the nightly news without suffering a minor coronary event.
Those were simpler days, when celebrities still called the paparazzi on themselves, Kanye West was hip hop’s most beloved artist, and your biggest concern was whether your MySpace Top 8 would spark a friendship-ending feud.
Nearly two decades later, 2006 feels like a bizarre cultural fever dream. But we still miss it!
So join us as we look back on the celebrities, scandals, and obsessions that defined the year:
(Oh, and if you want to celebrate our birthday by giving yourself the gift of gossip, feel free to download the new THG app!)
A Young Socialite Named Kim Kardashian Was Beginning to Make a Name For Herself
These days, Kim Kardashian is a billionaire multi-hyphenate.
But in 2006, she was best known as Paris Hilton’s ever-present underling.
By March of 2007, of course, Kim would become a household name on the strength of her sex tape with Ray J.
Her mom may have hassled her about it, but now that Kris and the rest of the Kardashian-Jenner clan are famous in their own right, they’ve probably stopped giving Kim a hard time (insert your own Ray J joke here).
Taylor Swift Dropped Her First Album
As Taylor Swift makes wedding plans and prepares to become Mrs. Will Never Be as Good as Gronk (fight about it in the comments!), let’s take a moment to reflect on how far she’s come.
Back in ’06, Taylor dropped the album Taylor Swift, foreshadowing the manner in which the singer Taylor Swift would later be dropped by Jake Gyllenhaal, John Mayer, Harry Styles, Calvin Harris, Matty Healy … Look, we’d give ya the full list of her exes, but we wanna get this thing out before the inevitable heat death of the universe.
Anyway, the album contained hits like “Teardrops on My Guitar” and “Our Song,” cementing Taylor’s place as the talent to watch in the world of country music.
After years in the pop universe, Taylor has somewhat returned to the world of country recently, both by contributing a twangy single to the Toy Story 5 soundtrack and by getting engaged to a dude who has probably purchased at least one set of Truck Nutz.
Britney Spears Was Still the Tabloids’ Favorite Blonde
But despite Taylor looming in the distance like a White Walker, no celebrity dominated the ’06 headlines like Britney Spears … for better or worse.
Whether she was partying with Paris, battling paparazzi, or trying to remember why she married Kevin Federline, Britney was the subject of relentless media attention.
Looking back, it’s impossible not to recognize how unfairly she was treated by much of the press.
And while we may have roasted Tay a bit back there (all in good fun!), we at THG have always prided ourselves on not punching down when a famous figure is in crisis.
In other words, to quote a wise sage of that era, we did our best to leave Britney alone!!! (for the most part).
Before Instagram, TikTok, and even Facebook’s mainstream takeover, there was MySpace.
Millennial trailblazers spent hours customizing profile pages with fugly graphics, autoplay music, and enough HTML code to crash the family computer.
Your social status could literally be measured by where you ranked in someone’s Top Eight.
Friendships were made. Friendships were destroyed. Our concept of socialization was forever ruined.
But hey, while Zuck and Elon continue to battle for world domination, Tom from MySpace is watching society burn from a private island somewhere. We stan a Gen X slacker king.
Snakes on a Plane Changed the Way Movies Are Marketed
Long before movies went viral on TikTok, Snakes on a Plane became an internet sensation.
The premise was exactly what the title promised: snakes. And they were on a plane.
The movie turned out to be pretty forgettable. But the marketing campaign proved the power of memes.
Filmmakers even altered the final cut of the film in response to online demand, adding a scene in which Samuel L. Jackson’s character quips, “I’m tired of these motherf–king snakes on this motherf–king plane!”
You had to be there to understand what a win that was for the internet.
Celebrity Gossip Was a National Sport
Folks, these were the days of peak tabloid culture.
Lindsay. Paris. Britney. Brangelina (RIP).
Entire magazines were devoted to tracking celebrities as they walked into restaurants, stumbled out of clubs, and simply existed in public.
The paparazzi industry had never been bigger — which, we’re prepared to admit, was not a good thing.
Yes, so-called “tabloid culture” has changed quite a bit in the decades since, which is why we’re so proud to still be here — and so grateful to our loyal readers.
Folks, two decades is about three or four millennia in internet years, and we couldn’t have done it without your support.
So thanks for spending time with us over the past two decades. Here’s to many more years of spilling the tea.
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