As 2022 comes to a close, we take a look back at the year’s most surprising, romantic, and utterly chaotic celebrity moments, from the Oscars, slap heard around the world to the couplings (and uncouplings) that we couldn’t stop talking about. So, what came to the fore in the discussion? Continue reading for our list of the ten most defining pop-culture moments of 2022.
Bennifer’s Happily Ever After
Two decades after their meteoric rise—and the creation of an enduring portmanteau—Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck married, and then married again: first in a midnight ceremony at a Las Vegas chapel in July, with both stars changing in the ladies and men’s restrooms, and then in August, at their home in Georgia. In the endlessly fanciful world of celebrity romance, theirs was a second-chance love story that could melt even the coldest heart. “We finished it. Love is lovely. “Love is kind,” J.Lo—or Jennifer Affleck—wrote in her newsletter after her first wedding. “It turns out that love is patient. “Twenty years of patience.”
Harry and Meghan Tell All—Again
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s blockbuster Oprah Winfrey interview in 2021, but the Sussexes had more—six hours more!—of their story to tell in December with Harry & Meghan, their slickly produced Netflix docuseries. It was one part Newlyweds: Nick and Jessica, revealing snapshots from their secret courtship, their furry animal onesie-themed engagement party, and the fact that they are very married to using their first initials. However, the Liz Garbus-directed project also looked into the royals’ twisted, toxic relationship with the British tabloid press, as well as the commonwealth’s colonial roots. I questioned the need for Harry and Meghan, especially since 2023 will see the release of Harry’s much-anticipated memoir, Spare—but it won me over as compelling, confessional television about a true-life story more dramatic than fiction.
The Slap
Will Smith slapping Oscars host Chris Rock in front of a stunned global audience actually happened in March 2022, which feels like a lifetime ago. “The Slap” inspired a flood of think pieces and multistage processing—from the shock that the wholesome Smith (who won best actor shortly after) would snap, into denial (was it staged? ), to plenty of outrage (including from Judd Apatow, who overreacted on Twitter, pontificating that Smith “could have killed” Rock).
Smith went on to launch an apology tour after criticizing Rock for making a joke about Jada Pinkett Smith’s baldness (Rock has said he was not aware that she has alopecia). There was an initial statement, a YouTube confessional in July, and a recent reference on The Daily Show With Trevor Noah: “At the end of the day, I just, I lost it,” Smith explained. “I guess…you never know what someone is going through.” Is it possible that 2023 will be the year we finally stop talking about it?
Rihanna’s Pregnancy Supremacy
Rihanna announced her pregnancy in January with a fashion statement that included low-slung ripped jeans, a Chanel puffer, and a jewel-encrusted belly. The singer-turned-billionaire—and her stylist, Jahleel Weaver—went on to forever change pregnancy fashion, showcasing and bedazzling her growing bump rather than hiding it, and eschewing typical ruching and dedicated maternity clothes to maintain her trademark edge, including with a sheer slip and thong at Paris Fashion Week. Her appearance also serves as a sociopolitical statement: Bringing new life into the world in the midst of a pandemic and a Black maternal health crisis “requires a gritty optimism,” according to stylist Solange Franklin. Rihanna’s daring, belly-first philosophy was revolutionary, a “clear demonstration of the singular strength and resolve required to go through all of this.”
Johnny Depp v. Amber Heard
Perhaps not since the O.J. Simpson trial has a televised celebrity legal battle so completely saturated the culture. In terms of following the trial, TikTok was the new CourtTV, with Johnny Depp accusing ex-wife Amber Heard of defaming him in a 2018 Washington Post op-ed (Heard countersued). The Virginia trial was a train wreck, a circus, and a “cesspit,” according to Vogue’s Raven Smith, and it sparked a wave of misogyny from Depp supporters online. The June guilty verdict was a mixed bag, with Heard ordered to pay Depp $15 million in damages while also awarding Heard $2 million. The decision favored Depp, but there were no clear winners.
The Rise and Fall of Kim Kardashian and Pete Davidson
Kim Kardashian and Pete Davidson were arguably the couples of 2022, for better or worse. Following the breakup with Kanye West (who provided some of the worst pop cultural moments of 2022), Kardashian found love with the perennial It Boyfriend. Kardashian, the modern-day Marilyn Monroe, falling for Davidson, with his scruff and Staten Island street style? They did, however, go on an Instagram PDA tear, and he engaged in obsessive body modification, including “My girl is a lawyer” ink and a “Kim” brand. Leaked texts showed Davidson messaging West in Kardashian’s defense, though “I’m in bed with your wife” wasn’t exactly de-escalating.
Kardashian and Davidson made a splashy, instantly controversial appearance at the Met Gala in September, where Kardashian unearthed Monroe’s iconic, crystal-dusted dress from when she sang “Happy Birthday” to President John F. Kennedy in 1962. There was a heated debate about the right to wear archival clothing and Kardashian’s admission that she had to follow a strict diet to fit into the gown. Unfortunately, the couple didn’t make it through the year, splitting up in August and leaving Davidson to deal with that brand.
Broadway’s Funny Girl Saga
In 2022, the legend of Funny Girl received a dramatic new chapter. Sixty years after Barbra Streisand starred in the original Broadway production, a revival with Booksmart star Beanie Feldstein as daffy showgirl Fanny Brice burst onto the Great White Way, leaving zealous Broadway fans wondering why Lea Michele—who had sung the Funny Girl canon on Glee but was almost canceled in 2020—didn’t land the role. Feldstein announced her departure from the show earlier than expected, then cut her stint even shorter after a rash of negative (and often persnickety) reviews. Michele was cast in a splashy social media announcement that sent theatergoers and voyeurs into a frenzy. Michele would later make her debut to acclaim. (However, persistent online conspiracy theories that she can’t read rained on her parade.) At its best, it was a riveting Broadway melodrama.
Elon Musk’s Twitter Takeover
Twitter, the word-based social platform beloved by writers (as well as incels and D*nald Tr*mp), has died. Twitter, which was founded in 2006, was ostensibly gutted in 2022 when multihyphenate mega troll Elon Musk purchased it for $44 billion in April, emboldening and welcoming back toxic tweeters like Trump and Kanye West in the distorted name of “free speech.” Musk went on a “firing frenzy” in the months that followed, depleting the company’s legal department and dismantling an advisory board on safety issues. Twitter celebrated its 16th birthday and will be remembered for the good times—as the place where we all watched and mocked the Oscars together.
Lizzo Plays James Madison’s Flute
The year Lizzo’s fluting sparked a heated political debate was 2022. Lizzo, a classically trained flutist, accepted an invitation from the Library of Congress in September to visit the Washington, D.C., institution and perform on a 200-year-old crystal flute once owned by President James Madison. The next night, handlers from the Library of Congress escorted Lizzo to the Capital One Arena to play the flute again during her tour stop. Some applauded the symbolism of a Black woman reclaiming an instrument once owned by a slave-owning president; others—*conservative others*—clutched pearls and bemoaned the desecration of history. “Bitch, I just twerked and played James Madison’s crystal flute from the 1800s,” Lizzo exclaimed. “Tonight we made history!”
