It has been a busy year for Samantha Harris! From her stint as Roxie Hart on Broadway to co-hosting Dancing with the Stars to taking care of her two-year-old daughter Josselyn, Sam, 37, knows how to find balance. She divulges exclusively to OK! her last big purchase and what she won’t share with her husband! Read more »
Posts Tagged ‘Samantha Harris’
The Last Word with Samantha Harris
November 15th, 2009 / Author: Laura LaneFormer Roxie Hart Sam Harris Puts Her Heart Behind Ashlee Simpson
November 9th, 2009 / Author: Brittany Talarico
After rumors circulated that Ashlee Simpson will be heading to Broadway to play Roxie Hart in Chicago, Dancing With the Stars’ Samantha Harris was quick to sing Ash’s praises, E! News reports. Samantha says she would be more than pleased if Ash starred in her former role. “Ashlee is adorable and talented.” Samantha gushes. “She can bring in a younger audience plus [she] has some international appeal.” Read more »
New Cast of Dancing with the Stars Announced
August 17th, 2009 / Author: Chris Morran
After weeks of speculation, the celebrity dancers for the upcoming 9th season of Dancing with the Stars were finally announced live on Good Morning America on Monday. Read more »
Samantha Harris’ Triple Duty
June 12th, 2009 / Author: OK! Staff
Dancing With The Stars’ sexy host Samantha Harris says it won’t be easy going from interviewing stage performers to taking on the big stage in Broadway’s Chicago as Roxie Hart next month.
“There’s going to be a lot of frequent flier miles racked up!” says Samantha, who will be balancing life as a Broadway star on top of being a wife and mother to 1-and-a-half-year-old daughter Josselyn, and serving doing double duty as a host for the Insider.
“I have dreamed of being on Broadway since I was a kid!” Samantha tells OK!. “To be honest, I didn’t necessarily know that would be an option for me just being that I stepped away from my musical theater background to focus on hosting.”
Samantha, 35, will take on the role Roxie Hart – which in the past has been played by celebrities including Brooke Shields, Ashlee Simpson and Melanie Griffith, for six weeks from July 7 through August 16 at the Ambassador Theatre in NYC.
The brunette bombshell was surprised it was her DWTS hosting gig that helped to thrust her into the Broadway spotlight.
“I’m so glad and grateful that Dancing With The Stars has given me an audience who sees me maybe in that light,” Samantha says. “Even though I’m just asking the questions and not dancing the dance!”
By Laura Lane
Samantha Harris Leaves E! News
December 15th, 2008
Samantha Harris has left her position as a correspondent for E! News, OK! has learned exclusively.
According to a source close to the performer, Samantha and the entertainment news network came to a mutual agreement to end her duties with the channel last week.
Samantha’s role as a correspondent for E! has seemed to dwindle in since she began co-hosting the ABC hit reality series, Dancing with the Stars, in 2006.
The network bulked up with additional on-air talent, who began receiving more airtime during Samantha’s maternity leave in 2007.
This won’t be the last we see of Samantha in the role of host. The source reveals that she’ll be moving on to an exciting, new lucrative position, that will be announced shortly.
Samantha Harris’ Return to the “Dance” Floor
October 16th, 2007
Samantha Harris returned to her hostess duties on Monday’s
episode of Dancing with the Stars, a mere three weeks after having her first
child, daughter Josselyn. The hostess told OK! she couldn’t have done it
without the support of her financial wholesaler husband, Michael Hess.
Samantha said Michael “is fully, 100 percent, in the game
with me. We are partners sharing baby
duties—well, except for the breast-feeding part. Although he always says, if he
could nurse, he would! I appreciate the offer. I didn’t change a diaper for the
first five or six days that Josselyn was alive so it’s wonderful.”
After giving birth on Sept. 23 and having Drew Lachey fill
in for her during a brief maternity leave, Samantha is twirling around the
ballroom again. “It’s fantastic to be back,” Samantha said. “I truly love the
energy and excitement that this ballroom offers. As hard as it was to leave Joselyn tonight, I
know that I’m going to be even more excited to be home with her because
distance makes the heart grow fonder and even [after] an hour or two here or
there, I’m just clamoring to get home to be with her.”
Samantha admitted the separation anxiety is “tough [but] I
think it’s going to be harder going to work when she can talk and say, ‘Momma.
Don’t leave.’ At least when they’re in infancy, they don’t have a say. It’s
hard enough on me to not hear her say, ‘Don’t leave me.’”
Amazingly, the 33-year-old didn’t look like a woman who had just
given birth, crediting the “wonderful team” responsible for her glowing
post-partum look. “I have a great hairstylist and makeup artist that I’ve
worked with for a long time, and stylists who put these gorgeous dresses and
jewels on. For a woman who’s been at home in a ponytail with not a stitch of
makeup on for the last three weeks, it felt [like], okay, I’m back!”
And she’s already made friends with the celebrity
contestants on the hit ABC reality show, including fellow new mom Mel B. The Spice Girl,
who had her daughter Angel, by Eddie Murphy in April, told OK!, “We just did
the whole baby talk thing [about] breastfeeding and sleeping times.”
It’s a Girl for Samantha Harris!
September 23rd, 2007
Dancing With the Stars host Samantha Harris has a new partner to tango with!
The 33-year-old and her husband, Michael Hess, welcomed a baby girl named Josselyn Sydney Hess on Sunday. It is the first child for both.
Samantha announced her pregnancy in April after rumors swirled she got breast implants when viewers noticed her ample bosom on the ABC show.
"My publicist was getting calls about it, my family got calls about it," she said. "I did not get a boob job, but I have put on a little weight because I am happy to finally say I am pregnant."
OK! joined the brunette at her Aug. 4 baby shower, where she revealed she was planning a delivery surprise.
“We don’t want to find out the sex of the baby. We are so looking forward to that big, fabulous surprise on delivery day.”
Samantha also pulls double duty as an E! correspondent, but she told OK! she had no plans to give up either gig when motherhood arrives.
“I love both my jobs and I plan to continue them. We’ll find a way with Michael’s help and a great nanny.”
BACKSTAGE AT DANCING WITH THE STARS CASTING ANNOUNCEMENT
August 30th, 2007
Good Morning America revealed the 12 new contestants to compete on the upcoming season of Dancing With the Stars (premiering Sept. 24 at 8 p.m. on ABC) in New York City’s Times Square, but the real fun took place back in the ABC building’s cafeteria. That’s where I got a private dance lesson from Dancing With the Stars’ reigning champ, Apolo Anton Ohno. “It’s the request I’m most asked by fans,” he explained while effortlessly twirling me into a dip. Now I know why Apolo deserved the crown – he didn’t drop me.
The 25-year-old speed skater also imparted words of advice on how the new competitors could bag up this year’s competition. “Just perform,” he offered. “Make sure you’re giving the audience a good show, one you’d want to watch.”
Host Tom Bergeron was hoping that his pregnant co-host Samantha Harris would still be light on her feet and make the season opener. “She’s due in October, so we’re hoping she can do the first show,” he explained. He also revealed that a guest co-host will take Samantha’s place once she goes on maternity leave. “I can’t say who just yet, I think we picked the right person,” he teased.
I talked shoes with judge Carrie Ann Inaba, who was rocking a sassy pair of brown patent leather stilettos. “They’re Carlos Santana. That man knows shoes and music!” She’s still crazy in love with fellow ballroom dancer Artem Chigvinsev. The cutie couple spent the weekend in Wilmington, DE., where the So You Think You Can Dance alum is filming a movie. “We’re so opposite, but we so get each other,” she cooed. Carrie and I strategized over how a woman competitor could make it to the SYTYCD winner’s circle this season. “There are some amazing professional female dancers on this show, and I think our female competitors get compared to them,” theorized Carrie. She urged viewers to take a good look at how hard the female contestants work. “They have to be the art to the man’s frame, and they are doing it in heels!” And you know Carrie knows footwear!
