Actor Kat Dennings said she grew up in a “beautifully and extremely haunted” house from the 1600s.
But contrary to preconceived notions about the supernatural exhibiting only sinister behavior, Dennings said there are some friendly specters in our midst.
One, in fact, saved her mother's life in a freak accident at home that could've ended badly.
Dennings, known for her work in the CBS sitcom 2 Broke Girls and as Darcy Lewis in the MCU, stopped by The Jennifer Hudson Show on Monday and shared a not-so-spooky anecdote from when she was raised in Penn Cottage, a historic house built in 1694 in Wynnewood, Pennsylvania.
“Oh, this is a very real thing. So, everyone in the house had their own experiences with the haunting situation, but my mom almost had a horrible accident,” she told Hudson.
Dennings continued:
“We had a basement that was horrifying—it was so scary down there—and the stairs were very rickety and very shallow."
"And my mom, once, she tripped and fell down the stairs, but she was stopped in midair by something.”
The actor said her mom was "stopped completely" from hitting the floor and was somehow "put back to standing."
She told the studio audience:
“I swear to God…I have goosebumps thinking about this.”
Here's a TikTok clip.
Dennings said she reached out to her mom to confirm the mysterious encounter so she could tell the story accurately.
"She was like, ‘Yup,’” recalled Dennings, and added:
“The only injury she had was trying to stop herself on the wall and she hurt her pinky and had to put ice on it, but she was completely stopped in midair and put back by… something.”
Dennings also mentioned another incident in her childhood haunted home.
“My room was in the attic. Relax! That sounds bad!" she told the audience, assuring them it wasn't a Flowers in the Attic-type captivity situation.
@jenniferhudsonshow/TikTok
"But it wasn’t like a rickety old attic, it was like a nice [attic]. It was painted pink and it had my Hanson posters and my Tyrese posters, all my stuff,” she continued.
“And, sometimes, if I played my music too loud, my CDs would fly across the room, like off of shelves," Dennings added.
Maybe ghosts like it nice and quiet when they overlap with the human realm.
@jenniferhudsonshow/TikTok
@jenniferhudsonshow/TikTok
Here's a full clip.
- YouTubeyoutu.be
Fans weren't shocked that Dennings grew up in a haunted house.
@jenniferhudsonshow/TikTok
@jenniferhudsonshow/TikTok
@jenniferhudsonshow/TikTok
@jenniferhudsonshow/TikTok
@jenniferhudsonshow/TikTok
@jenniferhudsonshow/TikTok
@jenniferhudsonshow/TikTok
Aside from minor annoyances like “the lights would turn on and off…You know, just all the classics," Dennings said she didn't mind sharing space with her revenant roomies growing up.
“They were nice! I was at the age where I was very open-minded,” she said. “Now, I’d be like, ‘We’re selling the house and we’re leaving. We’re getting out now.’”
Hudson was completely invested in Dennings' story, particularly about her mom's life-saving encounter.
After hearing it in its entirety, she told Dennings, “Well, at least y’all had good ghosts.”
Is there something you're not telling us, Jennifer?
ghost library GIFGiphy
The sitcom queen currently stars in the new ABC comedy series Shifting Gears with co-stars Tim Allen, Seann William Scott, Daryl "Chill" Mitchell, Maxwell Simkins, and Barrett Margolis.
Shifting Gears follows a widower (Allen) who runs an auto restoration shop and reluctantly takes in his estranged daughter Riley (Dennings) and her two teenage children following her divorce.
It premiered on January 8, 2025. New episodes air on Wednesdays at 8:00-8:30 p.m. ET, and are available for streaming on Hulu the following day.
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