Tragic Details About Kat Dennings

Kat Dennings has been in the entertainment industry since she was a child, with a career that has spanned both television and film. Since she landed her first credited role in an episode of "Sex and the City" in 2000, the actor has worked tirelessly, gracing the screens of everything from indie movies to sitcoms, and even joining the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

While Dennings has undoubtedly had a successful run thus far, she's also acknowledged that she's dealt with a lot of rejection in her career of choice. As she told BuzzFeed in February 2022, "I auditioned for everything and never got anything." As any actor knows all too well, rejection is a tough but common part of the game. Dennings added, "I swear to god, everything you audition for is a rejection, so if you get like one job, it's a miracle."

As challenging as it might've been to get her career off the ground, Dennings did "make it" in Hollywood. As fortunate as she may seem, the "Thor" star's life hasn't been so charmed across the board. From her upbringing in a creepy environment to the struggles in her professional and romantic life, as well as the losses she faced after "2 Broke Girls" ended, here are the tragic details about Kat Dennings.

Kat Dennings' upbringing was far from conventional. She grew up as the youngest of five in Bryn Mawr, a forested part of Pennsylvania just west of Philadelphia. Dennings' family home was a historical landmark, a former port house built in 1694. Living in such an old home not only meant the actor's parents couldn't make any alterations, but the Historical Society would conduct tours in their house while they were home. On top of it all, according to the actor during an interview with The A.V. Club in a May 2018, "It was haunted as f***."

Dennings is a firm believer in ghosts, perhaps due to what she witnessed in her childhood home. She detailed how lights would flicker on and off, things would go missing, and at times even "fly across the room." Dennings explained, "It sounds so crazy, but I swear. ... We all saw some s***."

The actor joked that she was raised by ghosts, but given the unexplainable circumstances she claimed to have witnessed growing up, it would make sense if she wasn't entirely kidding. "When you walk into a place that old, you just feel clammy. ... The air felt thick and electric-y," Dennings continued. "Like there were a thousand dead people looking in your soul or something." While the Hollywood star insisted she loved living there, it doesn't sound like it was an easy environment to call home.

Though she began acting in elementary school, Kat Dennings didn't officially move to Los Angeles until she was a teenager. Her parents weren't super enthusiastic about the idea initially, but they eventually came around. "I was a very unique child. I think they knew I belonged in the arts," the actor told Glamour in September 2012. She headed out to Tinseltown after she graduated from high school early at age 14. 

Years before she went to the West Coast and adopted her iconic red lip, Dennings landed her first gig at the age of 9. She had been cast in a commercial for Orleans low-fat potato chips, but as she told The Asian Age in April 2018, it wasn't exactly a smooth experience. For starters, the actors weren't even supposed to eat the snack while filming. "They open the chip bag ... and they poured them in the garbage, then they put regular Lay's potato chips in the bag," Dennings recalled.

The young actor thought this was odd, and she soon learned why the people making the ad didn't want her eating the chips. As it turned out, the ingredient Olean (also known as Olestra) is a fat substitute used in low-fat versions of foods that can cause adverse health issues; the product is banned in Canada and the United Kingdom. Dennings' first ad ultimately never made it to the small screen because Orleans never hit the shelves. 

The earliest roles Kat Dennings took on were pretty standard for a young actor getting their feet wet. She had a recurring part alongside Brie Larson and Bob Saget on the sitcom "Raising Dad" and played minor characters on shows like "ER" and "CSI" before finding her niche in indie films. Her first starring role was in 2007's "Charlie Bartlett," playing opposite Anton Yelchin as a down-to-earth, emotional high schooler. Dennings took on a similar role the following year in "Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist," again playing a "not like the other girls" character.

In October 2008, in speaking with Student Life, Dennings admitted that her role in "Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist" wasn't too dissimilar to her real life persona. "I avoided nights like this on purpose," she said, referring to the plot of the film. "I'm a real homebody." As comfortable as Dennings might be playing the same types of characters, when 2010's "Daydream Nation" rolled around, it was clear she had once again been typecast. 

In a 2019 interview with InStyle, Dennings acknowledged that she'd become a go-to pick for angsty roles. "Don't we all relate to the sad emo character?" she joked. "I've had a storied love life and a somewhat interesting upbringing, so I feel like I relate to those characters," Dennings added. With projects like "Thor" and "WandaVision" under her belt, she's at least been given a chance to show that she can take on roles that aren't "indie movie girl with edge."

Between 2010 and 2017, iCloud hackers were behind the leak of hundreds of nude celebrity photos. The media went wild, crudely dubbing the scandal "The Fappening," as the public suddenly had access to stars' most intimate and private images. Among the victims of the nude leaks were Jennifer Lawrence, Vanessa Hudgens, Kirsten Dunst, and Kat Dennings, along with many others. With their privacy invaded and their photos spreading like wildfire across the internet for the entire world to see, you would think that they'd receive some amount of sympathy or support.

Tragically, the consensus seemed to be that these women were somehow to blame, that they shouldn't have taken the pictures in the first place. They were subsequently slut-shamed. However, when another celebrity accidentally leaked his own nude image through a lapse in judgment, the public had a very different response.

In September 2020, Chris Evans had shared a sweet video of his family playing a game, but when the clip ended, the Marvel star's screen recording continued for a second longer, revealing his camera roll. Among the images, social media users could make out a nude picture. However, instead of being hounded for the blunder, Evans' fans laughed along. A few days later, Dennings took to X, formerly known as Twitter, to point out the double standard. "The public respect for Chris Evans' privacy/feelings is wonderful," she wrote (via Business Insider). "Wouldn't it be nice if it extended to women when this kind of thing happens?"

Kat Dennings' relationship history has taken some interesting twists and turns. She's been linked to many of Hollywood's most eligible bachelors, including Matthew Gray Gubler, Tom Hiddleston, and her "2 Broke Girls" co-star Nick Zano. Then, she and "You Raise Me Up" singer Josh Groban made headlines in October 2014 after Beth Behrs introduced the two and they struck up a romance. Dennings and her beau seemed like a match made in heaven, but sadly, she and Groban weren't meant to be.

"They are still friends and care about each other, but it's not the right time for them now as a couple," a source told E! News in July 2016, following the couple's "mutual" breakup. Hollywood couples dissolve as quickly as they're formed, so it's not astonishing that Dennings and Groban didn't last, but it seems there might've been more going on behind the scenes of their relationship that fans weren't aware of.

In November 2019, Dennings spoke with the Los Angeles Times about working on the Hulu series "Dollface" and related her real life experience to her character's. "I've been through this thing where you're so in love that you forget yourself," she explained. "I'm guilty of being completely swept up and ignoring everything around me." Given that Dennings' most recent relationship at the time of this interview was with Groban, and she didn't meet her husband, musician Andrew W.K, until 2021, it may be fair to assume that she was referring to the "You're Still You" singer in this instance.

Actor Anton Yelchin was just 27 when he tragically died in an accident that shocked his fans and those close to him. After making a name for himself as Pavel Chekov in 2009's "Star Trek," he had just filmed the thriller "Green Room" and "Star Trek Beyond" when news broke that he'd been killed in an accident on June 19, 2016. After Yelchin exited his SUV, it rolled down his steep driveway, pinning him and ultimately killing him. Kat Dennings was one of the many people who were devastated by Yelchin's death, as they had grown very close over the years.

The actors first met when they auditioned for 2007's "Charlie Bartlett," and the chemistry was there from the start. As she told Indie London (via Yahoo! Entertainment), "It just worked." They became great friends as they portrayed each other's love interests in the film, and their relationship continued from there. Dennings and Yelchin were so close that even their mothers bonded with one another. "Our moms are now best friends, so three times a day I get an Anton update and he gets the same about me," Dennings said. "It's really cute."

When it was announced that Yelchin had died, Dennings expressed her grief on social media. "Anton Yelchin was one of my best friends," she wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter (via Time). "Can't say anything that conveys what this feels like." Over the next few days, she shared several photos of her late friend.

2011 truly was Kat Dennings' year. In addition to making her Marvel debut in "Thor," she hit a jackpot by landing the anchor role of CBS' show "2 Broke Girls." The sitcom, about two waitresses trying to save up enough cash to open their own cupcake shop, was a success for many years, and Dennings received a lot of praise for her performance. However, despite a reception that rivaled "Big Bang Theory" and "How I Met Your Mother," ratings slowly dwindled. With CBS already raking in plenty of viewership from their other shows, "2 Broke Girls" faced cancellation after Season 6.

Some theorized that the sitcom might've reached its end due to a more controversial reason, though, as it received a lot of criticism. A November 2011 review from The New Yorker dubbed the show "so racist it is less offensive than baffling." Another writer, this time for Medium in March 2017, added, "The jokes are sexist, vulgar, racist, and generally offensive." However, given that "2 Broke Girls" ran for as long as it did, there was clearly an audience for what some considered to be poor writing.

After it was announced that the show was ending, Dennings spoke with Yahoo! Entertainment in November 2017 about her experience playing Max. "This show, and I'm not exaggerating, was pretty much the most formative experience of my entire life," she said. However, she was still disappointed that viewers didn't get to see the characters' happy endings.

Kat Dennings is unapologetically a cat person. Her love of animals has been well documented and she frequently shared snaps of her sweet kitty Millie. When her pet died in October 2023, Dennings shared the sad news on Instagram. "My heart is destroyed," she wrote. "I truly feel like I lost a part of my soul."

Any pet parent who's gone through something similar knows just how upsetting it can be to lose your furry companion. As gutted as Dennings was by the death of her cat Millie, she didn't wait long to adopt again. In speaking with People in May 2024, she shared that a friend advised her to become a pet owner once again sooner rather than later. So, she added not one, but two cats to her home. "I found these two little sisters, Lentil and Barley, who are wonderful and so funny and completely different from Millie, and it's healing," Dennings said.

The actor insisted that, although her new kittens don't make the loss of her first cat hurt less, they've helped her tremendously. "There's nothing like it, 'cause you're saving them, and then they save you," Dennings remarked.

Not long after Millie the cat died, the "2 Broke Girls" actor faced another devastating loss. Although she might put on a brave face for the public, the truth about Dennings is that she's endured enough tragedy for a lifetime. Nothing can prepare you for the grief and heartbreak of losing a parent, something she had to realize for herself in late 2023.

In a January 2024 Instagram post, Dennings announced that her father had died a few months prior. "Today would be his 95th birthday," the television star wrote in the caption, alongside a sweet snap of her dad. "Even though I knew he had less time than more, it still didn't prepare me for the reality of the loss and the resulting existential crisis," Dennings added. She acknowledged her dad's many accomplishments and gushed with pride over him.

Roughly six weeks after Dennings' father died, she got married to her boyfriend of nearly three years, Andrew W.K. Although she considered postponing the ceremony in light of her grief, the actor decided a celebration of love was all the more necessary at that point. Dennings' intimate wedding was stunning, and her mother walked her down the aisle in place of her late dad.