Topics
Erin & Ben Napier Dish About Some of Their Favorite Celebrity Friends: ‘Nicest People Alive’
Despite gracing magazine covers, writing best-selling books, and signing a massive new talent deal with HGTV in January 2025, “Home Town” stars Erin and Ben Napier still don’t feel like they’re famous.
“It’s been very cool to get to meet people who are actually famous,” Erin said on the April 2 edition of the “Landontalks With Kate” podcast. “Like, we’re not — I don’t think of us as famous people. But we have met people who are and you see the way their life looks is very different from ours. Yeah, it’s so, so, so very different from our life.”
While comparing their life in Laurel, Mississippi, to the lives of those they view as true celebrities, the Napiers spilled some fascinating tidbits about several down-to-earth stars who’ve become their real-life friends.
Erin Napier Gushes Over Befriending Drew Barrymore
While chatting with Laurel native Landon Bryant, author of the new book “Bless Your Heart: A Field Guide To All Things Southern,” and his wife Kate, the Napiers said one of the differences they’ve noticed between themselves and “actual” celebrities is how they navigate childcare for their two daughters, seven-year-old Helen and three-year-old Mae.
“This is the thing that we talk about a lot,” Ben explained, “and it is a struggle for people we work with to understand because they’re like, ‘Oh, well, just call a nanny service’ or ‘this or that,’ right? Well, that doesn’t exist (in a small town).”
“Yes, we have Mimi, who was my babysitter when she was 16,” Erin chimed in. “And when I can’t be with my babies, she’s with my babies.”
“If she goes down, the whole thing goes down,” Ben interjected, and Erin added, “Then people are like, ‘Well, I mean, just call a nanny service if you need backup. And it’s like, ‘What is that?’”
Despite the obvious differences between living in a small town versus the bright lights of Los Angeles or New York, the Napiers said they have become friends with multiple down-to-earth celebs. Erin has talked previously about how nervous she was meeting Drew Barrymore on her talk show in 2021, and said she continues to be someone she adores.
“I was her biggest fan growing up,” she told the Bryants on their podcast. “I mean, in high school, she was everything. And so, she’s the only, like, famous person I’ve been very star struck to meet. And then I met her, she was just so wonderful. And she will periodically send me a text to say, like, ‘Watching this episode, and I love that wallpaper!’”
Erin recalled how Barrymore helped her procure a gown in 2023 when she and Ben were asked at the last minute to present at the CMA Awards.
“She’s extremely generous,” Erin said. “That dress that I wore to the gala and CMAs, it was because she got it for me. She’s just a super big giver. I think she knows exactly how blessed she’s been, and she wants everyone else to get the blessing.”
“When you watch her show,” Ben added, “that’s who she is.”
Erin Napier Calls Jonathan Scott & Zooey Deschanel a ‘Match Made in Heaven’
Speaking of generous celebrities, the Napiers also gave high marks to fellow HGTV stars Drew and Jonathan Scott, whose branding agency is now helping the Napiers expand their product lines.
“Drew and Jonathan Scott are two of the nicest people alive,” Erin gushed on the Bryants’ podcast. “I put them in the same camp as Drew Barrymore. They want everyone around them to be comfortable. They’re wonderful.”
Of Jonathan’s fiancée, actress Zooey Deschanel, Erin said, “Zooey is fantastically hospitable. We went to their house for dinner one night, and she had like, 16 kinds of ice cream sandwiches in her freezer. It’s like, ‘Gluten-free! Chocolate! You want vanilla? I got strawberry!’”
The night Erin mentioned was likely an impromptu pizza party the Napiers enjoyed with the Scott brothers and their families in March 2023, during a trip to L.A. Ben shared that once the Scotts knew they were in town, they quickly coordinated a dinner at Jonathan and Zooey’s home, where there was no shortage of pizza either.
“It was like 16 kinds of pizza,” Erin recalled as she gabbed on the Bryants’ podcast. “(Zooey’s) like, ‘I didn’t know what kind you would like, so I just got, like, a lot of different kinds.’ Anyway, they’re a match made in heaven. They want everyone to be so comfortable.”
The totally-not-famous Napiers are in the throes of filming the ninth season of “Home Town.” Their spin-off series, “Home Town Takeover,” airs Sunday nights on HGTV.
