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Lauren Popeil and the Gossip Pages

Years ago I was watching some Ronco infomercial (I’m not sure which one) and a cute blonde girl about 9 years old introduced Ron Popeil, who it turned out was her father. An earlier Ronco infomercial also featured one of his daughters, but that daughter was a full-grown woman with dark hair who pretty much looked like a female Ron Popeil. I made the conjecture that the older daughter was from Ron’s marriage to his plain-looking first wife and that the younger was from the marriage to his blond trophy wife after he made the infomercial millions. (Later, I briefly glanced at Popeil’s autobiography, The Salesman of the Century, and learned that the man gets married pretty much every 7 years.)

In the recent infomercial for Ronco Knives, Ron once again introduces his two daughters, Shannon and Lauren Popeil. Later in the infomercial Shannon again appears briefly, handing “Cousin Arnold” various knives. Lauren, however, does nothing on the infomercial after being introduced and appears on screen for a grand total of three seconds. But it is still enough time to see that Lauren Popeil—the younger, blonde daughter—has grown up into a stone-cold hottie!

Well, it turns out that Lauren Popeil had a (very) brief appearance in the gossip pages back in 2006. (The fact that I found out about this only now, two years later, shows that I really need to do a better job of following the daily gossip!) In June 2006, the Perez Hilton website reported that Lauren Popeil went to the exclusive Hyde nightclub in West Hollywood with singer Justin Timberlake, who at the time was supposed to be an item with Cameron Diaz. I couldn’t find the original story at PerezHilton.com but did find it cited at Celebitchy and TMZ.

I could find no subsequent reports about Lauren Popeil. So it appears that she blew her chance at becoming a fixture in the gossip pages by dating celebrities and hanging out at L.A. clubs. If Lauren Popeil had played her cards right, this daughter of a mildly famous man could have achieved the fame of a Nicole Ritchie or Kim Kardashian. She might have even scored her own reality show on the E! network.

Comments

  • 10 Responses to “Lauren Popeil and the Gossip Pages”

  • So Justin went out with Ron Popeil’s daughter Lauren and then the couple went their separate ways.

    Gives a whole new meaning to the phrase “Set It & Forget It”

    Comment by Kyle Varnell on September 24, 2008 at 1:32 am

  • Cousin arnold actually is Ron’s Cousin.

    His full name is arnold Morris…

    Comment by Phil on September 25, 2008 at 5:03 pm

  • hi
    i just stumbled upon this
    i’ll probably never return
    but i love this info mercial
    i watch it every time i get the chance
    i’m watching it right now. HAHAH

    but uh
    And how about his rotisserie one
    featuring some “Doctor” in his office with a rotisserie in the background that is supposedly in the office with him
    ron seems like a real creep.

    l9tr

    Comment by Jenna on October 23, 2008 at 2:35 am

  • ron popeil is shot but smart theres a reason he has made a good buck becuase he can sell and apparently so can arnold. Targeting the elderly doesnt hurt either. Also he brings up telling a friend multiple times so it seems he a has some sort of referral based syetem set up in order to get the injector or w/e. I wouldnt buy the product though

    Comment by JT on July 9, 2009 at 2:31 am

  • She’s hot. The funniest thing about the knife infomercial is that there is a rotisserie in the background with what looks like a cornish game hen in it and it is BURNT. Set it and forget it is right.

    Comment by Jay T on July 11, 2009 at 3:20 am

  • I went to school in Aspen with Lauren and hell, my name is Lauren too!!! Two Laurens from Cali! Yikes!!! She was rad when I knew her!!! I hope where ever she ended up she is doing well!!!!

    Comment by Lauren on August 5, 2009 at 6:38 pm

  • And I can’t believe I remember this, but when Paris Hilton’s phone was hacked in 2005 Lauren’s number was one of the ones listed so they were friends at some point.

    Comment by BOTR on January 15, 2012 at 9:55 am

  • She in now dating former NFL player Chad Ochocinco.

    Comment by euGene on February 15, 2013 at 5:50 pm

  • COMPLETE BS, euGene.

    Comment by Mike Hunt on December 21, 2014 at 12:53 am

  • Cousin Arnold passed away in 2013. Not sure when the knife infomercial was made but I suspect it’s close to 10
    Years old now.

    http://njjewishnews.com/community/lifecycle/obituaries/obituary-arnold-morris

    Comment by Greg Wojo on July 30, 2015 at 5:08 am