One of this week’s more bizarre-but-charming revelations came Thursday when five-time Oscar nominee and “Apples Never Fall” star Annette Bening revealed that there is a pig in New Zealand named after her.
“That’s me, that’s Annette Bening,” the actress said on “The Kelly Clarkson Show” while the host brought up an image of said pig.
Turns out, Bening’s “Apples Never Fall” costar Sam Neill — who famously has a farm in New Zealand populated with animals named after Hollywood industry colleagues — so enjoyed his time working on the Peacock limited series that he named a pig in her honor.
“I’m very honored,” Bening said as Clarkson gushed over how smart the animal is.
“They’re very intelligent animals, by the way … Like, smarter than dogs!” she said. “I want to cuddle with Annette Bening. That’s a cute pig!”
“I am so honored to have a pig named after me,” Bening said again, holding a hand to her heart.
“I’m just saying, people who own animals, like, a farm situation — we love animals as much as we love humans,” Clarkson said, “so that’s a compliment. I love it.”
“It’s a great compliment,” Bening agreed.
Then, when Clarkson complimented Bening’s chemistry with the “Jurassic Park” star, the actress emphasized that Neill made it easy.
“Well, it’s Sam Neill! I mean, oh my god,” Bening said. “I have a crush on him, I’m just going to put it out there.”
Annette Bening the pig wasn’t the only animal Bening and Clarkson talked about in Thursday’s episode, either. The segment began with Bening reflecting on her time filming in Australia.
“Everybody’s so nice — they do some crazy animals there, though,” Clarkson said.
“Wow, crazy animals, you’re right,” Bening said, remembering how she once incidentally swam in shark-infested waters. “So I started to swim because we were in Gold Coast and there’s a lot of ocean and a lot of canals. And I thought, ‘Why aren’t there more people in the water here in this beautiful canal?’ OK, there’s something called a bull shark.”
“Oh, I’m aware!” Clarkson exclaimed.
“OK, bull sharks have adapted, so they can survive in fresh or salt water. And they bite you and kill you.”
Watch the full “Kelly Clarkson Show” clip in the video above.
