10 Little Known Facts About Alyson Hannigan
After starting out as a child actor, Alyson Hannigan got her big break when she landed the role of teenage witch Willow Rosenberg in "Buffy the Vampire Slayer." Soon after this came "American Pie," with her role as Michelle Flaherty in the raunchy teen comedy (and one memorable line about her time at band camp, in particular) becoming well-known. Following this success, she transitioned into a lead role in one of the most significant sitcoms of the 2000s and 2010s: "How I Met Your Mother."
Nowadays, Hannigan is known for competitive reality television (she finished 5th on Season 32 of "Dancing with the Stars") and for making appearances in Disney projects like "Flora & Ulysses" and the live-action TV movie "Kim Possible," in which she plays the mother of the teenage crime fighter. However, there's a lot that most people don't know about Hannigan, both in terms of her career in Hollywood and her personal life. Even if you're a big fan of her work, the chances are you'll learn something new about her here. This is the truth about Alyson Hannigan that no one seems to talk about.
Alyson Hannigan has a phobia of singing
One thing you may not know about Alyson Hannigan is that she really doesn't like singing — at least, not while she's on camera. According to "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" creator Joss Whedon, she really wasn't keen on the show's famous musical episode. "[Hannigan] begged me on her knees to have her sing as little as possible," Whedon revealed on the DVD commentary (via The Ringer). She didn't get out of it entirely, but Hannigan ended up having just a couple of lines. One of these lines is apparently a nod to how much she didn't want to do the episode. She sings: "I think this line's mostly filler."
Unfortunately for Hannigan, her next big show had plenty of musical moments. Most of the cast of "How I Met Your Mother" were okay with this, but Hannigan once again asked the creators to excuse her from singing whenever possible. "I begged them not to make me," she said of the sitcom's musical numbers during an interview with HuffPost. "Yeah, singing has never been something that I wanted to do publicly. It's actually like a phobia. I know it sounds weird, but it has always been that way."
According to Hannigan, she's become more comfortable with her singing voice over the years, though she's still not in any rush to perform publicly. As she told HuffPost when "How I Met Your Mother" came to an end, she's "not gonna be dropping an album anytime soon." However, that's not to say Hannigan isn't a musical person — one little-known fact about her is that she grew up playing the clarinet.
Alyson Hannigan gave up veganism when she became pregnant
Humankind's relationship with animal products has been put under the spotlight over the course of the last decade thanks to documentaries like "Eating Animals" and "Cowspiracy: The Sustainability Secret." Alyson Hannigan was embracing a vegan lifestyle before she became a mother, but during her first pregnancy, she found herself craving animal products and decided to go back to eating them. "I started out slowly with eggs, then cheese, then I was like, 'OK, I need a steak!'" she said during a Women's Health interview. "I had to listen to my body — my cravings were so strong with the first one. When I got a craving for a food, I needed it five minutes ago. I never got back to being a vegan, but now I'm super healthy."
Hannigan's decision to go back to eating meat didn't go down well with a number of vegan bloggers, who reacted angrily when she told Us Weekly: "I didn't eat any meat or cheese before. Now, I have to." According to the American Dietetic Association, "Well-planned vegan and other types of vegetarian diets are appropriate for all stages of the life cycle, including during pregnancy, lactation, infancy, childhood and adolescence." As such, the "have to" part didn't sit well with many in the vegan community, but not all vegan bloggers turned on Hannigan, with some acknowledging that she's free to choose what she eats. "It's one of the great freedoms of life: our diet," said HealthyHappyLife.
Alyson Hannigan and her kids suffer from the same allergies
As Alyson Hannigan advanced in her career, she found herself in a position to champion causes close to her heart, such as The Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America's campaign to raise awareness about nasal allergies. Hannigan's decision to lend her celebrity to this cause was, in part, inspired by her children — like her, they suffer from seasonal allergies. Hannigan is a vocal advocate for the AAFA's campaign Allergy Intervention: Because Allergies Aren't Funny, which aims to convey that living with allergies is not something to be dismissed or trivialized.
"I've lived with seasonal allergies for as long as I can remember," Hannigan said in a statement (via PR Newswire). "Anytime the weather changes, my nasal allergy symptoms flare up, especially in the spring. As a mom of two active kids who also live with seasonal allergies and love to be outside, preparedness is key in helping us keep our symptoms under control." The actor went on to reveal that she's forced to spend a lot of time working out treatment plans for her family, and that she's not alone in this — nasal allergies affect fifty million Americans.
Alyson Hannigan has a passion for philanthropy
Alyson Hannigan doesn't just limit her goodwill to nasal allergy awareness — over the years, she has lent her celebrity status to numerous causes. Among the charities Hannigan has backed is the Children's Health Fund, particularly their campaign Smiling it Forward. The campaign aimed to raise funds for children who have difficulties accessing healthcare. Hannigan encouraged her fans to upload selfies of them smiling; for each photo, Tylenol vowed to donate $1. "This is such an easy fit for me," the actor said of the fundraiser (via Fox News), adding that there's nothing better than seeing the smile of child who is feeling better after being sick. "As soon as that smile comes back you know that, 'We're okay again, we're going to be okay.'"
Hannigan has also worked with the world renowned charity Save The Children and FabKids, a membership-based children's fashion service that donated more than $500,000 worth of clothing and accessories to Corazón de Vida in 2016. Corazón de Vida is an organization that supports orphaned and abandoned children in Baja, Mexico. "As a mother, I can't think of anything more important than providing children basic necessities and empowering them for a better future," Hannigan said of the campaign (via The Mexico Report). "Corazón de Vida does exactly that and I've seen their impact. This is a cause I'm eager to partner on with FabKids because I believe together, we can all make a significant difference in the lives of many children."
Alyson Hannigan is godmother to Joss Whedon's eldest son
Alyson Hannigan has always been close to "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" creator Joss Whedon — in fact, she's godmother to his son Arden. Speaking to People in 2020, she discussed Whedon's children (he has another son named Squire) perhaps babysitting her daughters one day, though she wasn't sure when or if that would actually happen. "There needs to be a manual about, like, at what age kids can start babysitting other kids," she said. "I remember being left home alone at an age that I would never do it with my kids. What age does that start happening? Because I can't imagine starting to do that."
Hannigan came in for some criticism when Charisma Carpenter, who played Cordelia Chase in "Buffy the Vampire Slayer," accused Whedon of abusive behavior on the set of the show and she didn't speak out against him. "For anyone waiting/asking for Alyson Hannigan to speak out against JW, she won't," @MelRanette said on X, formerly Twitter. "She's married to one of his best friends so unless she's willing to ruin some part of her life, be it her marriage or her husband's friendship, she isn't going to say anything." However, some fans defended Hannigan's stance, pointing out that she may have her reasons for remaining silent. "She was another young, vulnerable woman on set and may have stories of her own that she does not owe us," @TheHawkeward said.
Voice acting is Alyson Hannigan's new favorite thing
Everyone knows Alyson Hannigan for her roles in the seminal supernatural drama series "Buffy the Vampire Slayer," the "American Pie" movie franchise, and the beloved sitcom "How I Met Your Mother," but what you may not know about the Washington, D.C. native is that she's also done a lot of voice acting. Hannigan has been lending her voice to TV shows for many years and counts "The Wild Thornberrys," "Rugrats," "King of the Hill," "The Goode Family," "The Simpsons," "Sofia the First," "Robot Chicken," and "American Dad!" among her many voice credits, though she only actually got comfortable with voice acting after she became a mother.
"Maybe it was just all the hours that I spent reading children's books out loud to my kids, but yeah, something has now clicked where I'm like, 'Okay, oh yeah! I get it!'" Hannigan told Paste magazine. "Because I think that a lot of my acting is facial expressions, and so to have to not rely on that but to only rely on your voice, it's like, 'Okay! This is a whole new world!'" She went on to credit Jamie Mitchell — co-creator of "Fancy Nancy," in which Hannigan voices the titular character's mother — for her newfound love of voice acting. "Jamie is phenomenal to work with, so I'm in great hands, and it's so much fun to do, and I enjoy it, I think, more than anything? I just love it."
The truth about Alyson Hannigan's supposed feud with Sarah Michelle Gellar
When "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" was at the height of its popularity, the main cast members appeared to be good friends off-camera. However, it has since emerged that things weren't always harmonious on the set of the hit show. According to Charisma Carpenter, a lot of this was down to creator Joss Whedon and the negative environment that he is said to have fostered. "Joss has a history of being casually cruel," she said in a statement, adding that she "experienced it first-hand" while playing Cordelia. Amber Benson (who played Tara Maclay) backed up Carpenter's claims about Whedon and the way he ran things. "Buffy was a toxic environment and it starts at the top," she tweeted.
For a long time, there was a rumor that Alyson Hannigan and Sarah Michelle Gellar (who starred as Buffy Summers) were involved in a feud that carried on after the show ended. Speaking to writer Evan Ross Katz for his book "Into Every Generation a Slayer Is Born: How Buffy Staked Our Hearts," Gellar admitted that she and Hannigan clashed at times, but she downplayed the notion that they hate one another. "Alyson and I had moments. There's no question. But you're young," Gellar said (via Us Weekly), adding that she was often jealous of her co-stars because they didn't have to work as often as she did. "I think that unfortunately, the set we were on and the world we were in was pitting us against each other. I think it would have been different if it was today. It would have been a very different relationship. But we have a great relationship now."
Alyson Hannigan almost blew her Buffy audition
Alyson Hannigan owes a lot to "Buffy the Vampire Slayer." The role of Willow Rosenberg is her most famous one, and she met her husband Alexis Denisof (who played Wesley Wyndam-Pryce) on the set of the show. What fans of the actor may not know is that her life and career could have turned out very differently, because she almost blew her "Buffy” audition. Hannigan told People Now that she's a "terrible auditioner" before revealing just how bad her tryout for Willow was: "I walked into a door and I forgot all my lines."
Things went pretty smoothly for Hannigan at first and she managed to get through several rounds of auditioning. However, when the time came for a chemistry read with her, Sarah Michelle Gellar, and Nicholas Brendon (Xander Harris), things took a turn for the worse. As Hannigan explained, she had been reading lines from the same scene up until that point, but Joss Whedon decided that he wanted to hear something new for this next step.
"My character is very computer-savvy, so it was all this computer jargon," Hannigan recalled. "It didn't make any sense to me. So I got to that part and the words just started swimming and I don't think I was speaking English at some point." Luckily, Whedon was able to see past the fluffed lines, recognizing that Hannigan felt right in the role. "Joss later said, 'You couldn't say the words to save your life, but I knew right then and there, because the chemistry was right there.'"
Alyson Hannigan hated kissing Jason Segel in How I Met Your Mother
During her time on "How I Met Your Mother," Alyson Hannigan experienced significant life changes, including welcoming both of her children — her first daughter, Satyana Marie Denisof, was born on March 24, 2009 (meaning she shares a birthday with her mother), and she welcomed her second daughter, Keeva Jane Denisof, on May 23, 2012. It was a special time in her life, and she apparently managed to achieve a great work-life balance, being happy at home and genuinely getting along well with her castmates. However, one thing she definitely didn't enjoy about her time on "How I Met Your Mother" was having to kiss her on-screen partner, Jason Segel.
It's not that Hannigan has anything against Segel — in fact, she's very fond of him, to the point that she shed tears during an interview about the show ending when the reality that they would no longer be working together hit home. The issue was that Segel is a real-life smoker, and making out with him on camera was "like kissing an ashtray," Hannigan told Digital Spy during the show's run. "I cannot stand cigarette smoke," she said. "He's trying to be polite by having gum or mints, but it doesn't help." Hannigan went on to reveal that they came to an agreement that would help Segel quit — he would owe her $10 for every cigarette he smoked. "After the first day, he owed me $200. So he said, 'I'm just quitting,' and he quit cold turkey for about a year."
Alyson Hannigan's former house was a set in This Is Us
Alyson Hannigan and her family used to live in a California house that you may well have seen before, because it's been used in a number of Hollywood productions. According to the actor, the previous owners didn't actually live there, they just rented it out for filming. She and her husband vowed to put an end to this when they bought the 7,605-square-foot Encino property for $7.95 million in 2016. "When we moved in we were like, 'We will never do that. We know what productions do to locations,'" Hannigan told SiriusXM's "The Michelle Collins Show" (via Entertainment Tonight) in 2021. "I would say at least twice a month [we] get requests because the house is just known."
They ended up going back on their word when their neighbor — who just so happened to be a director on "This Is Us" — asked if they would consider letting the NBC show make use of the property. The Emmy Award-winning drama used the house before Hannigan and Alexis Denisof bought it (Justin Hartley's Kevin Pearson lives in it during the final seasons of the show) and they needed to get back in for some reshoots. "We were like, 'If we are ever going to do it, we would do it for that show 'cause it's so good,'" Hannigan explained. "Not only did they give us our house back in wonderful shape, they fixed things that I had damaged." Hannigan and Denisof sold the famous house for $16 million in 2022, more than double what they paid for it.