Comedienne Chelsea Handler has claimed to have believed the sun and the moon were the same celestial entities until the age of 40 when her sister corrected her.
Handler, age 47, made her startling admission to late-night host Jimmy Fallon ahead of her hosting the Critics Choice Awards show this past Sunday. Handler gave no clarification as to whether or not she was joking, revealing she believed well past her 30s the sun and moon were both the same.
“This is true. I didn’t know until I was 40 years old that the sun and the moon were not the same thing,” Handler said.
Handler said her epiphany came while she and her sister were riding elephants in Africa.
“My older sister Simone looked up at the sky, and she said, ‘Chelsea, look up. It’s not often you get to see the sun and the moon at the same time,'” Handler recalled of the moment. “I was like Scooby Doo. I’m like, ‘Ruh, what?'”
“I go, ‘Wait, but they’re always together,’ and as soon as I said that, she turned around and she goes, ‘What did you say?’ And I was like, ‘Oh, shut up, shut up, shut up.’ I knew what I said was wrong. I was like, ‘Let’s canter. Is that what an elephant does,’ ” she continued.
Handler said she tried to “gloss over” the moment before explaining to her sister she always believed the sun would go down and then just pop back up as the moon as if it were a costume change.
“She looked at me … and I just tried to gloss over it. I was like, ‘Never mind what I said. I know.’ And she said, ‘No, I need you to tell me what you think is happening between the sun and the moon.’ And I was like, ‘Honestly, I just assumed when the sun went down, it popped back up as the moon.’ I’m like, ‘Is that not what’s happening?’ The man riding the elephant spoke no English and went, ‘Pfft!'” Handler said.
Chelsea did eventually go on to host the awards show on Sunday night where she proceeded to plug her beloved abortion cause.
“I’m just happy to be here tonight, supporting the critics’ right to choose,” she said. “At least someone still has the choice, unless they’re a female critic and then it just depends on what state they live in.”