Menounos Stops by for Visit

TV Personality, Medford Native Working on Hometown Feature

At left, Maria Menounos grins after receiving a Key to the City from Mayor Michael McGlynn. Courtesy photo.

– Allison Goldsberry

Medford native and TV personality Maria Menounos was in town Tuesday shooting a feature on her hometown for her new show, Access Hollywood. The 30-year-old actress and entertainment news correspondent recently joined the show after spending three years on Entertainment Tonight.

Medford’s arguably most glamorous resident was busy running around town shooting video of various spots and interviewing old friends for the feature. She caught up with Mayor Michael McGlynn, who said they spoke about what makes the city of Medford a great place to live.

“The first thing that makes us great is the people who are here,” said McGlynn.

McGlynn said he met with Menounos and her parents for a half hour and they discussed the city’s rich history and its commitment to green causes, something near and dear to the heart of Menounos, host of “Hollywood Green with Maria Menounos.”

“I thought she was very happy to be home,” said McGlynn.

Menounos has agreed to come back to Medford this winter when it attempts to break its own Guinness Book of World Record mark for most people caroling for the longest time. Menounos will flip the switch to turn on the lights, something she did back in 1996 when she was Miss Massachusetts.

McGlynn presented Menounos with a Key to the City for her charity work. Menounos founded Take Action Hollywood! in an effort to mobilize celebrities to support various causes. Menounos has been active in supporting diabetes research, AIDS relief awareness, and preventing animal cruelty, among other causes.

Menounos is a 1996 Medford High School graduate who went on to Emerson College before launching a TV and movie career. She has appeared in several movies and TV shows and is the youngest person ever to co-host Entertainment Tonight and the Today Show and to report for NBC Nightly News.

While a student at MHS, Menounos played basketball, sang in the church choir, and worked for Dunkin’ Donuts. Mayoral aide Lisa Evangelista, assistant cheerleading coach, said Menounos recalled with some sadness about how her over-protective Greek parents refused to allow her to become a cheerleader in high school.

They also did not allow her to date, and because of this she was voted “Class Heartbreaker” by her MHS classmates.

Menounos’ Medford feature should air on Access Hollywood sometime in late September.