'What is going on!' Sharon Stone, Jessica Alba find a '10-foot-long Komodo dragon loose on the street' — or is it?
Beverly Hills has it all: amazing shopping, yummy chow, celebs aplenty, and, oh, jaywalking lizards.
Celebrities were freaking out over the weekend to see this critter taking a leisurely stroll around their posh 90210 neighborhood. Sharon Stone, who was clearly alarmed, shared video of it wandering around her ’hood.
This is walking up my street!!!! What is going on!!!!!!! pic.twitter.com/w9eT8pyYWQ
— Sharon Stone (@sharonstone) June 4, 2018
Jessica Alba, who moved into the neighborhood last year, shared footage of the “jaywalking” reptile after it was captured. The animal control officer can be heard in the background asking an onlooker, “Is this yours, sir?”
A post shared by Jessica Alba (@jessicaalba) on Jun 3, 2018 at 6:02pm PDT
Alba and Stone both speculated that it was a Komodo dragon — aka the “king of the lizards,” one of the largest types in the world, with a venomous bite. While it would be really out of place because their native habitat is the savanna grasslands in Indonesia — not the City of Angels — we were inclined to believe Stone. After all, her then-husband Phil Bronstein was attacked by one at the Los Angeles Zoo in 2001. He was on a private tour of the zoo (a gift from Stone) and was in the Indonesian lizard’s cage when the reptile mistook his foot for a white rat — a typical dinner — and attacked. And, yes, #TrueStory.
It was a ten foot long Komodo dragon loose on the street!
— Sharon Stone (@sharonstone) June 4, 2018
Animal control finally picked him up. So dangerous!
— Sharon Stone (@sharonstone) June 4, 2018
However, we reached out to some experts who said not to believe the venomous hype. San Diego Zoo ambassador Rick Schwartz told Yahoo Entertainment, “Given the size and location, this is most likely someone’s pet water monitor. They are in the same lizard family as the Komodo dragon.” And National Geographic Channel reptile expert Brady Barr agreed. “Definitely not a Komodo dragon,” he told us. “Looks like a water monitor to me. Monitor lizards are quite common in pet trade.” He later narrowed it down to a “Nile monitor” and said that folks had nothing to worry about. “No big deal.”
The Beverly Hills Police Department shared on Monday that the monitor lizard, who is named Stephan (!), was later reunited with his owner after “escaping.”
A post shared by Beverly Hills Police Dept (@bhpd_90210) on Jun 4, 2018 at 9:00am PDT
Either way, many of Alba’s famous friends weighed in on the interloper. Reese Witherspoon commented, “Whattttt???!!!” and Chrissy Teigen joked, “This is all very normal.” Channing Tatum, who lived in the neighborhood before his split with Jenna Dewan, wrote, “Nooooo!! Your joking,” to which Alba replied, “I wish.” Other commenters included Busy Philipps, January Jones, Rebecca Gayheart, director Len Wiseman, stylist Rachel Zoe, and former soccer player Robbie Rogers, who is also a neighbor.
The comments from nonfamous folks were amusing as well, especially these GIFs:
Come back to mama now….. pic.twitter.com/yyLOwiWYxK
— Scott G (@ScottGuilmette) June 4, 2018
— Samuel Blondahl (@SamuelBlondahl) June 4, 2018
Remake of The Freshman? pic.twitter.com/OeXLpmAEEn
— Abigail Wood Pascual (@bigbuddhaswife) June 4, 2018
I don’t know but one thing is certain. It’s not your street anymore. It…belongs to him now. pic.twitter.com/zouxPEERkA
— Peter Dukes – Filmmaker (@PeterHDukes) June 4, 2018
Earlier this year, Stone showed off her home in Architectural Digest and revealed that the reason she moved to the neighborhood in the 1990s was that her home is gated and super-secure, something she needed after a series of “crazy stalkers” started to bother her after Basic Instinct. This creature takes that to a whole other level.
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