There’s no better gift than a new pet! Whether searching for the perfect birthday or holiday present, many stars often turn to a four-legged companion to surprise their loved ones.
“It’s Bella’s 4th Birthday today!!!! All she has wanted for soooo long is a kitty, so we adopted one today,” Bachelor in Paradise’s Carly Waddell wrote via Instagram in February 2022, alongside a snap of her daughter and the new feline. “Welcome to the family Sir Kroger Opryland Waddell. (If you know Bella…it’s no surprise she named him after her favorite grocery store 🤣 Who else out there is a cat person???? Cuz y’all are about to get some MAJOR kitty-gram!”
The Nashville resident — who shares daughter Bella and son Charlie with estranged husband Evan Bass — also couldn’t help but gush over their new family pet, adding, “He is sooooo sweet!!!!”
Waddell is not the only celebrity to adopt a furry friend to give as a gift. Priyanka Chopra Jonas, for her part, surprised husband Nick Jonas with their second dog. (The twosome are also proud puppy parents to Diana and Panda.)
“Please meet our new pup @ginothegerman I haven’t stopped smiling since I woke up this morning and finally realized what was going on,” the Jonas Brothers crooner, who welcomed a daughter with the Quantico alum in January 2022, wrote via Instagram in November 2019. “Thank you @priyankachopra ❤️ 🐕.”
Margot Robbie was equally as shocked when her Suicide Squad costar Jared Leto gave her a pet rat, affectionally named Rat Rat.
“If Harley [Quinn] got something from Joker [Leto’s character], she’d probably cherish it,” the Australia native told Elle magazine in July 2015.
While the Birds of Prey star treasured her new animal companion, costar Viola Davis was startled by its presence.
“I was saying loudly, ‘Don’t open the box!’ I was halfway out the door when she opened the box and saw the biggest black rat you could imagine,” the How to Get Away With Murder alum told British Vogue in June 2021 about her experience on set of the 2016 movie. “Then, she cooed at it. No fear. Open. Receptive. Full of joy.”
What started as a “prank,” according to Davis, soon became Robbie’s beloved pet.
“We called him Rat Rat. He liked beer and bath time. And then the landlord of the place I was renting found I had a rat and said Rat Rat had to go,” the I, Tonya actress explained via a July 2021 appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live! “And so then Jai Courtney, who plays Captain Boomerang, he said, ‘I’ll take Rat Rat,’ and then his landlord wasn’t cool with that either, and so then one of the costumers on the job took Rat Rat, and then she had to give Rat Rat away, and Rat Rat, she gave it to Guillermo Del Toro‘s daughters apparently. So in the end, Rat Rat is a bit of a starf—ker, really.”
Scroll below to see which stars have given or received pets as gifts: