Jamie Lee Curtis calls herself ‘Scrooge’s slightly slutty sister’

Jamie Lee Curtis is the gift that keeps on giving, even if she thinks she’s more of a Scrooge.

The Halloween and True Lies actress brought gifts for each of the cohosts on Dec. 20’s episode of The View. “Tis the season,” she announced, her cheerful smile slowly transforming into a mischievous grin. “Stay out of everybody’s business. Because I am that girl. I am Scrooge’s slightly slutty sister.”

Joy Behar, Alyssa Farrah Griffin, Sunny Hostin, and Sara Haines erupted in laughter, with Behar ribbing, “slightly?” “Hey now!” Curtis cried out. “I’m an old married lady, as you know. But back in the… you know. I am a little Scroogey.”

Curtis explained that “Here in New York City, the tree, it’s beautiful. I get the feeling of it, it’s just, there’s so much obligation. I feel like I feel about the beauty industry, which I think is called the beauty industrial complex. And the same way I feel about the cosmeceutical industry [a portmanteau of cosmetics and pharmaceuticals], which is the cosmeceutical complex. I also feel that way about the holiday industrial complex, which makes you feel as if you don’t do more, somehow you’re not good enough. And I gotta tell you, I’m just over it.”

The actress may be “over” the holidays, even casting herself in the mold of Charles Dickens’ Ebeneezer Scrooge, A Christmas Carol‘s embodiment of miserly, anti-yuletide resentment. But she hands out more gifts than practically any public figure of her stature, whether to the cast of The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills (“really very chic”), to famous friends after major medical events, or at big, gala-style charity events.

The gifts Curtis brought to the View ladies, the Beverly Hills cast, and on many other occasions, come from her My Hand In Yours charitable foundation, which she launched in 2020. All of the proceeds from My Hand In Yours’ sales of small gifts like wind chimes and tote bags go to Children’s Hospital Los Angeles. Curtis has supported the Hosptial for decades, organizing donation drives, charitable triathaons, and the like.

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Curtis has also appeared in several films with Christmas themes and Christmastime settings. She starred in the classic, Christopher Columbus-penned Christmas With the Kranks, though that does see Curtis’ Nora and husband Luther (Tim Allen) get ostracized from their entire community for, essentially, acting like Scrooges.

Then there’s 1983 farce Trading Places, in which Curtis plays a memorable role in the infamous Christmas party scene alongside Dan Aykroyd and Eddie Murphy. Curtis may not feel suited to the holiday season, but the holiday season is certainly suited to her.

The View will be on break starting Dec. 23 but will return Jan. 6, 2025. The show airs weekdays at 11 a.m. ET/10 a.m. PT on ABC.