30 Celebrity Encounters So Awkward, You Can Feel The Secondhand Embarrassment A Mile Away
There are a handful of reactions that one typically assumes when meeting a celebrity. Usually, folks either get starstruck and (or) try to play it cool so as to not draw attention to this one-of-a-kind encounter. Why? Well, a lot of things can happen. Probably awkwardness and embarrassment because you’re starstruck.
Folks online have been and will continue to talk about these particularly oof moments with celebrities. So, scroll down to read the best stories from Redditors.
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I hurt Han Solo's feelings. I was walking down 3rd St. Promenade in Santa Monica, and my girlfriend looked up and said: 'Look! There's Harrison Ford over there!' I looked up and said I didn't see him. My girlfriend pointed adamantly and loudly: 'Over there! It's Han Solo!' My response was: 'What — that old guy?' at which point Harrison Ford looked directly at me — he had heard. His face dropped, and I feel bad to this day.
Working on a reality TV show filming at Sundance. Went to a party in the evening hosted by Sting and at some point went to the bathroom and started to use the urinal. Mid-p**s someone pushes in next to me, literally pressing me out of the way and starts pissing in the same urinal. I'm thinking "who the hell does something like this?" I look up and meet eye to eye with a rather inebriated Sting.
So yeah, crossed streams with Sting when I crashed his Sundance Party and missed the opportunity of a lifetime to tell Sting not to stand so close to me.
Back when Avril Lavigne was newly famous, I was walking to the Art Gallery of Ontario in Toronto. There was a woman in front of me with her a**-crack hanging out, wearing punk clothes. I said to my friend: 'Oh, look: It's another f**king Avril wannabe.' The woman turned around and shouted: 'I AM AVRIL!' And it was.
It goes without saying that celebrities are people too. As such, they roam the same streets, breathe the same air (essentially), eat the same food (also essentially), and do pretty much everything else any other human does (again, essentially). So, they are for all intents and purposes deserving of the same neutral and polite behavior any other stranger would get if they were sighted randomly in the streets.
I was part of a college press circuit doing a group interview of the stars of Death To Smoochy.
At the end of the whole thing, which took place in a hotel in L.A., I was waiting for the valet to bring my car up. Prepared for this, I had a five dollar bill folded and palmed, ready to give a tip. Next thing you know, Robin Williams came out to wait for his SUV, we made eye contact and he went to shake my hand. Starstruck and forgetful of my fiver, I shook his hand and slipped it in his. He just stared at it for a second, looking at it, then back at me, then back at it, and had a look on his face akin to "You want me to tell a joke or something?" We had a good awkward laugh about it and parted ways.
By the way - if you get Robin Williams and Danny DeVito in the same room together, be prepared to have your abdominal muscles hurt like hell the day after from laughing so hard.
This one comes from my friend's Dad, who is an academic who travels a lot for his job.
One day, when returning from a conference in Sydney, he is waiting in the business lounge when he spots a familiar-looking man. He racks his brains trying to figure where he knows him from, and decides to go over to find out (it would be rude to ignore him).
Prof: Hi, you look awfully familiar. Were you at the conference this week for International Trade Law?
Man: Uh, no, I wasn't.
Prof: Oh, we have definitely met before though. I'm Professor ***, from X University?
Man: Um, I don't think we've met.
Prof: I definitely know you. Are you in law?
Man: No, I'm not.
Prof: Well, I must have seen you at a conference somewhere. You're American, which university are you with? Or your colleagues, maybe you have a supervisor I might recognise the name of...?
Man: ...I don't work at a university.
Prof: Well, what is your name at least?
Man: Matt Damon.
facepalm
This sounds a bit rude. He said it would be rude to ignore him, then interrogates a stranger at an airport!
Worked security for the rich and famous in the late 90s in Arizona. Had to pull duty at the main entrance. No one was around. Usually people did not walk around the entrance. They drove though. I was blasting System of a Down while doing my college homework. Out of nowhere Sandra Bullock walks up to me and asks. What band am I listening to and why are they so angry? I was in shock. I apologized and turned my radio down. I thought I was going to loose my job. She smiled and casually walked away.
If you, however, need a refresher on how to best approach the situation of having sighted a celebrity, consider exercising appropriate methods of approach.
Arguably the best thing that you can do when a celebrity is nearby is to ignore them. This is considered a classic approach, one that doesn’t impose any sort of commitment on either side of the encounter and hence leaves it at that.
Met my favourite hockey player. I was very flustered. And so i turned to him and said "soooo....do you like hockey?"
What a pick up line.
My family was actually in Hawaii when Pearl Harbor was being shot and Cuba Gooding Jr. was staying in our hotel. The first night we went down to the pool and there he was in the hot tub with a plethora of hot women. Instead of the usual... "Hey Cuba! I loved Snow Dogs!" I said, "Aren't you married?" I immediately regretted it. I wasn't trying to be a douche :/ It just slipped.
Tldr; Cock blocked Cuba Gooding JR.
I'm sure OP did not C-block CGJ, probably most of those hot women wouldn't care if he was married or not!
Not mine but my ex wife once peed on Jon Bon Jovi. She was 2 years old. Her uncle did charter fishing tours and I guess he was into it at the time. They asked if he wanted to see the baby. He held her and she picked that time to pee.
Ignoring means adopting an indifferent expression (and, maybe, even preferably an attitude too). Don’t focus on them, but rather on anything else that’s unrelated to them until they are out of sight and life moves on.
The upside of this is that you don’t succumb to the temptations that second hand fame does, all the while respecting and protecting their privacy. Now, if they’re the kind of celebrity who thrives on attention, then you might consider another tactic.
I live in the same building as Kate Mulgrew from Star Trek: Voyager, and she called my father for help with her leaking sink (he's the super). Since none of my brothers were around, he asked me to come up and help him. So while my dad was carefully removing the pipe, the water started leaking more frequently. He told me he had to run downstairs and get some more tools, and told me to place a bucket under the sink and wait for him. As soon as he left, a stream of water started coming out of the pipe. I grabbed a monkey wrench and got under the sink, and I ended up turning the pipe the wrong way. I pulled so hard that whatever leftover water and gook was in there spilled all over my face. Just then, I heard the kitchen door open and I thought it was my dad. I sat up quickly from under the sink, hit my head, cursed loudly, and looked up at Daniel Radcliffe. F**k. Daniel Radcliffe: [Smirking]: 'Oh, hey, do you need help down there? Me: 'No, I just did something stupid. Hey, you're Harry Potter, right? (I was trying to act all cool). DR: 'I get that a lot, but no.' Me: 'You ARE f**king with me, right?' DR: 'You hit your head just now — you might be delusional.' Kate Mulgrew then walked in... KM: 'Hey, I see you've met Daniel! Here's that bucket you asked for!' DR: [Muttered goodbye and left quickly] It turned out that Kate Mulgrew was holding a post-Equus dinner party, thus why Daniel Radcliffe was there. TL;DR: I met Daniel Radcliffe covered in gook while I helped fix Kate Mulgrew's sink. It was very, very awkward.
I almost got ran over by Hugh Laurie. I glared at him, he held up his hands in apology, and we went our separate ways.
He probably would have found a cure for it, after a few snarky remarks!
Went to an LA Kings hockey game. Had great seats right down by the ice. Steven Spielberg was right in front of me. I noticed him, but left him alone. Late in the game the Kings scored a go-ahead goal. It was very exciting and I started trading high fives with people all around me. In my zeal I put my hand up by Spielberg — he looked appalled and left my high five hanging there. Very awkward.
Another etiquettally appropriate approach is to embrace the celebrity. Not literally, but verbally and without drawing attention, but also respecting them if they give you a celebrity equivalent of “leave, foolish peasant”.
In order to do this, you can casually and sincerely acknowledge their accomplishments. Make sure your conversation is not a committing one—more like small talk—and you’re done within a minute of chatter. This way, you get to speak with someone you admire, but there is always a non-zero chance of you being told off or ignored. So, high risk, high reward.
I once had a conversation with Colin Firth about asthma and carpets (I learned that his wife is asthmatic).
He was pretty chill tbh. I am a dwarf so I'm used to people being awkward around *me* more than anything but he was pretty much exactly how he is on screen.
Stephen Merchant on the other hand actually signed his autograph for me while using my head as a writing surface, that guy is bold as brass lol, but I loved it. It's refreshing to meet people who don't walk on eggshells around me. I wouldn't be surprised if his time with Warwick Davis had desensitised him.
I used to work event security, I was working backstage at a N-Sync concert. Now they had been there all day, multiple sound checks they put in work before a show. I also had barely any clue about the groups playing that night. So nice car pulls up out pop a really attractive blonde, big body guard next to her. Body guard is carrying 2 backstage passes so I just hit them with a polite can you make sure you're wearing them the bands have arrived. Dude flashes me a look, the girl just says ok smiles and waves. Few minutes later my boss comes out with the principals sheet. I just asked Brittny spears to wear a backstage pass. Boss thought it was hilarious I'd told him multiple times I didn't listen to pop music I have no idea who the people are I don't think he realized till that moment how serious I was.
Little more. N-sync had been there all day. We were on station at 5:30 and the tour bus was already there. Us backstage guys ended up interacting with them quite a bit. So when they left and JT gave me a signed backstage pass I thought nothing of it. Just a nice little thanks for throwing the nerf ball with us. Wasn't till I showing it to a friend of mine she noticed Brittany signed it as well. I had no clue they were dating. Maybe a little shade in that gift.
A group of my friends were eating at a dining hall at the same university Emma Watson went to. One of them started excitedly describing how she had spent her break rereading the Harry Potter books — as she was talking about all of her favorite parts, Emma Watson sat down in the booth directly behind her. My friend didn't notice, but the people across from her did. They goaded her into continuing this line of discussion for about 15 minutes before Emma finally got up and left. My friend was mortified.
There is also a more hands on approach that might be considered shady, but still kinda sorta viable because managers and other folk in the industry do be mingling like that, and that is luring a celebrity. By that, we mean if you’re in a social event or something, nonchalantly louden your own conversation to possibly make it irresistible to the celeb to ignore.
Once the attention is drawn, smile and see where that takes you. Who knows, they might join your table. They might also invite you to theirs. They might also not like that. Proceed with caution.
I saw Mel Gibson in Rome when I was in high school (before he went crazy, or at least before the public knew) He was eating at a sidewalk cafe. I meant to just wave but for some reason blurted out "Braveheart!" A bunch of people turned and recognized him. Angered with the attention I brought to his lunch he glared at me with a look of such hatred I thought he might actually get up and come after me. Just then, my Grandmother walked right up to him and snapped a picture of him point-blank. I kinda felt bad for bothering the guy until years later he revealed himself to be a racist, sexist alcoholic.
You can kinda see that that level of celebrity would suck the joy out of anybody's life... Not that it justifies anything, but you see why a lot of celebrities can't handle life anymore.
I was at a large book event and I had picked up a book and stood in line to pay. Or so I thought. Turns out I was actually standing in line to a book signing with a very famous author. The one I had picked up was not by him.
Imagine when they book gets donated to a thrift store and someone else picks it up. They're going to be so confused when they get a book written by one author, and signed by another famous one lol
I was visiting New York City and walking around with friends — it was pretty late, but the streets were still bustling. We walked by a group of people crowding by this building and asked them what was going on. Well, it was the GE Building (30 Rock, if you will) and Saturday Night Live just ended. The people were waiting to get their picture taken with the cast and get an autograph. Just as this was being explained to us, Tina Fey walked out (this was before 30 Rock, so she wasn't as famous yet — but she was my favorite member of the SNL cast at the time). So, I eagerly asked her for a picture. She's fairly small and I'm a pretty big guy, so I thought the picture would be hilarious. Well, just as we were taking the picture, I accidentally stepped on her toes really hard. I was apologetic, but she was clearly (and rightfully) unhappy and walked away. The picture was just her grimacing in pain.
Another quasi-questionable tactic is using your kids. We say quasi because it can happen naturally that your kids become friends with the kids of the celebrity, this might become your ticket to befriending the celebrity too.
The potential for unlimited play dates is certainly there, and it’s even better if you’re not the one initiating them, but don’t count on kids being friends to ultimately mean you’re gonna be friends with the celeb. So, be ready to accept defeat too.
When I lived in New York City, I used to live in the same building as Regis Philbin. It was July 2007, and I had just taken the Graduate Record Examinations for the first time. I did terribly (you get your scores right after the test is finished), and I was really, really mad. So, I decided to go to the gym when I got back to my apartment. I got home, changed my clothes, was still fuming, and got in the elevator (keep in mind that I was still in a terrible mood). I had to fart really badly and was just like: 'F**k it. Who cares? I failed my GRE, nothing can be worse.' So I let one rip, and it remains one of the most foul farts I have ever released (I mean, rotten-egg smell). It made my eyes water. So, I am in the elevator alone choking on my own fart when suddenly the elevator stopped and opened, and who should get on but Regis Philbin. My fart flew at him and engulfed him, and I had no one to blame it on — it was obviously me. I was horrified, I turned bright red, and ran out of the elevator. So, yeah: That is how I met Regis for the first time!
Back in 1990, I was staying at a very expensive hotel in San Diego. Early one morning, while waiting for my wife to get ready, I went down to their patio area facing the beach to drink coffee and read the morning paper.
I am sitting there, and from the corner of my eye I see a couple walking on the beach, coming toward me. Since it is early, me and the couple are the only people near the beach. I keep an eye on them as they get closer, over the top of my paper, until they are just about in front of me when I glance up.
Paul and Linda McCartney.
They are holding hands and walking barefoot. Paul smiles at me and Linda says "Good Morning". I am so shocked that all I can manage to do is give them a weak wave and a "hey" before they stroll off.
I run back up to my room and tell my wife who: 1. Doesn't believe me at first and 2. Chastises me for not asking for an autograph.
Met Charlie Sheen at a nonprofit event during his peak wild time. He brought his fiancé. I was the person sent out to greet them and bring them to their seats so they could get in without being stopped by other attendees.
Me: Hi Charlie, I’m here to take you inside and direct you to your seats
Charlie: Hi. What’s your name?
Me: Carly, nice to meet you
Charlie: …stares blankly like I’m an enormous idiot…no, *I’m* Charlie. I asked for *your* name
Me: uhhhh, it’s Carly. Like your name? With no H? (at this point I’m starting to get really anxious about having him standing outside for too long and just want to get moving)
Him: Ohhhhhhhhh. Righteous (flashes peace sign)
And then he let me lead them inside. I was an absolute wreck for that entire event but he was incredibly well behaved for the whole thing.
Lastly, there’s always, you know, the old fashioned intellectual charisma approach. You know, if you’re chilling at the pool and they are chilling nearby and you’re both reading a book—not even a Kindle, but an actual book. And not something banal, but a proper good book. That alone could be a good conversation starter, and if that doesn’t work out, hey, you’re reading a good book. Sure, you might be disappointed in their taste in books, but when was reading a book a bad thing?!
I was at a bar in Hollywood tonight, and was talking with this girl. Another guy comes up, and it's clear they know each other, and he joins in the conversation. After awhile, she talks about how her friend had her first concert not too long ago, and it was a Backstreet Boys concert. I laugh a bit at how a 27 year old has that as her first concert. The girl starts asking "Are you laughing about the Backstreet Boys? Don't you know who this guy is? He's a Backstreet Boy!" I don't believe her at first, and say so. He then puts out his hand and goes "Hi, I'm A.J." Sure enough, it clicked, and I was just laughing about the Backstreet Boys in front of a Backstreet Boy. He was actually cool about it, but def was a foot in mouth moment.
a friend saw christian bale at the end of the block. and my friend being very animated smile really big and was clearly headed over to him. Halfway there christian mouthed "don't" and my friend left him alone.
Mike Tyson at the Bellagio sea food buffet. I was inebriated and piling a plate super high. I was also eating food off the plate as I walked around the buffet. Suddenly I looked to my left and said with my mouth full:
"eeeeeh, you're Ike Typhon."
He looked at me like a crazy person and walked away.
In MGM, I physically ran into Manny Pacquiao and knocked him back while turning around in the walkway and immediately had two 7' 300+ lbs bodyguards slam me against the wall and ask who I work for (this was the week before his fight with Mayweather). Vegas is a great place for celeb sightings but be careful who you might run into!
Since there’s always a risk-reward situation with these, consider what you would do if you were the celebrity. Would you want people approaching you? That alone could be your answer to whether you should utilize any of these tactics.
Any approach, even mere recognition, might run the risk of upsetting them, which can mean a number of other things.
Standing in front of a hotel with Will Ferrel, awkwardly looking at him recognizing that I recognized him. He was cool though…I however was not.
I was with my ex-girlfriend having ice cream before going to a comedy club in northern Kentucky, when this petite woman walked by with a couple of women. We watched her go by and I said: 'That woman looks like Natalie Portman.' She sat down at a table nearby and I looked again (it's important to know I have an enormous crush on Natalie Portman because of the Star Wars movies). In fact, my ex and I came to an agreement that I wasn't allowed to cheat on her unless it was with Natalie Portman. So, I started to slightly freak out, calmed down eventually, and went over to ask Natalie if she was indeed my biggest celebrity crush. I gave her the usual 'big fan' praises, then excused myself so as not to disturb her when she was enjoying a night out with her family. Later while we were waiting to be let into the comedy club, who should appear right behind us in line but Natalie f**king Portman (she had the same plan as us). "We were assigned to sit at the table right next to hers, and several times during the night she accidentally leaned back against me. It felt bizarre and surreal, because what the hell was Natalie Portman doing in northern Kentucky sitting next to me?! Anyway, the awkward part was that the comedy club did a forced audience participation bit where they grabbed a random person and yanked them onstage to play a part in a sketch. Of course they grabbed me, so just try to imagine performing in front of an actor you've had a crush on for about a decade, and you'll have an idea of the kind of star-struck anxiety I had while I was there. The performers had the foresight to realize that an unwitting addition to the troupe would likely be awkward and confused, though, so I fit the part pretty well.
My mum was at the airport browsing the newspapers at a kiosk and some guy reached past her head really close to grab something. He said sorry and took it to go pay. My mum was a bit annoyed until she saw it was Peirce Brosnan.
Besides that, if you are in the business yourself, don’t approach a celebrity to try and further your own career. The celebrities might not have the power to do much for you anyway. And since nobody likes ads, you pushing your brand randomly sounds like an awkward situation to be in, celebrity or not.
Many years ago I walked into an elevator at the Hyatt in Vancouver and Chuck Norris was standing there with what I was told later, his brother. They glared at me and I got the message loud and clear that they wanted to be left alone. In the summer, Kim Coates is my neighbour……I had no idea who he was for years and used to tell him some pretty f****d up jokes when I was drunk. He’s a nice guy and we all leave him alone.
Was at a funeral with Stevie Wonder for a mutual acquaintance, and my dad awkwardly went up and was like "Um, Mr. Wonder, I love your music, it affected my life a lot when I was younger," and it was just painful.
Saw Dave Chappelle at a random train station in Tokyo shortly after he left Comedy Central. He left and we didn't want to be too forward because he was in his weird time. So we just followed him on the streets for a few mins until he realized we were stalking him and he said, "Hey Guys!" We told him how much we loved his show and asked for a pic. He said make it quick and we all jumped in. We said thanks and I was the last one to talk to him and I told him to "Keep it real." His response in his Biggums voice, "I Keeps it real!"
Note: this post originally had 42 images. It’s been shortened to the top 30 images based on user votes.
So, what are your thoughts on any of this? Have you ever encountered a celebrity and it went south really quickly? Share your takes and stories in the comment section below.
And it doesn’t have to stop there as there’s always more entertainment to be had in terms of celebrities and awkwardness.
I hadn't been in Nashville long, but I got the opportunity to work in a studio as a (sort-of) producer in a studio in Hendersonville, TN, just north of Nashville. While I was working with the musicians in the music room, a fellow came into the control room and took my seat at the control board. When I returned, he said, "OH, i'm sorry. I've got your seat," and got up and sat in a chair behind me, and I took back my seat. He had a really distinct voice, but I was busy doing the session and didn't say much else to him at first. And it took me about 15 minutes to realize he was Johnny Cash. I've read a lot of nice things about him through the years and I can say none of it was exaggerated....he was a terrific guy. I still remember how he encouraged me and "puffed me up" about my production abilities. "You work good with musicians, and that's rare," he said. Those kind words stuck with me for my entire humble career.
A rare entertainer and human. He will be missed incredibly.
Load More Replies...
In 2005, I went to two Tori Amos shows, pregnant. At the second, we went to the meet-n-greet where, unbeknownst to me, my best friend (RIP) had planned to ask her to sign his beloved, prized guitar with a dedication to my unborn daughter. We got up to Tori, who asked, "OK, am I signing the guitar? Who am I signing it to?" My best friend put his hand on my belly, and said, "You're signing it to this fetus right here." And Tori turned her gorgeous eyes and looked right at me, kinda laughed, and said, "Oh, hi!" I looked back at her and said, ".................." I was completely starstruck and every word I knew immediately flew out of my head. Years later, I saw video of the event where I did tell her how to spell my daughter's name, so I did say something to her; but never what her music means to me or how much I treasure her. Just totally blanked!
Back in 2012, the NATO summit was in Chicago and I was able to go to the Belgian/American club reception for then Belgian prime minister Elio Di Rupo. As he was coming down the reception line, everyone before me talked to him in French. They were Belgian. I am American and didn't know French (I'm working on it). So he gets to me. I say Bonjour. He asks me a question in French which was more than likely how are you. But I panicked and shrugged while "Chicago?" flies out of my mouth. Luckily he laughed, confirmed I don't speak French, thanked me for trying and gave me a hug. He was really nice.
I hadn't been in Nashville long, but I got the opportunity to work in a studio as a (sort-of) producer in a studio in Hendersonville, TN, just north of Nashville. While I was working with the musicians in the music room, a fellow came into the control room and took my seat at the control board. When I returned, he said, "OH, i'm sorry. I've got your seat," and got up and sat in a chair behind me, and I took back my seat. He had a really distinct voice, but I was busy doing the session and didn't say much else to him at first. And it took me about 15 minutes to realize he was Johnny Cash. I've read a lot of nice things about him through the years and I can say none of it was exaggerated....he was a terrific guy. I still remember how he encouraged me and "puffed me up" about my production abilities. "You work good with musicians, and that's rare," he said. Those kind words stuck with me for my entire humble career.
A rare entertainer and human. He will be missed incredibly.
Load More Replies... In 2005, I went to two Tori Amos shows, pregnant. At the second, we went to the meet-n-greet where, unbeknownst to me, my best friend (RIP) had planned to ask her to sign his beloved, prized guitar with a dedication to my unborn daughter. We got up to Tori, who asked, "OK, am I signing the guitar? Who am I signing it to?" My best friend put his hand on my belly, and said, "You're signing it to this fetus right here." And Tori turned her gorgeous eyes and looked right at me, kinda laughed, and said, "Oh, hi!" I looked back at her and said, ".................." I was completely starstruck and every word I knew immediately flew out of my head. Years later, I saw video of the event where I did tell her how to spell my daughter's name, so I did say something to her; but never what her music means to me or how much I treasure her. Just totally blanked!
Back in 2012, the NATO summit was in Chicago and I was able to go to the Belgian/American club reception for then Belgian prime minister Elio Di Rupo. As he was coming down the reception line, everyone before me talked to him in French. They were Belgian. I am American and didn't know French (I'm working on it). So he gets to me. I say Bonjour. He asks me a question in French which was more than likely how are you. But I panicked and shrugged while "Chicago?" flies out of my mouth. Luckily he laughed, confirmed I don't speak French, thanked me for trying and gave me a hug. He was really nice.
