44 People Who Met Celebrities Reveal What They’re Actually Like

Fans may feel like they know a lot about their beloved celebrities, but with every secret and scandal that breaks out in the media, they’re proven time and time again how little they’re actually informed about them. What we see on social media and in interviews involving famous people is only a little curated piece of who they actually are. So when fans get to meet them in real life, they often learn things that they weren’t expecting, both good and bad.  People under this popular thread shared stories exactly about that, ranging from wholesome to not-so-much. Scroll down to find them below, and don’t forget to upvote your favorite ones.

Not me and not met, but a close friend was working on an animal welfare documentary in the UK years ago and wrote to David Attenborough’s management asking if he would be involved. She received a many page long handwritten letter from David where he politely declined because he had too many other projects at the time, and then told her all about the family of hedgehogs living in his garden.

Image credits: Spyduck37

I was local crew for a Weird Al concert several years ago. Al walked up to me and asked if I was from the area. I said yes and tried not to fall to my knees and start worshiping him Wayne’s World style. He asked what’s some good places to take his kids. I recommend the local zoo because they just opened a new sloth exhibit. We talked about sloths for a while and he shook my hand and thanked me for the advice. He was incredibly normal and nice.

Image credits: halfhalfnhalf

I escorted Gary Sinise around for a day. He was the nicest guy, he stopped and talked to every Soldier and would actively listen to them and get to know their stories. We chatted for a while in the vehicles as we were transported from training site to training site.

I first saw him getting off his private plane and he was carrying his own bags which shocked me. You could run into him and never know he was a celebrity.

There isn’t another Celebrity I respect more than Gary.

Image credits: anon

I met and chatted with Michelle Obama briefly. What a queen. She’s as beautiful and amazing as you would expect.

Image credits: tgc17

Tom Hanks comes to the restaurant I bartend at fairly regularly with his writing company. Everyone who waits on him says he’s insanely nice, and if he pays, he always tips at least a bill.

Image credits: mattinlosangeles

Paul McCartney is an incredibly nice guy. Great tipper, jokes around as if he wasn’t in the most famous band of all time. Total class act, every time I’ve seen him.

Image credits: ComboBreakerrr

BB King was a sincerely nice man. Not pretentious at all. BB shook my hand, said thanks, and let me touch Lucille!

He asked if I needed anything and if he could get me anything, and I told him no, but I told him that I didn’t want to hold Lucille, but I’d like to just touch it. He kind of laughed and walked over with it, and let me touch it briefly.

At the time, I had no idea how rare that was, and when I learned that he rarely allowed anyone to touch Lucille, I kind of felt bad for asking, but I’m glad I got to do it.

Image credits: Cincyme333

I went to a con and met Linda Hamilton in an elevator. I had ordered a pizza and went down to the lobby to pick it up. She rode up with me and the pizza.

I didn’t recognize her and she looked ad 6 foot 4 inch me and the pizza and said “I’m gonna beat you up and steal your pizza.”

We both laughed and she got off and wished me a good con. I then recognized her and saw her the next day and offered her the leftovers, she remembered and we both had a good laugh!

Image credits: DaOsoMan

Sisters best friend used to be a butler at a hotel in Sydney. My favourite story is when she met Jack Black. He got into the room, pointed at the dining table and went “wow that’s a big table, I’m gonna have to hire some friends” and then while she was unpacking his clothes she started folding a pair of his jeans and he went “those are my fancy pants” apparently super nice dude, tipped her like $1,000 by slipping it to her in a handshake. She was never allowed to tell anyone about the celebrity guests until they had well and truly left the hotel.

Image credits: CarFullOfRadios

Not me but my dad. He filmed a Nirvana gig, and Kurt Cobain spat on dad’s camera lens and gave the camera finger. My dad was annoyed as he didn’t really care for their music and owned the camera, but he was pleasantly surprised when Kurt came back over when the Kurt was no longer being filmed, he apologised to my dad, used some tissue to help wipe down the lens and explained how it was part of his act.

Image credits: ___Under_Score___

I worked at a pretty popular restaurant in Napa Valley through high school and college. Since celebrities are a normal occurrence, staff were never allowed to acknowledge them as celebrities, ask for autographs, etc. Well, Adam Sandler came in, and our 15 year-old host boy was just beaming with excitement. He couldn’t make it obvious or ask for an autograph or anything, or else he’d be fired. Adam, being the awesome guy he is, goes up to the boy as he was leaving our restaurant for the night. He looked at him, pointed in his face, and while handing him a $100 bill, yelled “You remember me for the rest of your life, kid!” with that HUGE Adam Sandler smile. It was epic.

Image credits: rosegamm

Cary and Barbara Grant, I spent a few days with them. I flew them around in my plane, went diving and for a drive and we had dinner with my family one evening.
A few days after they had headed back home, I got a phone call from the local paper and they wanted some follow up information (they had requested an interview with him while he was here). I found out he had acquiesced to their request if they would also include how much enjoyed flying with me in my lovely plane. AND to top this off a week later I received a letter from them which had photos Barbara took of him with each person I had hired to help cook and serve the dinner. They wanted to be sure I would get them to them. He was such an easy going fellow and had a warm and kind sense of humor and they were such a joy to share a few days with.

Image credits: attentiveaardvark

My stepfather helped build Andre the Giant’s house.

Said he was the sweetest guy in the world, and when the job was done he brought the whole crew out for steaks. He ate two steaks on his own and drank like six beers without even getting drunk. I don’t know how much this applies because I think most people know Andre was a sweetheart who was good at eating and drinking, but there you go.

Image credits: oh_boisterous

Lil Jon – beyond nice. So chill and kind to everyone.
Penn & Teller – super professional and hassle free.
Julianne Moore – kind, always smiling, friendly, easygoing
Michael Douglas – down to earth, bummed cigarettes off the crew and hung out with extras instead of his trailer
Ray Liotta – certifiably insane
Anna Gunn – friendly, sweet, outgoing and professional
JLo- I hope that [jerk] gets hit by a bus someday. She had two CREW fired for LOOKING AT HER.

Image credits: jyar1811

Not me, but my mom has students that have gone on to work in Hollywood (she teaches film) and they tell her all sorts of [things].

Apparently the reason Tom Cruise keeps getting jobs despite his utter insanity and Scientology connections is that he’s one of the most professional actors out there. He doesn’t [mess around], he doesn’t waste time: if you tell him to do something, he’ll do it. He’s apparently a pleasure to work with.

Dr. Phil, on the other hand, forbids anyone from making eye contact with him.

rondell_jones:

I also heard Tom Cruise is great with the support staff during filming, taking time to talk to everyone and even remembering people from previous films he’s worked with. Even though he might be crazy, when it comes the job of making movies, he’s a total professional.

Image credits: boopbaboop

Taught Chris Hemsworth’s oldest child on a pony a couple of times. He came with us on a walk one time and tried to crack a few jokes that neither his wife or I got. It was very awkward for about 5 minutes as he explained the joke.

Image credits: sarahawild94

My own story…

I played hockey with Michael Buble. I expected a stuck up rich dude who thought he was better than everyone. He wasn’t. He was so genuinely kind. And it’s not like he was putting on a show. It was just a bunch of people who mostly knew each other getting together to play hockey so he had no reason to be anyone but himself.

I ended up on his team for the game. We chatted on the bench after each shift. Super cool dude. Down to earth. We talked about his Christmas special and that year Bieber was on and I asked about Bieber low riding his pants and Michael just said “young kid, what can ya do?” But generally had good things to say about Bieber.

Most memorable moment was when my buddy and him talked, my buddy is really good at hockey, Michael says “here’s the deal, I’ll give you all the women you want and you give me your hockey skills.”

Michael sucks at hockey but is super cool.

Image credits: anon

Met with Bill Murray once. He said something hilarious, gave me incorrect directions, and then walked off looking like everybody’s favorite crazy uncle.

Image credits: NotReady2Adult

I didn’t work with celebrities, but Heather Locklear lived in my neighborhood in the early 90’s.

She herself wasn’t *bad*. It was her and her group of friends. They were the cattiest group of “frenemies” I have ever seen. The worst possible thing you could do was leave the room, lest they all start talking about how fat you looked in those pants or how badly you need Accutane.

The worst was my father. My father was not celebrity-shy. We lived in an area where you could see a famous person shopping at the supermarket. He went to Heather Locklear in the middle of Gelson’s one time. “Do I know you? You look *so* familiar.” She laughs. “I mean maybe we dated or something?” She keeps laughing. “You *sure*? What’s your name, Hannah? Helen? It’ll come to me…”

My father has no shame.

Image credits: anon

I ended up singing backup for Gladys Knight one time. She was super nice, called us all her children even though we were a bunch of nerdy white choir people who weren’t all that great at singing gospel style.

Image credits: captbasil

I worked security for Mac Miller and Ariana Grande was there, wanted to get food, and needed security. I volunteered and we went to a local restaurant. There was just about no one there so we just sat and ate and chatted. She’s not actually a mean or bratty person one on one, she was polite and the small talk was fine, pretty cool to talk to. Seemed like she liked that the place was empty. For someone who seems to *really* like attention, I got the impression that she *really* doesn’t.

Image credits: Damon_Bolden

Worked with Misha Collins when I was working for a campaign in Iowa. It was a get out the vote event, and he was just as nice as people say he is. Very clearly aware of who his fanbase is and who was going to be there, and very conscious of making sure that they had a good time. Very genuine and kind with everyone.

Image credits: mineowntelemachus

Prince was very funny. Meeting him was one of the strangest experiences of my life.
He was the sort of person whose very presence completely changed the atmosphere of any room he was in. It’s simply indescribable.
When you meet Prince, you don’t just walk up to him and say “hi, Prince, I’m NOT_a_famous_person_”
You are summoned. He addresses you by your full name, and you are allowed to speak to him.
Not because you couldn’t say something to him or because it’s forbidden, you just don’t feel *right* about speaking to him before you’re spoken to.
The man had a level of charisma that I’ve only seen in one other person I’ve met, that person being Bill Clinton.
When I met him he was wearing clothes made of a fabric I’d never seen before and I felt compelled to, but I didn’t dare touch because, you know, it’s Prince. And touching Prince is a faux pas in the highest degree.
He was wearing sunglasses, which is good because I think that if I had made eye contact with him I would have gone completely blind.
One thing that surprising was that he is not tall. He was shorter than me even though he was wearing very tall heels.

Everything you’ve ever heard about Prince is true. There was something different about that man. Some people have an aura. They have an energy that radiates around them which engulfs everything in the room. Unless you’ve been around somebody like Prince, you don’t understand what I’m talking about. You just don’t.

Image credits: NOT_a_famous_person_

My daughter went to an alternative high school for kids who had a hard time with mainstream high school. She has anorexia and major depressive disorder. Tyler Joseph (Twenty-One Pilots) comes in when he is in town because his mother is my daughter’s math teacher. He supports his mom and what she does for these kids. My daughter got to have a piece of his birthday cake.

Image credits: Processtour

I met Garth Brooks at a Red Robbins in Owasso, Oklahoma. He was having lunch with his family and I really did not want to bother him. However, being a huge fan since the 90s , I couldn’t help but keep looking over at him.

Towards the end of my meal with my family (I was home from college) the waitress said Mr. Brooks had picked up our bill. So, naturaly, we went over to thank him.

For the world’s highest selling artist, he is the nicest man on the planet. He signed my hat for me and even invited us back to his place for a tour of his studio when he learned that I was a fan. It was a great experience and I will cherish that memory my entire life.

Giancarlo Esposito (Gus Fring from Breaking Bad/Better Call Saul) used to live in a town a little ways away from my hometown growing up. The people who owned his house before he did used to host a Bernese Mountain Dog meetup/parade thing, which my family would go to because we had a Berner at the time (this was circa 2003-2005). When Giancarlo bought the house, he kept it up and even had the event catered and would hang out with all these random people and their dogs. We knew he was an actor who was on a bunch of TV shows, but he wasn’t very well known at the time (again, about 5 years before Breaking Bad); we just knew him as a really nice dude who was way more OK with metric tons of dog [feces] on his lawn than most human beings. Years later, my mom and I binge-watched Breaking Bad and she flipped out when she realized that Gus Fring had given her children cupcakes and complimented her dog.

Image credits: anon

When I was a kid I met Jason Momoa while in Hawaii. They were filming the first season of Baywatch Hawaii and some of the cast was staying at the resort we were in. Him and a couple of other guys came down and chilled in the jacuzzi in their red swim trunks (presumably to show off). I did know who he was then but he was a super cool dude and not nearly as big as he is now. I was a teenager and was a little bit bigger and more built than he was. They obviously make them look a little better on camera. Now I’m fat and he’s solid muscle so…

I remember asking if Pamela Anderson was there and he gave me her room number and told me to go knock and say hi. I did not do that.

Image credits: DirtyChito

I’ve worked with a lot of celebrities but became personal friends with Kelly Clarkson. She is without doubt the nicest, most humble person I have met in this industry. She’s incredibly sharp and witty and has a very dry and often dirty sense of humor, which I have to admit I was surprised by. Honestly, none of her success has affected her ego.

She’s also the most personally secure person I’ve met in this industry. She really doesn’t care what people have to say about her body, whether she’s gained weight or lost it. She almost never wears makeup and she doesn’t care if the paparazzi catch her without any. Most of the pictures she posts herself are without makeup. She has a thyroid issue, which causes her body weight to fluctuate, by the way. But she doesn’t let what other people think have any influence on her life.

She’s also an amazing mother. She doesn’t just hand her kids over to other people. She has help when she’s working but when she’s not, she and her husband are the parents and are doing a fantastic job. She’s also VERY generous. She leaves very large tips to servers in restaurants/bars because she used to be a cocktail waitress herself. She and her husband also pay for their entire family, band, crew and friends to go on incredible vacations at least once a year. As in my case, she’s the kind of person that you start out working with but soon becomes a good friend. Her husband is a great guy also. Manages both her and Blake Shelton. Nice man.

Image credits: sinceimanonymous

I met Henry Winkler while I was waiting for a table at a well known pizza place. He arrived alone to pick up takeout. My parents said hi and he chatted with my family until his food was ready. He was particularly excited that my brother was a fan of his series of children’s books. Pleasant guy, extremely personable.

My mom teaches Chris Rock’s daughter. He’s pretty down to earth. One time she brought in chocolates that he made and I got some. I have eaten chocolate handmade by Chris Rock lol.

Image credits: tastehbacon

John Legend was extremely humble and nice.

A lot of actors and musicians are really shy people when they’re not performing.

Image credits: anon

My college professor worked with Bryan Cranston two years ago on a show. She said he was super nice and humble.

Image credits: azick545

I work for a science fiction/fantasy convention in my area. one year, we had George R. R. Martin. He is basically what you expect, a funny, surly, dirty humored old man. Super fun to hang out/drink with.

Image credits: anteru

I met Dick Van Dyke at a hotel in Hot Springs, Arkansas. He was by far the nicest actor I have met. He allowed us to take pictures with him and my daughters. The best part, he had a bowl of Capt’n Crunch on his table from the breakfast buffet. He also had a book with him and I was a bit disappointed it wasn’t “Moby Dick”. Anybody over the age of 35 might understands the reference.

Of all celebs I have met, the one I remember most fondly was probably Robert Plant (Led Zeppelin). He was incredibly humble to his crew members, and incredibly nice to the people working at the event his band was playing (his solo tour, not the zeps) – He took time to say hi to anyone in the room, from the young kids running errands to the stage managers and the people in other bands playing that festival. Made a great impression on me to see an absolute legend being so humble and approachable.
The guys in Red Hot Chili Peppers and Muse were also incredibly nice people. Iggy Pop is one of the smartest people alive and a super classy dude. Steven Tyler was fun and also really nice to work with – these are a few that stand out.

Image credits: andreacaccese

On a throwaway because its privileged info.

George W Bush. Spent a LOT of time with that guy while he was the president and he was the nicest dude I ever met. Funny as hell too.

For instance, he is a super avid bicyclist, both road and mountain. And he could ride the pants off guys half his age without a problem. Well one of his daughters (I forget which one by now) had her SO along with her on a trip. Somewhere along the way cycling came up and the [trash] talking started. Ole George threw this kid down a cliff about how he can’t ride and he was going to ride circles around him. All in good fun but hilariously genuine.

So the next day they go out riding and Bush pushes him hard. Guy manages to keep up until he totally wipes out on a downward section of trail and busts up his bike. Bush leapt off his bike and pulled the guy to his feet while asking him if he was ok and all that. Full of concern. Then, he motions his bike to one of the agents, picks up the guys bike and carries it all the way up the hill to the road. A good 200 yard climb on a tough dirt trail. He would NOT let any agents take it from him.

Another time he would walk over to where we were working, sit down and [talk] for an hour. Asked us about our families, lives, dreams etc. Just a super personable guy.

During his tenure, any military member who worked in direct service to the president would get a picture in the oval office with him before we transferred to another assignment. We could also bring one family member. So I brought my father to the oval office to meet the president.

AND THE GUY **REMEBERED** SOMETHING I SAID ABOUT MY OLD MAN PROBABLY SIX MONTHS EARLIER.

I think my old man about had a heart attack.

Overall he was just a super personable dude. Would always stop to [talk] about random [stuff], held doors for people, picked up stuff that needed tidying. Everything you’d expect from a respectable southern guy, only, he was arguably the most powerful man on the planet. Didn’t stop him from remembering birthdays, sending cards and just being a good person.

Say what you want about his politics. I knew the MAN and he was awesome.

Andre 3000. This was over 15 years ago. When I was in high school, I worked a local family owned plant nursery. Andre, his wife, and their (then baby) boy used to come in and shop almost every weekend. He was a super nice guy. One time, he bought an entire pallet of sod. He had a brand new Lincoln Blackwood pickup truck, and the pallet wouldn’t fit in the bed with the forklift, so I had to load it by hand. He went in, bought a pair of gloves, came back out and helped me load it. Also told me that he was going to go home and lay it out by himself. Kind of shocking considering how much that guy is probably worth. Something that didn’t strike me at the time, that I now realize as an adult, was how good of a father he was. His son was just a baby, but man did he love that baby. Every time he would walk up to put a piece of sod in the bed of his truck, he would peek in the window and make a face at his son sitting in the back seat. The kid would cackle like a banshee. After we finished, he gave me a $100 tip, which, to a 15 year old in the early 2000s, was a ton of money. Truly a stand up guy and a very talented artist.

Served John Barrowman multiple times whilst working in a department store in Cardiff while he was filming Torchwood (classic ‘not quite the right request to the story, I know), but he was the most polite and talkative customer, a very welcome change to the regulars who have too much money and not enough manners!

Image credits: anon

Also, a certain lady whose name rhymes with Hennifer Harner talks [trash] about the extras when she thinks her mic isn’t on.

Image credits: JoanieO

Steven Seagal apparently likes to be bossed around by women. One of my female co-workers found that out by accident when she’d had enough of his [nonsense] and snapped. He refused to deal with any other employees after that.

Image credits: fresnel149

My friend’s uncle works cyber security for big name musicians a lot. He told me he worked with Linkin Park for about 5 years, Avenged Sevenfold for 6, Tim McGraw for 3, and Kanye West for 48 hours. Go figure.

Image credits: Scotb6

Of the ones I’ve met Sandra Bullock was the biggest sweetheart and Kevin Bacon was the biggest [jerk].

justanothersong:

I met Sandra Bullock when I was a kid, she was filming a scene for While You Were Sleeping a few blocks from my house. So kind and friendly.

tiddysprinkle:

Yea The Bacon Brothers played at a private event my fiancé went to. I was suuuper jealous because it was around the time he was in that hilarious Logitech commercial. He was a huge [jerk] and wouldn’t let anyone take pictures. Still love that commercial though.

Image credits: hooch

Bill Nye. He’s kind of a [jerk].

theedjman:

My friend’s Mom went on a date with him and said the same thing.

Raindrops1984:

I met him at a science teacher conference where he was a keynote speaker. The speech was fine, but he was a jerk in the meet and greet. Seemed bored and uninterested and sarcastic.

Image credits: rouge6

I saw a comedy show a few days ago with one of the comedians being Ray Romano. I waited outside the back by the van with my friend and one other guy. We waited at the corner of the road because security wouldn’t let us get any closer. They got in the van and as it pulled away, the one guy held up a Ray Romano CD booklet and said “Mr. Romano, may I please have a signature?” The van stopped, Ray opened the door of the sprinter, and was super friendly. He signed the Booklet and took a selfie with the guy and allowed me to get a picture with him. Sadly my friend wasn’t able to get a picture with him because Ray had to go but the fact that he stopped the van at all was super nice, and something I wouldn’t expect anyone to do.