Regular People Are Sharing Their Celebrity Encounter Stories, And *Most* Of These Celebs Sound Too Good To Be True
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We asked members of the BuzzFeed Community to tell us about their most memorable (positive or negative) celebrity encounters. We also consulted a Reddit thread started by u/willis1988 filled with more star-studded stories. Here are the ones that felt the most heartwarming, and the ones that were the most disappointing:
Disclaimer: Though people claim to be speaking from their own experiences with celebrities, BuzzFeed can't confirm the validity of these stories.
1."I met Bo Burnham in a movie theater in Los Angeles. I walked up to him while he was at a kiosk purchasing his tickets, and I touched his back (he’s too tall to tap his shoulder), and he turned around with a big smile. I just said, 'Hi! I am such a fan; I’ve been a fan for years! I’m so sorry to bother you!' And he said, 'It’s all love; it’s all love.' I told him I was his fan since the YouTube days, and he said, 'Oh, we don’t talk about those times,' and he asked if I wanted a picture. Then he said, 'I hope you’re seeing Dr. Strange tonight,' and he ended up being in the row right behind me! Fun fact: Bo Burnham doesn’t stay for the MCU post-credit scenes! But he's 10/10 a beautiful human being, a wonderful soul, and that's one of my favorite pictures."
2."Harry Styles is a regular where I work and always goes out of his way to say what’s up and leave over a 100% tip. The last time he was in, he even gave us some tickets to his show at the Forum. Without a doubt the nicest celeb I’ve ever encountered."
3."Kim Kardashian. I was expecting a total diva, to say the least. Boy was I wrong. She was very nice and even remembered my first name when she asked me something. No attitude or anything. She had her own security with her who were also pleasant to talk to and down to earth. I was pleasantly surprised."
4."I served Daniel Radcliffe his dessert at an event, and tripped and spilled some of it on him, probably due to seeing that I was serving Daniel Radcliffe. He stood up and started apologizing profusely to ME. He was very sweet and kept asking if I was OK."
5."I met Paul Rudd on a flight from New York. I actually sat next to him on the plane. My buddy leaned over and told me that he wanted to compliment him on a band shirt he wore when making Clueless, but he 'didn't want it to be weird.' So, his solution was to write him a note and slip it to him, LOL. So he did, and Paul got this nervous look on his face, opened the note, and read it. He then started cracking up laughing, leaned over to us, and said, 'Best note ever.' He then told us the whole story of the shirt and how he fought with the costume department about it because it was the shirt he wore to set that day. We talked the whole flight. Dude was super cool."
6."I have met Kacey Musgraves twice at a meet and greet. She was cold both times. The second time was for her second album release, and she told everyone she wasn’t signing anything. When it was my turn to meet with her, I told her I had flown all the way there with a vinyl to have her sign it (that was mainly why I paid for the meet and greet; I didn’t care for the picture). She looked at me annoyed and told me, 'Fine, stand to the side.' She signed it, but was rude about it. I don’t agree with how some of these artists treat meet and greets. Asking fans to pay large amounts of money, [they] should give the fan a photo and an opportunity to get at least one thing signed. I would never pay for another experience like that because of my interaction with her."
"I even met Tori Kelly at one of her concerts, and though she was nice, the fact that they won’t even take a second to sign something is ridiculous. I feel like they are robbing people from experiences they would hope to have."
7."I ran into Adam Sandler outside of a Planet Fitness in Brooklyn in early 2016. As I was leaving the Planet Fitness, it looked like he was walking in. We made eye contact, so I stopped and held the door for him. He got to the door and stopped right before he walked through, in one of those fake poses that little kids make when you tell them to freeze. I stood there holding the door, very confused. For about five seconds, we just stood there — him motionless and me holding the door. Finally, he turned his head and said in the stereotypical Adam Sandler voice, 'Ahhh, who're we kidding? I'm not going in there!' with a giant grin on his face. We both laughed and then he continued down the street. Awesome."
8."I had the chance to work with Whitney Houston for eight days on a film set. I was working as an extra. She was nice and personable. Her beauty was even more striking in person. She was very professional and did not miss a mark or a cue. Everybody on the set cried when she sang. She was very nice and complimentary toward me. She spoke sweetly and in a motherly tone when she greeted people. I can still remember her friendly greetings when she arrived on set every day. That was one of best experiences of my life and one of my best experiences working on a film set. I learned a lot from her about professionalism on set. I also saw how hard she worked. She was there 12 hours a day and on point every minute. I watched how she interacted with the director, other actors, and crew. She was even encouraging to other actors and performers in the film, including the extras."
9."I met miss Dolly Parton when I was just a wee kid in Illinois. I've described it as meeting the sun. She was just so happy and warm and wonderful, and she was the first person I'd met in real life with a Southern accent."
10."Steve Carell was a really nice guy. I told him that my girlfriend and I were huge fans of his work and my girlfriend would kill me if I didn't take the opportunity to tell him that. He laughed and thanked me and made some small talk. He was a very genuine dude. Also better looking in real life!"
11."Cameron Diaz was really awesome! We sat next to each other on a flight from Boston to Los Angeles during the Dodgers/Sox World Series. We were both pulling for the Dodgers. She is a massive fan and was getting super into it. We shot shit about baseball and both drank quite a bit. It was a good time. I never had much of an opinion of her before, but she was really down to earth and mellow. Made me a fan."
12."When I was in middle school, my family took a family road trip through the western part of the US for the summer. We stopped at a truck stop, and as I walked into the building and turned around a corner, I slammed into what felt like a brick wall. I'm a very short person, and I found myself face to belt with Shaquille O'Neal. He was so incredibly kind and kept apologizing for not seeing me. I made a joke about it not being hard to overlook me and immediately went back outside to tell my family. No one believed me until they saw him exit the building and climb into his hummer."
13."My wife worked with Terry Crews when he needed PT for a shoulder injury. She always talked about what a nice, cool dude he was. We have run into him a couple of times since (this was years ago), and he is every bit as friendly, down to earth, and cool as she said he was. Just a super-nice dude."
14."I met Cole Sprouse in Vancouver while I was on a bubble tea run with my friends at 11 p.m. I was so excited to finally see him that I jaywalked to get where he was, not caring at all that I was doing something unsafe. I caught up to him and asked him to take the photo of us using my phone because I was already too fidgety from excitement."
15."Brooke Shields had an account at a corporate limo company I worked for back in the '90s. I used to talk to her almost every day when she called for a car. She was always so pleasant and cheery in the morning. The drivers absolutely loved her and said she was the nicest client they dealt with. I was out sick for a few days, and she asked every driver she had where I was. My first day back, she said she missed talking to me and was happy I was feeling better. I’ll never believe anyone who says otherwise about her. To me and my drivers, she was always wonderful."
16."I love how bookended my two biggest celeb encounters are! I almost knocked Drew Barrymore on her ass, and she apologized to me, and then Owen Wilson almost knocked me on my ass, and I apologized to him!"
17."When I was about 7, my family went to get breakfast one weekend, and Scarlett Johansson sat next to us with her twin brother. She noticed my sister and I (who are fraternal twins) and started talking to us about being a twin. I was kind of surprised my parents allowed me to talk to this random woman for a while, but they told me who she was afterward."
18."I had just landed in Savannah, Georgia, with my sister for my brother's wedding. The airport was completely dead — not one person in sight. My sister and I were messing around while walking, and I looked up and saw Topher Grace. With the dumbest thought in my head, I said out loud, 'I know you?' Within seconds, I looked back at my sister and I said, 'That’s Eric from That '70s Show!' She didn’t believe me, so she shouted, 'Topher!' He turned around and gave us the finger. Honestly, it was hilarious. Just to make sure, I googled Topher Grace, and it said he was due to speak at the Art Institute that day in Savannah."
19."I once met Bryan Cranston at the stage door when he was in Network. We were told he wouldn’t speak because he was saving his voice for the very last night of the show. When he approached me, I said, 'I thought you were great in this show, but nothing will ever beat your episode as the art dealer on Brotherly Love or Walker Texas Ranger.' He genuinely laughed out loud, and said that NO ONE ever mentions those credits. He was so generous with his time. He lives rent-free in my head."
20."I won a spot in a Zoom call with Katy Perry. She was honestly one of the friendliest people I have ever spoken to. Knowing we only had a minute to talk, I attempted to end the conversation after about 45 seconds; the last thing I wanted was the moderator abruptly ending it by telling me my time with Katy was up. After my attempt to end it, Katy kept asking me questions. I would respond quickly, she would comment, then ask me another question. Eventually the annoyed moderator told Katy Perry her time with ME was up. It was obvious that Katy continued our conversation because she wanted to, not because she had to. She acted like she was genuinely interested in me. It was an amazing feeling."
—Anonymous
21."I met Quentin Tarantino in a restaurant in downtown Salt Lake City. He was there eating and having a beer. I’m a huge fan of his, so I waited until he was done eating of course. I have a Kill Bill sleeve tattooed on my arm, so I was stoked to show him. I approached him and told him what a huge fan I was and began to show him my tattoo. He was super cool and told me he appreciated my dedication. He said he normally didn't do pictures, but would be happy to do one with me. One of the best experiences I’ve had. I even framed the picture."
—Anonymous
22."I worked at a fancy ski resort for a winter in 2015 as a hostess for an Italian restaurant. While I worked there, I got to seat Pink, who was super sweet despite me being excited and nervous. I also got to seat Jonathan Bennett (Aaron Samuels from Mean Girls) who was super kind and unassuming. He was there with some friends and didn't even make a reservation. He and his friends joked around with me and the other hosts, and it was a lot of fun. Finally (I even had to sign release forms for her show), I sat Caitlyn Jenner and Candis Cayne. Caitlyn was super rude and wouldn't even acknowledge us. Candis, however, was super sweet."
23."My sister worked at an old, established hotel in Los Angeles for a separate company in their event department doing audio/visual work. It wasn't uncommon for celebs to come, and they had all been relatively normal people according to her...except Simon Cowell. The hotel is old and historic, so not all of the amenities are up-to-date, and Simon was very angry that his TV was not large enough. Somehow, because my sister worked in AV, someone thought she should deal with it. She tried explaining that she didn't work in hospitality or for the hotel directly, but she'd be happy to help. Well, he wasn't having it and demanded that SHE specifically needed to fix the issue, which she couldn't. My 5'2", 100-pound sister ended up having to carry the TV out of his room on her own because he was having a flat-out tantrum. Can't say I was really surprised, but she cried after coming home from work that day because of the whole fiasco."
24."Many years ago, when I was in high school band, we were invited to perform before the headlining speaker at a teacher's convention. We spent most of the time there largely ignored by the attendees — admittedly, probably grateful to be away from the classroom — and moved along behind the scenes to where we were performing. We did our thing, they introduced the speaker, and he began by thanking us. He continued on speaking to the teachers in the crowd. At a certain point in his speech, he mentioned the importance of teaching the arts. Of course, we applauded. Again, he shifted focus to us, and continued addressing us, demonstrating his teachings. When he was done, he made his way to our group, bypassing the teachers, to shake hands with us and personally show his appreciation. That was the day I met Mr. Rogers."
—Anonymous
25."I met Kelly Clarkson while doing a work and travel program in New York City. I was working at a food place making salads when I spotted her in line. I was supposed to attend to the customer in front of her, but I went back to change my gloves so my coworker got the other customer and I was able to attend to Kelly. She was super sweet! She got a little distracted while picking out ingredients and apologized, saying that she had been getting very little sleep because of her baby daughter. I took the opportunity to tell her I was a huge fan, and she was so nice! I didn't get a photo because the store didn't allow us to have our phones during our shift, but I got a great anecdote!"
—Anonymous
26."In the mid-2000s I attended a concert where 30 Seconds to Mars was one of the bands playing. The band was signing autographs afterward, but we didn’t get in the line because another band we liked was playing at that time. A bit later we saw Jared Leto walking into the venue, so I picked a piece of paper up off the ground since I didn’t have anything on me and asked him to sign it. Apparently the band used these obscure symbols as their signatures instead of their names, and his was already on the paper. He took the paper, looked at it, flicked it back at me and scoffed, 'I already signed this,' and walked off. Like I was supposed to know some random symbol was his signature? I can see now why someone had thrown the paper on the ground. I did the same."
—Anonymous
27."Bill Nye was horrible. I took a group of high school students to an engineering fair at the University of Illinois in 2001. Bill was a special guest. This was a big deal for one of my students, as Bill was her inspiration for pursuing science. My student made a T-shirt that she wanted him to sign if she got the chance. We drove four hours to get there, walked around and viewed the projects that were on display, and watched some battle bot competitions. On our last walk-through, Bill came down the hallway. I nudged my student to go ask for an autograph. She told him that he was a huge inspiration and asked if he would sign her shirt. He said he did not appreciate that she was interrupting his walk. She showed him the shirt, and he rolled his eyes, scribbled on the shirt, and tossed it to her. She looked like she was going to cry. Instead, she walked over to a garbage can and threw it away. He said, 'Whatever,' and went back to looking at the projects."
28."All of my stories are from waiting tables. I waited on Gene Wilder for his birthday years ago. He was incredibly nice and laughed so hard he cried when I told him we had 'everlasting pistachio' ice cream. Betty White was hilarious and tipsy after wine and would not stop flirting. If only I had been 60 years older. Neil Patrick Harris was also as gracious as humanly possibly, insisted we have a drink with his table while we waited on him, and tipped like a champ. Seth MacFarlane was amazing. He drew me an original cartoon and signed it there at the table. After paying and tipping 100%, he refused to let me buy him a shot of whiskey and instead bought me one, then invited us to meet him out later."
29."My mum met Princess Diana. It was before I was even born, and I think my mum was in her late 20s at the time. She used to work in a clothing factory in our little town, and for whatever reason, Princess Di was visiting. Apparently she took time to meet and shake hands with everyone individually and was an absolute delight to be around. Mum said she was even more beautiful than she was in the media and really funny, and the atmosphere in the room was so calm when she was there."
30."I met Matthew Lillard, his wife, and his newborn daughter right after the release of the first Scooby Doo movie. My family always hosts 4th of July parties at our beach house, and he crashed our party! I was like 8 at the time, and my cousins were freaking out, saying, 'Shaggy is here!' Of course I immediately sprinted over, and there he was eating a hot dog. He was so cool. He was in character the entire time and offered to get a hot dog for me. I remember my little cousins asking where Scooby was, and he replied, 'Oh, Scoobs ate sooo many hot dogs that he's like, having a food coma.' Seriously, one of the highlights of my youth!"
31."Zac Efron is the nicest guy in the world! I met him at a New Year's house party in Los Angeles. I asked him about his workout regime for Neighbors, and he was so happy to talk to me. I honestly felt so comfortable talking to him. I could have asked him to get me a drink at the bar, and I think he would have done it. In the end, I told him he was the nicest celebrity I had ever met. He looked at me and said, 'Hey man, real recognizes real.'"
32."Amy Adams was so sweet. I spotted her but didn’t make a big deal or say her name loudly. I calmly walked up to her and whispered, 'I love your work.' She was wearing a hat and was with her family, so I could tell she wasn’t trying to attract attention. Once she realized I wasn’t asking for an autograph or a picture, she really opened up. I’m a cinephile and named just about her entire filmography. She was impressed I knew who directed her films as well. After a few minutes, she introduced me to her husband and daughter. I’ve met a ton of celebs in my life, and their guard goes down if you acknowledge their work, don’t make a scene, and don’t ask for anything."
33."Danny DeVito came to Asbury Park, New Jersey, a few years ago to do a Q&A and live interview, and he is such a kind guy. He’s hilarious, as expected! He answered a bunch of questions from the audience (I was lucky enough to get in line early and ask him a question) and was overall a genuine guy. When it was over, he stayed onstage for a bit, and everyone went up to get autographs and pictures. He kept going, even after the crew was telling people that the event was over and to exit the auditorium. He seemed truly happy to be there and was happy to keep getting pictures and giving autographs. He’s genuinely a great man with an awesome sense of humor, and I hope I can meet him again one day!"
34."I sat next to Rowan Atkinson (Mr. Bean) on a flight from London to Geneva, and he was traveling with some sort of secretary who was responsible for coordinating his events. He spoke to her and treated her like absolute scum. I was going to say hello toward the end of the flight, but after the way he spoke to his staff, I didn't bother."
35."I ran into Michael Cera and some other guy on my block when I was about 10. Scott Pilgrim vs. the World had just come out, and it was all I talked about. I told Michael Cera I was a huge fan, to which he responded, 'Thank you so much, man,' with a genuine smile. He then told me the dude next to him was talented too. I didn’t know who the other guy was, so I was like, 'Oh cool, nice to meet you too.' Turns out the other guy was Jason Schwartzman, and I didn’t even realize."
36."I got a chance to chat with Chris Hemsworth after he'd done Star Trek but before Thor. He was just hanging around on his phone, and nobody was talking with him. He was there with his brother who was doing some press. He really did look a bit bored, so I introduced myself and told him how much I liked him in Star Trek and congratulated him on getting the Thor role. He seemed genuinely excited that somebody recognized him, and we chatted for five or so minutes. He talked about how nervous he was for Thor and all the workouts and dieting he needed to do. He was just super chill, really friendly, and we actually could have talked longer, but I didn't want to wear out my welcome. We shook hands, and I've been a Hemsworth fan ever since."
37.Finally: "John Krasinski was so sweet when I met him while I was an extra on a movie set. I had no idea who he was (and I thought he was a production assistant!), and he started making casual conversation with me about my day and what I thought about being on set. I heard from other extras that he talked to a lot of people and offered to take selfies with people. Never would have known he was famous until everyone came up afterward and asked what he was talking to me about (because I guess they were shocked that he was randomly talking to a plebeian like me)."
Have you ever had a super awesome or super disappointing celebrity encounter? Tell us your story in the comments below!
Note: Submissions have been edited for length and/or clarity.
