Will Young shares cringeworthy starstruck moment with Julia Roberts

The Pop Idol winner admitted he still breaks out in a sweat thinking about his embarrassing moment with Hollywood star Julia Roberts.

London, UK.  22 May 2023. Singer Will Young at the press day of the RHS Chelsea Flower Show in the grounds of the Royal Hospital Chelsea.  The show runs to 27 May 2023.  Credit: Stephen Chung / Alamy Live News
Will Young admitted to a cringeworthy moment with Julia Roberts. (Alamy Live News)
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Will Young has opened up on his cringeworthy moment meeting Hollywood star Julia Roberts, that he says still brings him out in a cold sweat now.

The singer and actor might have had plenty of success himself since winning Pop Idol, but he told The One Show how he had been completely starstruck meeting Roberts and had embarrassed himself with a terrible joke.

Young was joined on the BBC programme by Imelda Staunton, who wore a shirt from her The Crown wardrobe where she played the late Queen for her appearance.

Will Young's Pop Idol win in 2002 propelled him to stardom in music and acting but he still gets as tongue-tied as anyone else in the face of Hollywood royalty.

Appearing on Wednesday's The One Show, he shared the embarrassing moment when he met Julia Roberts and admitted he still cringes years on over a terrible joke he made.

1st July 2023 London UK Will Young performs at Five Four of American Express Presents BST Hyde Park in London, United, Kingdom. Credit: glamourstock/Alamy Live News
Will Young said he still 'sweats' thinking about the moment. (Alamy Live News)

Young had been performing at an LA awards ceremony when he was introduced to Pretty Woman star Roberts backstage.

"I get a bit tongue tied. I was looking at her and I thought, 'Oh god that's Julia Roberts.' But all I had in my head was," he said and then hummed the theme tune.

He added: "She said, 'you're the guy from American Idol,' and I said, 'no, Pop Idol'. And then I said, 'wouldn't it be funny if it was called Pup Idol and everyone brought their puppies.' I know, it's really odd.

"Her assistant just moved her slowly away. I'm sweating just telling this story. And then the make-up artists was like, 'god, you're sweating quite a lot'... It was just awful."

US actress Julia Roberts arrives for the Jacquemus Womenswear Ready-to-wear Spring-Summer 2024 collection at Maeght Foundation, in Saint-Paul-de-Vence, southern France, on January 29, 2024. (Photo by Valery HACHE / AFP) (Photo by VALERY HACHE/AFP via Getty Images)
Julia Roberts left the singer starstruck. (AFP via Getty Images)

Young was joined on the sofa by Imelda Staunton and also confessed to her that he often told a lie about her Sweeney Todd co-star Michael Ball.

He told the Olivier Award winner: "I have to admit something, for one of your Oliviers I was nominated for an Olivier up against Michael Ball for Sweeney Todd and I lie and say I won it, because I think no-one checks."

Staunton wore an item from her wardrobe as the Queen in The Crown to her One Show appearance.

Asked whether it was true she still wore some of her costumes from her time playing the late monarch on the Netflix show, she joked: "Don't be ridiculous."

Will Young and Imelda Staunton were guests on The One Show. (BBC screengrab)
Will Young and Imelda Staunton were guests on The One Show. (BBC screengrab)

She then admitted: "This shirt I'm wearing is one of the shirts (made for her playing the Queen). I hold it so dear."

Staunton is set to star in Hello, Dolly! at the London Palladium and said she had enjoyed doing something more lighthearted.

"Doing The Crown, towards our final six to eight months the Queen died," she said. "We were all really, really sad about that so it put an extra weight on it. We did change the whole of the last episode to reflect that.

"So I was spending quite a lot of time thinking about one's own death, so to be doing something that is the absolute antidote of that is wonderful for me because it was quite a long, sad time."

The One Show airs on BBC One at 7pm on weekdays.