These 35+ People Didn’t Hold Back When Sharing Their Best and Worst Celebrity Encounter Stories

We’re all aware that celebrities have perfectly curated images dreamed up by various PR teams. Regardless of what we may think about a given star, we know deep down that what we see could very well be a persona and the individual is really nothing like that. Well, these people came face-to-face with their favorite celebs, saw what they’re really like, and are spilling the tea!

Our first thought was that this can’t be true because Reese Witherspoon does such an excellent job of giving off that Southern charm vibe. On second thought, though, we remembered that whole “Do you know who I am?” incident she had with the authorities, and now we’re a lot more inclined to believe the OP’s story.

It’s safe to say that we feel truly disappointed, but we really should’ve seen this one coming. As the expression goes, “When someone shows you who they are, believe them the first time.”

We find this one truly surprising since, unlike most celebs, Beyoncé doesn’t seem very interested in giving off a down-to-earth vibe. On the contrary, she goes by the monicker Queen Bey and enjoys leaning into a diva persona.

It seems that the pop icon plays the cliched role of a Hollywood star so as to keep her real personality private. After all, Beyoncé once said, “I’m grateful I have the ability to choose what I want to share.”

Jeff Goldblum the Hollywood star and Jeff Goldblum the human being seem to be one and the same. The actor is well aware of how much his fans love him and he wants them to know that the feeling is mutual.

Goldblum has said, “I like when I go out on the street and people seem delighted. That’s sweet. And they allow me into the sweet part of themselves. That’s kind of a privilege and delightful.”

The fact that the OP is impressed by Adam Sandler having basic manners says a lot more about other celebs than it does about Sandler. That being said, it’s clear that the comedian truly cares about his fans.

When asked how he feels about being approached in public, Adam responded, “When I’m out eating, people do pull up a chair […] I sit them down, I feed them, I let them hang out with my kids. My life’s nearing the end. I want to meet as many people as I can.”

We can’t say we’re surprised to learn that the matriarch of a family desperately seeking fame would utilize said fame as an excuse to act like she’s better than everyone else.

Kris Jenner isn’t too fussed with what people think about her — as long as they’re thinking about her. She clearly stated that if someone doesn’t like the Kardashian-Jenner clan, then “don’t follow us.” That seems fair enough. But, Kris, what about the people who are forced to interact with you for their jobs? What are they supposed to do?

For some reason, Rihanna seems to be immune to regular celebrity criticism. She’s been caught on video treating her staff in a manner that’d get most stars canceled in an instant. However, because it’s Bad Girl RiRi, people comment on those videos with messages of support and sentiments about how fierce the singer is.

As for Rihanna’s interactions with her loyal fanbase, she’s blatantly said, “I like to antagonize my fans a little bit. Well, they antagonize me, too! So, they get it right back.”

It seems that Mick Jagger has changed over time (as most people do) because the experience the OP describes doesn’t exactly match up with the musician’s quotes from back in the day. An interview recently resurfaced, in which Jagger complained that fans he met were “ugly, dreadful, and Northern.”

Um, okay. He went on to add, “Thankfully, the girls are much ­prettier now than they were then.” Well, we’re happy for the OP that they got to see a different side of Mick than this one.

It sounds like that hangout what exactly what both Pink and the OP needed! The pop star has admitted that fame gets to her sometimes, saying, “Even though I’m headlining stadiums and I’m this person that calls herself a color and people know of me, I’m still just a human being trying to figure all this […] out.”

That’s not to say that Pink doesn’t appreciate her fans, though! She also shared, ​​”It’s the highest honor a person can have, I think, is to affect someone else’s life in a positive way.”

While some celebrities have forgotten what it was like pre-fame, to be a fan waiting for hours to meet your idol, Sir Ian McKellan hasn’t lost that perspective.

Based on the OP’s story, it seems that the actor knew how devastating it’d be for his supporters to miss out on meeting him, so he stayed as long as it took to ensure no one would feel that way. When asked what fame meant for him, McKellan answered, “I’ve been having the time of my life.”

Queen Latifah is known for being incredibly private and down-to-earth, which is a persona the OP’s story seems to support.

Seeing as how many celebs get all glammed up just to walk down the street for two minutes — and there’s nothing wrong with that — we find it quite amusing that Queen Latifah didn’t even bother to change out of her pajama pants to run an errand. This just goes to show that there’s no “right” way to be famous.

Ben Affleck has the grumpy man vibe down pat, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t a big heart underneath that gruffness. Truthfully, Affleck just seems like he’s not all that interested in fame and its trappings.

The actor rarely interacts with fans, he despises how the tabloids take his words out of context and doesn’t like dealing with the paparazzi. We get the last two, but acknowledging one’s supporters is part of being a celebrity. At least, according to the OP’s story, Ben is kind to the fans he does meet.

On the one hand, we completely understand the OP’s disappointment. On the other hand, we feel for Mark Zuckerberg too — the guy just wanted to get a workout in!

While we believe that being a celebrity comes with a responsibility to be pleasant toward fans, it’s worth noting that Zuckerberg didn’t seek out fame, so the expectations are a bit different for him. That said, now that he’s a household name, it’d be nice if he’d carry around some autographs for his supporters.

Jack Black’s persona is that of someone who doesn’t take himself too seriously and, although his humor is R-rated, is great with kids. Well, it seems that this celeb’s real-life personality is exactly the same as his on-screen one — at least in movies such as School of Rock.

In fact, not unlike Dewey Finn, Black is aware that his fanbase isn’t necessarily age-appropriate for his work. He’s said, “When it comes to different audience demographics, I can’t control it, so I’m just like, ah, whatever […] They can’t see that. But they will someday.”

We have a message for pet parents everywhere — if you’re not interested in taking care of your own fur baby, don’t get one! To be clear, there’s nothing wrong with needing a bit of help every now and then, but you should be the primary caretaker of your pet.

No, Sheryl Crow, having your personal assistant take your dog out in the middle of the night does not fall under the umbrella of reasonable assistance you may require.

Post Malone is a perfect example of someone who may look tough and intimidating on the outside but is really just a big teddy bear on the inside. While Posty’s fans clearly adore him, the feeling seems to be mutual.

The singer recently posted on his Instagram a message to his supporters about his new album saying, “Thank you for your patience and support y’all. You make my heart beat. I just wanted to say hi, and hopefully, I’ll be posting more on here.”

We’re glad that the OP had such a positive experience meeting Weird Al, but it seems like they missed a real opportunity! Note to selves, always be prepared with some form of a sample of one’s work.

This wouldn’t be the first time that Al used his star power on his fans’ behalf. The comedian/singer invited two of his supporters to be extras in the movie Weird: The Al Yankovic Story. He even asked them to join him on the red carpet!

As far as negative celebrity encounters go, we have to say this one doesn’t seem too bad. It appears that meeting Martha Stewart was more of a disappointment than a horrible experience.

Like plenty of non-celebs, Stewart just wanted to do her job and go home, rather than chat and become friends with everyone on set. It’s not how we’d go about meeting a fan who was eager to introduce themselves, but it’s not the end of the world either.

It’s long been rumored that Bill Nye the Science Guy secretly hates kids, and the OP’s encounter with him seems to support that claim. This theory is further aided by hearing what Bill Nye had to say about meeting his young fans.

He said, “People would want me to sing the theme song of the show. I have to point out that I don’t sing the song.” We get that you don’t sing the theme song, Bill, but this is a child we’re talking about! Why not just indulge them?

Our understanding of the OP’s story is that George Lopez can be quite the Karen while shopping. That’s not his only controversy, though. Lopez has been accused of making mean-spirited jokes (including one that can get him arrested), divorcing his wife right after she gave him a kidney, and snubbing other comedians’ work.

In fact, actor Erik Estrada — who Lopez is famously feuding with — has said that the comedian has “got karma to pay.” It seems that the OP agrees.

Sir Patrick Stewart learned about humility early in his career, and he never let himself forget that lesson. The actor recalled performing in a show — he had a minor role — and running into some autograph hunters on his way out of the theater.

He said, “Someone thrust the program at me to sign, then pulled it away again and said, ‘Are you anybody?’ And I said, ‘No, nobody at all,’ and walked away. But, the importance of that question has stayed with me ever since.”

We highly doubt that anyone’s surprised by the OP’s story of Keanu Reeves being a genuinely nice guy.

It’s not exactly a secret that, in stark contrast to many of his fellow A-listers, the actor takes public transportation, donates a significant portion of his salaries to charity, and doesn’t even have social media. Regarding the latter, Reeves has said, “[Privacy] is important to me. And yeah, I don’t really have anything to say about anything!”

It seems like Aaron Paul is always down to meet a fan! The actor famously posted on Twitter that he’d be standing by a pay phone for five minutes, happy to answer any calls he may receive.

There was also the time when a tour bus drove past his house and he popped out to say hello, even joining the tour for a little while. Paul even posted on social media offering to call the first 10 of his fans who sent him their numbers. Talk about making someone’s day!

The love that fans have for Rachel McAdams is very, very real. In fact, back when McAdams and Ryan Gosling broke up, the latter had to deal with some pretty emotional Rachel supporters.

At the time, Gosling said, “Women are mad at me. A girl came up to me on the street, and she almost smacked me. Like, ‘How could you? How could you let a girl like that go?'” Wow, and we thought the Beyhive was intense!

James Corden has a bit of a reputation for being a diva, even getting banned from one restaurant altogether! To be fair, the TV personality seems to be perfectly self-aware and admits to being “cold” towards his fans.

Corden explained, “The thing is, no one ever, ever tells you how to deal with this stuff. You have to figure it out along the way, and I used to get so tangled up in whether the people liked the character or me.”

Given that Dame Judi Dench has been in the entertainment industry for over 60 years, it makes sense that some members of the younger generations don’t know her work. Rather than being offended by it, though, Dench doesn’t mind at all that her celebrity status isn’t prominent amongst today’s youth.

She nonchalantly said, “The reaction to Bond comes from lovely young chaps of about 11 and they have no idea what else I’ve done, and nor should they be bothered.”

There are plenty of artists who are all about the money, but Hozier isn’t one of them. The singer made an announcement to his fans asking them not to pay ridiculous prices via scalpers, saying, “I would rather play to an empty room than have those prices paid. Please do not buy inflated tickets — I’ll be back again soon.”

In terms of meeting his supporters after he performs, Hozier glowed, “I got to meet some really, really fantastic people.”

Ricky Gervais makes it clear that he appreciates his fans. However, Gervais isn’t one to pander, so he’s always going to be realistic about the perks of being a celebrity that mean the most to him.

The comedian explained, “I realize that the fans are the single most important thing, next to the work. They beat everything — they beat awards, reviews… They don’t beat money, let’s be honest. Okay, so it goes work, money, fans, awards, reviews!”

The love Salma Hayek receives from her fans is obviously mutual, as the actress refers to her supporters as “wonderful people.” Furthermore, she occasionally posts messages of encouragement and gratitude to her fanbase on social media.

For example, on New Year’s 2023, the actress posted, “Thank you for sharing your love, making me feel supported, and many times making me laugh. I always learn from all of you and I hope many blessings come your way in this new adventure.”

Sadly, Bruce Willis was diagnosed with dementia in 2023, an illness that makes communication difficult for the actor. However, he still managed to reach out to his fans and thank them for all their support, via a message from the entire Willis family.

The heartwarming post read, “Our family wanted to start by expressing our deepest gratitude for the incredible outpouring of love, support, and wonderful stories we have all received since sharing Bruce’s original diagnosis.”

Conan O’Brien wants to connect with his fans so genuinely that he’s launched a podcast called Conan O’Brien Needs a Fan in which his supporters can directly converse with him.

The TV personality’s podcast allows listeners to call in and ask O’Brien questions live, and nothing’s off-limits! Now that we know that, it’s no surprise that Conan was so willing to chat with a fan on the street — even if they’d had one too many drinks.

While the OP’s story about John Stamos wasn’t too dramatic in either direction, the actor has been known to care about his fans. One of his younger supporters posted a TikTok video about Full House in which she mentioned that her mom’s in love with Stamos.

John immediately made it his mission to ensure the fan felt noticed. He created his own video in which he sang with the fan and told her mom that she’s beautiful. How sweet!

We understand that having people constantly ask for your autograph can get annoying. However, this is a child and the way in which Tiger Woods declined seems deliberately hurtful. It appears that Woods isn’t into the celebrity aspect of his sport.

When asked about playing golf without spectators, he answered, “I was pretty into it. It’s different than most of the times when you go from green to tee, with people yelling or trying to touch you.” To be fair, we wouldn’t want strangers yelling at or touching us either.

Hilary Swank is often accused of having negative fan interactions, despite the fact that she’s widely said to be a lovely person. The reason some supporters are disappointed when meeting Swank is that they’ve mistaken her for Jennifer Garner.

The actress explained that Garner’s fans often approach her. “People get angry at me because they think that I’m just trying not to sign an autograph for them or take a picture.” Surely, they’d be happy with a Hilary Swank autograph instead?

It seems that Owen Wilson lives for those moments just as much as his fans do, as the actor often incorporates certain phrases or mannerisms in each of his characters, creating continuity for his supporters.

Wilson explains that this repetition is “for my really committed fans. I throw out a little word, just sort of like a little wink and a nod to them.” Clearly, this unique branding works, as in 2018 an entire rally of people gathered to say “wow” in unison, mimicking how Owen Wilson says the word.

While some celebs attack people on set for just setting up a light (we’re looking at you, Christian Bale), Joseph Gordon-Levitt seems level-headed enough to stay calm, even when someone nearly injures him.

Despite becoming famous at a young age, the actor has made sure not to turn into a diva and to remember that we’re all human. It’s no wonder why the public finds him so endearing and he keeps getting cast in nice guy roles.

Everything we know about Ryan Gosling indicates that he’s super nice to his fans but he also knows how to create boundaries. The actor was recently faced with a pretty aggressive supporter who was pushing past people in order to get Gosling’s autograph.

When that person complained that others were pushing him, Ryan clarified that there was no one behind the fan. He then left the scene before anyone could get hurt by the overexcitement. Good on Ryan for handling the situation like a stern but fair dad!

George Clooney appreciates his fans but knows the love he receives back isn’t necessarily genuine. The actor recalled being in a motorcycle crash and seeing people film him, rather than try to help.

He explained, “If you’re in the public eye, what you realize when you’re on the ground thinking it’s the last minute of your life is that, for some people, it’s just going to be entertainment for their Facebook page. I’m a pretty positive guy, but that told me — clearly — that you really are here just for their entertainment.”

The most appalling thing about this is Usher riding a roller coaster all by himself — that doesn’t sound like any fun! As for the rest of it, we’re sure that the singer paid the theme park to let him skip the line.

Of course, he should’ve still acknowledged the OP, or better yet, waited in the queue like everyone else. That being said, this is a matter of hating the fact that money rules everything, rather than hating the celebrity themself.

Celebrities know that they’re nothing without their fans, but some stars seem to forget that over time. Dave Chappelle, though, will always remember his fanbase having his back when he asked them for a favor.

In a counterintuitive move, the comedian requested his supporters to boycott his show Chappelle’s Show until the network agreed to re-examine his contract. Chappelle expressed his gratitude by saying, “You made that show worthless because without your eyes it’s nothing. And when you stopped watching it, they called me.”

Zach Galifianakis rarely gets recognized by fans because, according to him, he’s not famous enough. The comedian recalled going to a Halloween party in which a fan dressed up as his character from The Hangover and didn’t even realize that Galifianakis was there!

Zach recalled, “I thought that it would be interesting to walk up to him and say, ‘Hey – You’re dressed as me. I’m the real person.’ He goes, ‘Yeah, right,’ and he just walked away. So, that was a bit freaky.”

As it turns out, there are quite a few stories of this nature online. So, either Bill Murray makes a habit of playing this little game, or this tale has become somewhat of an internet trend and everyone’s jumping on the bandwagon.

Given the actor’s professional body of work and his overall demeanor, we’re leaning towards the idea that this is his thing and these fans are telling the truth. Don’t worry, OP, we believe you!

We get that athletes engage in a bit of trash talk to their opponents, but it shouldn’t be aimed toward a child! Perhaps Tom Brady should be reminded of what he, himself, told a young fan back in 2019.

An eight-year-old asked Brady, “How do you focus despite negative fans — a.k.a. the haters?” The football player answered, “We love ‘em. We love ‘em back. Because we don’t hate back…” Um, take your own advice, Brady!

The gig is up! The world is finally realizing that Paris Hilton is a genius! In a classic “don’t hate the player, hate the game scenario,” the heiress saw a path to fame and fortune and she went down it — playing the role of the bimbo, which everyone underestimated her to be anyway.

Whether you agree with her methods or not, no one can deny that it worked. As for her feelings towards her fans, Hilton has clarified, “I love my fans just as much as they love me.”

Plenty of celebs would’ve simply accepted that the circumstances weren’t right for them to chat with a fan. But not Tom Hiddleston! He felt so guilty about disappointing his supporters that he actually waited for them to leave the theater so he could make it right.

Just in case you’re still wondering how Hiddleston really feels, he said himself that he’s not even fussed when fans don’t know his real name. The actor expressed that he “really enjoys it” when people on the street refer to him as Loki.

Sadly, Jamie Foxx was hospitalized in 2023 with a medical condition that, as of the time of writing, remains a mystery. Fans worldwide gave the actor their support and hopes for a quick recovery. Never one to leave his supporters unanswered, Foxx expressed his gratitude on social media, even while he was still in the hospital.

Jamie wrote, “Appreciate all the love!!! Feeling blessed.” He even replied to some individual comments and outpourings of well wishes! We wish Jamie Foxx nothing but health and happiness.