Years ago, when I worked as a tennis writer, I attended press conferences and interviewed many of the world’s top tennis stars, and they were all invariably polite, courteous, and well-mannered. However, I always wondered: are they like that in their everyday lives, or is it just a facade for the media?
As it turns out, I’m not the only one asking this question, but many netizens around the world are as well. Fortunately, celebrities interact with many people in their work and daily lives – so here’s another collection of stories about what celebs are like in mundane life, made for you by Bored Panda.
More info: Reddit
#1
I used to host at a michelin star restaurant and met a lot of celebrities. The most interesting part was how normal and unassuming many of them were when in public- I seated people like Tina Fey and Leonardo di Caprio and no one else in the restaurant even noticed they were there because they look so ‘normal’ when they don’t have their public personalities turned on.
But Jimmy Fallon was always a big ham and is exactly like his screen persona in real life. And Hugh Jackman… that man had waves of charisma coming off him so strongly they were practically visible. It was incredible.
Image source: StitchesInTime, The Graham Norton Show
#2
Coolio stayed at the hotel in was working at probably the best part of 15 years ago now. I checked him in and also brought him up some food and helped him with some stuff in his room. Super chill guy. He tried to give me a few tickets to his show that he was in town for but i declined cause my girlfriend was in hospital so i was with her when I wasn’t working. He asked after her when he saw me the next day. All in all, sweet guy, tipped well, cool hair.
Also dealt with former Australian prime minister Toby Abbott. He was nice enough but stared at you like a lizard.
Image source: VictarionGreyjoy, The Howard Stern Show
#3
Played table tennis with Keanu Reeves. There was a table tennis place in the same building my sister lived at in NYC. He was a regular there, and if he wasn’t Keanu Reeves, you’d never know he was famous. Totally normal, down to earth, guy. There’s loads of questions I wanted to ask, and things to talk about regarding his career, but I just felt like it wouldn’t have been appropriate.
Image source: Crystalize444, The Late Show with Stephen Colbert
As often happens, the inspiration for this article came from the AskReddit community, where the user u/22m_spain literally yesterday posed the question to netizens: “[People] who have worked with celebrities, what don’t we know about them?” And so, in less than 24 hours, the resulting thread has garnered nearly 2K upvotes and over 2.2K various comments.
From stars of bygone decades to modern influencers, from sitcom actors to multiple Grammy winners and those who had their personal Super Bowl halftime show – please feel free to read these four dozen tales about different people adorned with fame, who seem to be sweet and aren’t.
#4
I worked with Stanley from the Office at a Con once. This was before I had gotten around to watching the show so his celebrity was a bit wasted on me. He was incredibly nice and appreciative towards me, it was a very positive experience (not all of them are). He was very nice to all the guests too but what was special was his interactions with children. After he talked to the parents, he’d ask if he could talk to their kid, and then talk to their kids like they were equals, it was awesome to see. Do you like school? What grade are you in? What’s your favorite subject? How are your grades? Do you plan on going to college? He then would really encourage them to do well in school and stuff. I thought it was wonderful! Afterwards, I learned that he used to be a special education teacher before he went into acting. Still out there totally being a supportive teacher, absolutely love it!
Image source: silverwick, NBC Chicago
#5
I worked as a fashion photographer for nearly 25 years. At the very beginning of my career around 2000 I was in Aspen for the winter and was invited to a party one evening. Was randomly introduced to a few known people and went home after a nice evening.
Two day later, day before new years my phone rang. “Hello? Hi, this is Rose I work with Mariah Carey. She’d like to know if you’re available to photograph her New Year’s Eve party?”
Come to find out my name was passed over to her even though she wasn’t at that particular party. I of course said yes to photographing it. Showed up, signed an NDA and the agreement to hand over all files at the end of the evening. At the first party I was introduced to JayZ, Will Smith who was there with a baby Jaden and a number of others. Mariah was so kind, stayed with me all evening, introduced me to everyone like I was a friend. Party ended and I went home, paid in cash and over the agreed amount. A couple of days later my phone rang again. Photographed her a couple more times that winter while she was staying. Always insanely sweet. Stupidly changed my phone number at one point that year and lost contact.
Will always remember how sweet she was to a deer in headlights at my first celebrity party. It also shaped me to where I was hardly ever intimidated by celebrities that I later worked with or met in the future.
EDIT: Changed Maria to Mariah. Need to learn how to proofread voice to text before hitting send.
Image source: helmetgoodcrashbad, The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon
#6
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 source: Anonymous5512, Jay Shetty Podcast
Of course, stories from people who’ve encountered celebrities literally once in their lives may be biased. For example, some of them could simply be in a bad mood, experiencing some professional or personal setback, and thus come off as nasty. After all, none of us is without sin, and the stars are no exception.
That’s why the stories of people who’ve worked with celebrities for a long time, over a long period, and had the opportunity to observe and interact with them at different points in their lives, are so interesting. They can thus form a more complete opinion of what kind of people they are.
#7
Some of them are terribly lonely.
I once spent the day hanging out with one of the huge names in rock from the 70s (won’t mention who he was out of respect as he’s gone now, and it’s not important anyway) who had asked my roommate, who was nannying for him, to gather some buddies for him to hang out with. We were all in our 20s, he was 60-ish.
He was a nice guy, wasn’t being creepy or anything, but it became clear he just wanted companionship. He was dropping all these big names but was spending time with a bunch of rent-a-buddies who had nothing in common with him. I enjoyed his stories found the entire experience quite poignant.
Image source: HyperbolicModesty, freepik
#8
An old coworker had a side gig of helping to set up concerts at our local arena. We were talking about Justin Timberlake and my coworker was like “oh he was a huge jerk, he made us set up a hot tub backstage and then never used it. But his grandparents were really cool.” And I’m thinking, Justin Timberlake’s grandparents were with him on tour? And then I’m like “do you mean Justin Bieber?” And he did 😂.
Image source: supergirlsudz, Justin Bieber
#9
I worked with Andy Samberg for a day and he seems to take his comedy really seriously. Like it’s all planned and calculated. Not much goofing around between cut and action and he only turns on the silliness when the camera rolls.
Image source: jonenderjr, Late Night with Seth Meyers
Incidentally, it’s interesting that actors (especially outstanding actors) are often the ones who are talked about as being kind in real life. The point is that acting is also about the ability to “wear a mask” not only on stage or on set, but also in real life. It’s the ability to stay in character even in everyday life.
This dedicated article at the Saybrook University website notes that as fame hits, many people also have to deal with the burden of a discrepancy between their personal image and their public one.
It’s not surprising that, along with such “obvious” things about stardom as isolation, mistrust, and lack of personal privacy, many celebrities also struggle with the additional emotional burden of an identity crisis. When one always has to “conform” to an impeccable image – and, unlike professional actors, they’ve never been taught this. What could they actually do?
#10
I’ve met my share of celebs but the one who stands out was John Candy. I was a young guy doing a bit part with some friends on SCTV. John was the nicest person, who was so careful to make sure we were happy and had everything we needed during the shoot. He hung out in our dressing room, telling stories. Just a really good guy. Eugene Levi was on that same shoot and he was pretty cranky, but at the end of the day, when we were leaving the studio, he came to us and apologized for being cranky. Completely unnecessary, and a completely stand up guy.
Edit: the SCTV skit was a Shmenge Brothers episode.
Image source: Objectalone, CTV News
#11
Not me, but my dad used to work as a security guard on one of Ellen Degeneres’ properties and has two stories I love talking about. Once a quail somehow made its way into the house and Ellen lost her cool, freaked out and made my dad remove it. He had to bring in a ladder and chase it around lol. On a separate occasion Ellen found a baby seal on the beach- this property is on a waterfront so I’m not sure if she saw it from the house or was taking a walk or something. Again, she lost her cool, but apparently baby seals are less threatening than quails because she took it upon herself to try ‘saving’ it. Except I guess she didn’t know seals are mammals, because her method involved getting a bucket full of water and dunking the baby seal into it. Thinking it breathed in water. Like a fish. I think it was my dad’s coworker who had to intervene and then called someone to take care of it properly. Moral of the story don’t trust Ellen Degeneres with animals.
Image source: IntelligentTicket640, TheEllenShow
#12
Not worked with, but Brian Baumgartner (Kevin from The Office) had an appearance at our local baseball stadium. He was taking photos and signing autographs. The line was VERY long. At one point a stadium employee came up to him to say time was up and to wrap it up. He politely refused and said he would stay as long as there were people who wanted to meet him. He met and talked to every person in that line. Real stand up guy.
Image source: bethsbrownbag, The Rich Eisen Show
On the other hand, the constant attention from thousands and millions of fans, the aforementioned identity crisis, and the constant stress of living up to the expectations of a fan base (fans create a star, but they can also “extinguish” them) don’t contribute to mental stability.
“The isolation from normalcy and the pressure to maintain a perfect image can lead to feelings of alienation,” this article at the Psychological Care Institute website reasonably says. “Celebrities experience an inability to trust and often struggle to build authentic connections, amplifying mental health struggles.”
So, in fact, honor and praise go to those people who, even under the weight of incredible responsibility, fame, and – let’s admit it – a lot of money, still manage to remain decent people. Incidentally, most of the stories in this collection are about good and kind folks anyway.
#13
We used to clean Aretha Franklin’s home. She was NOT a clean person. Beautiful home but incredibly messy and “hoarder-like”. We could only clean certain rooms and everything else could NOT be touched despite being incredibly dirty. Also, when she was home, we could not interact or even look at her.
That shook me.
Image source: Globewanderer1001, The Wall Street Journal
#14
I did catering at a sports venue and the blue man group was getting ready in their dressing room. I witnessed them blasting radiohead, globbing on their blue paint and doing various actions in the mirror after applying blue paint with their hands. Was very strange vibe while I was setting up their veggie and hummus platter 😂.
Image source: Seabass_Says, Insider
#15
I walked past Craig David on the street in NYC a year or two ago. I didn’t wanna stop and talk to him even though I’m a big fan, but made eye contact, gave him a nod and said ‘my man!’ He nodded back and said ‘alright!’ I never broke stride, he got into the car that was waiting for him. Overall a perfect interaction.
Edit: this is supposed to KEITH DAVID, please accept my sincere, sleep deprived apologies for the mixup. I don’t even know who Craig David is, but KEITH DAVID was super cool in person.
Image source: Vorenos, Toon’d In with Jim Cummings
In any case, no matter how emotionally stable or unstable celebrities may be, it’s their true burden – he burden of fame. So it’s no surprise that we mere mortals will always be interested in everything connected with them. Well, now please just read these stories to the end of the collection, and maybe add your own ones, in case you’ve also had some experience interacting with someone famous.
#16
I’ve worked with Doug Jones, who’s a friend of a friend.
He’s one of the nicest, most genuine celebs I’ve ever encountered. Just an all around awesome guy.
Image source: TeamStark31, Scream Dreams
#17
In college I worked as a bellman at a fancy hotel in Del Mar. During the horse racing season we would get a lot of celebrities. The one that stands out was Martin Sheen and his wife. They were incredibly nice, interested in me, and remembered me on a return visit. Just solid people.
Image source: randwalt, Interview Archive
#18
Beyonce is really sweet and goofy when she isn’t working, that smile melted me on the daily, and I’m honestly not even a fan. Plus she gave us a lot of KFC one night.
Image source: dinguss21, Entertainment Tonight
#19
Knew the Obama’s a bit when their girls were enrolled at the Laboratory Schools at the University of Chicago. She, especially was very well known & liked. She was a normal volunteer school Mom!
Both very tall & she’s gorgeous irl.
Image source: gypsy_musedeux, Wild Card with Rachel Martin
#20
I designed, built, and installed a kitchen for Rebecca Romijn and Jerry O’Connell back in 2019. First of all: those 2 are TALL. I’m 6′ and was the shortest person in the room.
But I was blown away by how down to earth those two were. Totally normal people. No crazy drama or demands. Completely reasonable and lovely to work with.
The house was quirky and old. But that is what they wanted, a house with a lot of charm.
Edit: Jesus Christ Reddit. Yes, I’m actually 6′. Yes Rebecca is listed at 5’11” and yes she was wearing shoes with a heel when I first met her, which made her taller than me. Yes, Jerry is also taller than 6′.
Image source: wingzero44, Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen
#21
Talking with Michael Cera felt like I was hanging out with a longtime childhood friend. He was genuinely interested and engaged in conversation with me and my brother when we were hired to drive a car trailer for one of his films.
Image source: itsyouraccount, GQ
#22
Ive worked on a lot of film and tv. Most actors are so self absorbed they have zero clue about anything else. When talking through the film community if you dont hear abput someone means they are nice enough people. The stand out to me were :
Dolly Parton – a true gem of a human .
Shaq – a cool and genuinely caring person .
Jason Bateman – great guy . Very funny .
Mike Epps – very funny .
Kevin Spacey – knew is was a weirdo creep the second we met .
The Rock – everything you see is contrived and he is not a nice guy .
Image source: buriednglass, AXS TV
#23
Cuba Gooding Jr is going to get his me too moment one of these days. Hawkeye is a huge diva who needs his hummus and carrots STAT. Nina Dobrev bums American Spirit cigarettes regularly but never offers to buy any. Vincent Donofrio, Theo James, and Jake Johnson, and Bucky Barnes are lovely human beings and straight up gentlemanly. Tyler Perry isn’t as deep in the closet as he thinks he is.
Image source: atlGnomeThief, Piers Morgan Uncensored
#24
I was a kid, but my dad was putting on a NYE comedy event with my uncle Louie Anderson, Dana Carvey, Kevin Nealon, and Victoria Jackson.
Louie was the best uncle anyone could’ve asked for, all the warm stories you hear about him are true and I miss him every day.
As for the rest, my memories are hazy but Dana Carvey went out of his way to very gently greet shy six year old me and tell me some jokes, and I was scared of Kevin Nealon because I’d never seen someone so tall in my life at that point. Don’t remember Victoria Jackson but I believe I was playing with her kids backstage during the show I wasn’t allowed to go to.
Image source: Tight-Relationship65, Team Coco
#25
I live in New Zealand, and sat across the row from. James Cameron on a one hour flight from Wellington to Auckland a week ago. (There’s no first class in any of the domestic airlines in NZ, so unless you have a private plane you’re slummin’ it with the regular joes on internal flights.)
I’m a high school film studies teacher and whilst I’m not the biggest fanboy, seeing Terminator 2 at the cinema in 1991 when I 16 was a big moment for me as a teenage film nerd. So as we were getting off the plane I mentioned how big a deal that film for putting me on the path I am today. He was very nice – said “wow, that was a long time ago” and asked where I taught and made a bit of chit chat as we walked down the gantry. Seemed like a decent guy and definitely made a bit more effort to chat than I was expecting.
Image source: suburban_ennui75, CBS Sunday Morning
#26
I lived in LA for awhile. I worked at a high end dry cleaners in Calabasis and then later on played amateur poker at high end cash games for a living. I’ll preface this by saying this was almost 20 yrs ago and people mature and change, and of course my past interactions or experiences don’t define who people actually are. Here are a few I interacted with multiple times:
-Stevie Wonder- great guy but his family leeches off of him. At the time there were like 40 people living at his house. Like cousins cousins kids. This isn’t meant to be a bad joke but I honestly don’t even know if he knew that many people lived there, it was nuts.
-Travis Barker- stuck up jerk
-Howie Mandel- weirdo stuck up germaphobe
-Jermaine Jackson- Buys his clothes from Ross, always used coupons for dry cleaning and didn’t want to pay for delivery so he drove a Rolls Royce Phantom to drop off his Ross dress for less clothes
– Denise Richards- stuck up and wouldn’t even acknowledge you and seemed angry a lot
– Reese Witherspoon- the kindest soul and very down to earth
– DL Hughley – he was disgusted I was at his door even though I was delivering his clothes he wanted cleaned. He’s now very open about not liking white people so I guess that would be why
– Irv Gotti- drunk, dependent on gambling
– Anthony Hopkins- Super down to earth and will have a 10 minute conversation with you like he’s known you for years. Love that guy
– Dave Navarro – he’s a little fella with horrible tattoos and a huge ego but if Carmen Electra was my ex wife I’d probably have a big ego too.
– Jose Canseco- He’s everything he’s made himself out to be and more lol.
Image source: 4545Colt4545, The Late Show with Stephen Colbert
#27
I used to be Chuch Norris hairdresser way back in late ’80s. He was such a earth to down kinda guy.
Image source: Trylldom, Conan O’Brien
#28
Met Kiefer Sutherland when he was a roadie..he was lugging all the bands gear. This was 2005 so he was fairly famous . He seemed like a solid dude .
Image source: Vivid_Ice_2755, GQ
#29
My Mom said Cher was really nice and personable.
Image source: MahlNinja, Jimmy Kimmel Live
#30
My company hired celebs to entice people to attend our biggest events each year. The opener at one conference was Adam Savage from Mythbusters. He was incredibly kind and engaging with all of us backstage. He asked about my son’s academic pursuits and suggested he attend the Colorado School of Mines so “he could learn to blow stuff up.” It was the most appropriate and delightful thing he could’ve said.
Image source: ags_heels_95, Adam Savage’s Tested
#31
Mark Wahlberg was trash, even by Dorchester standards. He also has a third papilla and does not like the nickname “Trip Nip”.
Image source: Atomic_ad
#32
My buddy worked setup/teardown at a local arena. He said half the time he was there as standby, as the performer’s own crew would do most of the big stuff and he’d just help with transporting stuff to the stage area. He said it was rare to see any of the performers, as they either showed up right before sound check or they stayed in their room until it was time to perform.
But he said Barry Manilow, of all people, was super chill and down to earth. Was walking around cracking jokes and talking to people. And not in a performative, “hey look at me! A big star being nice to The Help!” kind of way. He stayed out of the way but would shoot with people if they had time.
About a year later he returned and still remembered most of the people who still worked there.
Image source: Ozamataz-Buckshank69
#33
I’ve worked in film and television on and off for the past 20 years.
Many celebrities are emotionally out of touch. They just don’t understand “the public” in any type of context, especially those who rose to fame at such a young age.
Then you have those who beg to be treated normally. A simple, mundane task – like going to the grocery store, or grabbing a quick beer at a local bar means the absolute world to them. They become happy by being grounded.
Both instances effect their mental health. They crash out, they self medicate, they project onto others.
And then of course, there are some who are well-grounded and understand their fame and how it affects themselves and the people around them. Since this is a positive note, I have no problem mentioning Will Ferrell. A joy a work with and a super down to earth human-being.
Image source: JayMoney8518
#34
The people *surrounding them* are usually god awful, manipulative and rude people. Most celebrities are just normal folks with interesting skills or talents from my experience, but the managers, agents, entourage, etc are just heinous. (Creative director having done brands, events, and campaigns w them for over a decade) edit: grammar.
Image source: the-watch-dog
#35
Not really worked with, but I’ve spoken with Michael Sheen afew times when ive had to run into the Local supermarket for something, The man is down to earth and just an overall lovely person to talk to.
Image source: llWolfiell
#36
Jeff Goldblum knew my name when i was introduced to him. I was working as an assistant (to another actor), and he memorizes everyones name on the roster. I’ve heard the same for Tom Cruise.
If you ever have a chance to meet Jeff, it will exceed your expectations.
Image source: AccomplishdAccomplce
#37
The A-list celebrities are super nice because they have staff to be mean to you. The mid-tier ones are the celebrities that come off as mean because they have to directly deal with vendors / venues / promoters / partners / etc. and those people will rob celebrities blind if given the chance. .
Image source: BroccoliNumerous5624
#38
Some of them are able to turn the “dazzle” on and off and some of them are just magnetic all the time.
I was once working on a show walking from the crew trailers to set down a city street and I immediately knew when the star was coming up behind me. There weren’t really any people around giving reactions, the air just felt different. He was the kind of guy that whenever he was in a room, everybody just knew it.
Other actors I’ve had in costume fittings and they’re chatting like normal, down to earth people. Then at a certain point they will “try on” the character with the outfit. It’s a subtle shift but suddenly they’re a whole different person. It’s wild to see. Especially when the “different person” is just their public persona.
Image source: Carpe_PerDiem
#39
Not media celebrities, but politicians:
A lot (not all, but more than you’d think) of them are incredibly personable, friendly, charismatic people in person, even (obnoxiously) the ones that you hate.
It’s not the same as real kindness or genuineness, but social interaction is a skill and a lot of them are really, really good at it. They WILL make you feel like the only person in the room and, if you’re unprepared, have you nodding along dumbly as they explain that they just HAD to vote against the new “Cure Pediatric Cancer” bill or whatever, and you’ll walk away from the conversation feeling good about it.
To be fair, some are absolute lumps – it doesn’t necessarily take a ton of interpersonal skill to get elected in a district that’s been solidly +50 Your Political Party for 60 years, but there are some folks in Congress where they walk in a room of normal folks and they’re *immediately* everyone’s beloved best buddy like they just cast some sort of spell. It’s wild to see.
Image source: Crappler319
#40
My wife was an extra on the movie One Chance, starring James Corden, and apparently he was one of the nicest people you could ever meet…
…sorry, I typed that wrong. He was an absolute jerk who treated everyone like a lump of dogshit he just stepped in.
Image source: TheOriginalGuru
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