I once had a day with Paul Merton who I expected to be horrible but absolutely wasnt.
I agree with the differences of perceptions though, and feeling like people own them. My childhood bestfriend was an child actor, who then grew up to be in the fashion industry and mildly famous. Its completely changed how I view celebrity. Some times he acts a bit out of touch, but his life is a bit outrageous. At my wedding he wore something that wasnt the right dress code and to me looks odd, but is completely the norm for the fashion circles he travels in. He wasnt being deliberately obtuse, just probably hasnt been to a registry office wedding in many years! He could have come in his underpants and id of been thrilled he made it.
One of my guests thought he was "showy" because of it, and people did act weirdly around him at the reception. Because of the growing up in front of people aspect (in bit parts like hollyoaks type thing), people feel like they know him and are already friends. People chat with him with such a level of familiarity, like an old cousin, because of that and seem a bit put out when he treats them like the new strangers they are. They were asking him allsorts of questions you'd not ask someone new eg about breakups, and hugging etc
Once when he was starting a flat, and money wasnt perticularly great he ordered a sofafrom a chain store. The sofa came damaged, he complained and got the usual response, and it wasnt sorted. We then went in the store together, and got it sorted. Later there was a story that popped up on tumblr about him being rude and that he was an awful customer!
He has also dated other actors etc. When hes back over here, he usually choses restaurants etc but one time i chose a busy bog standard chain pub (I think to slightly share my more dull life with him) when introducing me to his new man. The new man was a minor actor, has a wikipedia page but is someone i had to google to know what he was in if that makes sense? Not someone id class as very famous at all. Think less Tom cruise, more tom from holby. I was amazed how many times we got interrupted. It was several minuites apart but it was hard to maintain a flow of conversation and people would just interject themselves. Im not sure if the people coming to the table was worse or the people heckling from afar
Peoples conversation starters were also decided naff. People would either just say the actors name, say they were a fan, shout something like hello, say the characters name etc. Say an odd little annecdote about how they were somehow connected (my cousin was the soundman?, I was six years below you in school)Each time the onos was on him to somehow not just say "yeah". Or just weirdly taking sneaky photos
It makes sense with the nicole kidman thing where someone shouts helloo at you and your meant to respond.
The food was missing a side, the waitress was a bit rude about it/flustered. They made me complain because of the fear that theyd be seen as rude and be on twitter as the worst celeb someones dealt with
Ultimately lots of these experiences are one of many for the celeb. They might have 40 people come up to them that day, and its all a bit dull. For each of those 40 people though its something they will remember and possibly post as the greatest or worst encounter theyved had. Imagine if every food service person, shop assistant, co-worker (no matter how useless) and general member of the public encountered on every day of your life was asked their experience of you? Ive certainly been aloof, or even rude to some this week (blaming the cafe that let me queue for 20 min, panini in hand to get to the front and tell me they stopped heating food 3 min ago)
Some of the encounters on this thread are bonkers! Theres multiple accounts of people shouting at people across the street and being annoyed they didnt wave back. Multiple accounts of people saying different celebrities looked at them wrong
The ed bryne is a classic example. He looked witheringly at someone, others said he was lovely. Maybe he was thinking about something else, maybe he didnt want to be approached that day, maybe you just misinterpreted it? Maybe that guy from made in chelsea or that other comedian looked at you like that because they thought they recognised you but didnt? Maybe they were just looking at you, looking at them and they were thinking Ive got to be somewhere in 5 min, i was hoping for quiet, i hope this person doesnt talk to me