Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Flexible and made to last.

Meet the Other Phone.
Flexible and made to last.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Chat

Join the discussion and chat with other Mumsnetters about everyday life, relationships and parenting.

Original poster

Anyone met a celebrity and they haven’t been how you expected?

628 replies

Everdeen80 · 18/09/2023 14:35

I guess from all the RB threads…a lot of people saying that they are appalled but not exactly surprised.

so I wondered - anybody met anyone well known and they were NOT how you expected? For good or bad?

I had a very strange and brief encounter with one of my favourite actresses a couple of years ago and it was not what I expected at all! Made me realise of course we don’t know these people at all. Any other stories?

OP posts:
Thread gallery
10
Brrrrrrrrrrrr · 04/10/2023 21:19

KatStratford · 03/10/2023 17:45

Tina Turner was just wonderful; kind, generous, thoughtful and phenomenally hardworking.

I’d love to know how you met her

Howsimplywonderful · 04/10/2023 21:21

My brother met Grace Jones at a concert in Berlin. She was busy dispensing relationship advice to the bouncers and was great fun.

hufflepuffbutrequestinggriffindor · 04/10/2023 21:22

Met John Barrowman at a local fete doing a meet and greet. My sister is a massive doctor who fan and was really excited to get his autograph. He was an absolute snob, so rude and arrogant - very unlike his TV persona.

ilovepixie · 04/10/2023 21:37

Princess Anne told us to naff off!

WhatWillAPearDoAtNight · 04/10/2023 21:44

I second Davina McCall is really lovely!

LinaLouLa · 04/10/2023 21:50

wellthatwentwelldinnit · 03/10/2023 16:26

Linda Robson is a grade A bitch. She physically injured me on the one unfortunate occasion I met her.

Eammon Holmes is rude and opinionated too.

Terry Wogan was a delight.

Show quote history

Ah I met Eamonn a few years back and he was absolutely lovely.

Kaz7779 · 04/10/2023 22:05

Not met many famous people but once met Robert plant from led zeppelin at a misfits concert!! and he was lovely, and Jordan Henderson and he was really nice to and not to bad to look at either!!

AvocadotoastORahouse · 04/10/2023 22:10

AmadeustheAlpaca · 04/10/2023 01:10

One for all the Scottish Mumsnetters about Mhairi Hedderwick the author of the Katie Morag stories. She visited my daughter’s primary school and asked the children to write a short story. An easy gig for her to sit around watching the children write a story while she was being paid for being there. She told my seven year old daughter she’d written a silly story. Nice.

I wonder if she nicks the kids ideas for her next best seller. Grin

QueenOfHiraeth · 04/10/2023 22:21

saraclara · 03/10/2023 21:56

What did I not expect - Michael Gove. He's rather witty and charming

I know a civil servant who worked for Gove, and won't hear a word against him as a person, even though he doesn't remotely share his political views. Says he's unfailingly polite, considerate and kind to his staff.

I know someone who worked with Ian Duncan Smith and had nothing but good to say about him. She said he was a genuinely decent man who really wanted to do good

Pinkystinky55 · 04/10/2023 22:38

Lenny Henry is an awful man. Made a comment about the size of my breasts and how if I kept my arms crossed I would make my milk go sour

UnctuousUnicorns · 04/10/2023 22:41

Tooldforwobblyknees · 03/10/2023 20:16

Morten Harket (a-Ha).
My mum said I was too young for concerts in the 1980's, so I decided to revisit a few memories.
It was an outside broadcast a few years ago - a few of us ran after him afterwards and he smiled at me! I asked for a selfie and got one.
14 year-old me nearly fainted - put the photo on Facebook and got complimented on my 'husband' 🤣

(Also 80s) My poor DH didn't go to a gig till he was 17, due to fearful parents. Thankfully mine were more lax, so I was attending gigs on my own from age 13. 😅

yesterdaytoday · 04/10/2023 22:48

McCartney gets a really hard time on Mumsnet, where people are just too cool to appreciate him. There’s a sort of desperation in their eagerness to let everyone know that, which is a bit sad really. Immature. Their loss, he’s amazing. And his kids adore him, which speaks volumes about the sort of person he is when you peel away all the layers.

Dinkydaisy1 · 04/10/2023 22:52

Kate Middleton - met when she attended events at work. Very polished and polite, seems a bit nervous. Sweet. Photographs well vs reality (photoshop? I was a bit surprised)

Meghan Markle - oooozes warmth, joy, humour. Not really an RF fan or on either side of the rift, but loved meeting her, shes someone I'd love to have endless brunches with.

Princess Anne, very down to earth and really interested in nitty gritty of boring organisations

I've met Michael Rosen a few times as he used to be local as a child, and went to my children's school, so comes around a lot. Always a good chat, very friendly, down to earth, and is happy to be invited back and support as much as he can.

Keir Starmer - used to work for him when he was MP in St Pancras. Really nice guy, always very invested in genuinely helping out.

Jemima Khan - not a huge celeb, but really, really sweet.

LipRouge · 04/10/2023 22:58

Pinkystinky55 · 04/10/2023 22:38

Lenny Henry is an awful man. Made a comment about the size of my breasts and how if I kept my arms crossed I would make my milk go sour

Yeah I heard he is a bit of a creep. My partner when he was much younger took his mum to a LH show and he was so embarrassed 😳 because LH was talking about masturbating etc and my partners mum was beside him cringe! 😬

Ramalangadingdong · 04/10/2023 23:09

Alstroemeria123 · 04/10/2023 15:18

Do you mean John Redwood?

He’s a condescending twat, but that’s not really a surprise. I used to live in his constituency and he came canvassing for votes before one general election. Refused to speak to me as my parents weren’t in. I was 22 at the time (so well past voting age) and much more politically engaged than they were.

Show quote history

Yes! That’s who I mean! John Redwood.

Ramalangadingdong · 04/10/2023 23:12

Theonethatdidntgetaway · 04/10/2023 16:04

Not so 'celebrity' but journalist Ann Pickles used to regularly get drunk during the day at a restaurant I worked in as a teen. She was snobby and impolite. I picked my nose and put it in her ceaser salad once and have no regrets.

Kunt from KATG is adorably lovely and helpful.

I am never going to eat in a restaurant again!

unisexforreal · 04/10/2023 23:16

Ant and Dec - thoroughly delightful and charming. Totally as I expected them.

Dawn French - not what I expected but maybe it was a bad day. She was berating an airline employee regarding a delayed flight.

Vanessa Feltz- lovely and great sense of humour.

Ramalangadingdong · 04/10/2023 23:16

GonnaGetGoingReturns · 04/10/2023 16:25

Forgot about these. SIL used to manage William Morris Gallery and met Grayson Perry and other modern artists, all seemed fine even when I’ve been at previews. She also writes books on Pre-Raphaelites and has met Andrew Lloyd-Webber, fine. Her cousin met and had a few dates with David Walliams and flew her over to his LA home whereon she found out he was seeing other women and flew straight home.

In mid 00s I used to do dancing in Marylebone (church hall), one night after it we went to a fish n chip shop locally there and Noel Gallagher was hiding behind the counter, we weren’t interested at all as he came across as a twat for doing this.

Stepdad used to work for National Maritime Museum and met Prince Philip many times giving speeches and at dinners and said he was very nice and funny.

I saw the Gallaghers walking around Marylebone years ago! I remember Liam doing some strange walk and being all “rock star” I wasn’t interested in those days. These days I think he’s a bit of a national treasure. I really like him.

Ramalangadingdong · 04/10/2023 23:20

fungibletoken · 04/10/2023 16:25

Michael McIntyre - very ratty. Snapping at his assistants when his microphone kept coming untaped from his cheek, before eventually storming off the stage. Also hated when the tables were turned and someone made a joke about him.

I was watching him the other day and wondering how he got to be so successful.

Ramalangadingdong · 04/10/2023 23:29

Pinkystinky55 · 04/10/2023 22:38

Lenny Henry is an awful man. Made a comment about the size of my breasts and how if I kept my arms crossed I would make my milk go sour

He said something to me that I won’t repeat here but it really upset me. Glad I’m not alone.

Canibearsed · 04/10/2023 23:30

WhatWillAPearDoAtNight · 04/10/2023 21:44

I second Davina McCall is really lovely!

She really is .

AmadeustheAlpaca · 04/10/2023 23:31

AvocadotoastORahouse · 04/10/2023 22:10

I wonder if she nicks the kids ideas for her next best seller. Grin

Show quote history

That’s a good point. I was very underwhelmed by the fact that she got paid while sitting in a classroom watching children writing for 20 minutes and then couldn’t even try to be polite. I read an interview with her a number of years ago and she came across as grumpy.

1stWorldProblems · 04/10/2023 23:38

Stephen McGann was lovely to me as a spotty adolescent - went to a backstage meet & greet at Blood Brothers and he mentioned he was hoping to see his brother Joe in a touring show to which we had tickets. He asked me to find out the details (pre-interweb) and when I rang the theatre back a few days later I expected to just leave a message but he came on the phonr and seemed v grateful I'd tracked down the info for him. Saw the show a couple more times & went round to the stage doir where he unfailingly remembered people's names and asked after them. So happy he's getting the recognition he deserves playing someone as nice as himself on 'Call the Midwife".

PaprikaPlease · 04/10/2023 23:45

To add to the Gallagher stories, I met Liam as a nervous, weird looking sort of teen who awkwardly him asked for an autograph and he was as lovely as could be! I expected someone ‘cooler’ but he really put me at ease.

middler · 05/10/2023 06:25

Jack Black got in the car next to us at amazon fresh last weekend, a friend went to school with him and he is a good guy apparently.

Swipe left for the next trending thread