Famous people you thought would be nice, but were tw*ts?

[Moodershewrote]

Have you met someone famous and they turned out to be a bit of a twat?

I once met Steve Coogan (who I thought was hilarious as Alan Partridge) who was a sexist, lecherous buffoon IRL.

Share your tales!

I wouldn't say he was a tw*t, but when I lived in London years ago I decided to go and watch The Paul O'Grady Show.

Along with many other people, I queued in the pouring rain for over 2 hours.

After watching the show for a few years, I often used to wonder what he'd be saying to the audience in the breaks when the camera stopped rolling. Well, I did find out - he said nothing. He remained on the stage and didn't interact at all. I was really surprise and didn't really enjoy the second half.

We had queued for hours, most of it in cold and pouring rain. We had obeyed all the cue cards, clapping and laughing and cheering like performing seals when instructed, and not received one word of thanks or acknowledgement from the great host himself once the cameras stopped rolling.

I have never heard anyone else mention this, so maybe he was having a bad day, but I never felt the same about him after that.

I don’t disagree. The (very few) plausibly ‘famous’ people I know because we’re from the same place, or because circumstances meant we were thrown together more than once, were ordinary enough people, certainly no nicer or nastier than anyone else, with the single big difference thst they were recognised all the time they were out in public, and, depending on the type of fame, had certain expectations of them, so they had to evolve a way of dealing with that.

Some people close down, put their heads down and make zero eye contact to minimise the possibility of being accosted. Some people evolve a public persona of polished warmth. Some refuse autographs/selfies. Some ultra-famous people have multiple staff keeping the general public away from them so casual fan encounters don’t happen. I’m not sure it says anything in particular about the person.

I have contacts in the UK and Broadway theatre industry and it’s known that Cynthia Erivo is vile. I’d hoped it wasn’t so because I think she’s incredibly talented, but alas! ‘Tis true.
Ralph Fiennes threatened to ‘end someone’ at the NT.

Oh she is adorable. I met her once and told her my son loved her books. She said 'What's his name and does he prefer cats or dogs?' then did a little sketch of his favourite animal and signed it to him.

It made my evening. She was so warm and charming. And DS was delighted.

Thank goodness for Julie Walters, Paul McCartney and Michael Palin.

I wonder if William or Kate is getting a little bump and grind elsewhere?

I recently read Richard E Grant's tale about Nigella Lawson. .
When his wife was dying she sent cooked food around in an Uber every Sunday for three months. I was a wonderful space every week where he didn't have to think about food, or cooking.
What a Queen

Seems a lot of people love Jimmy Page. Is the truth about him still not widely known?

Diana was the best she didn't need gloves to touch the people unlike the queen. Diana realised that Charles was in love with Camilla and he only married her because he had to. Why should she think about his feelings when his heart is elsewhere? Can you blame her for her actions after, I don't.

Obviously, it’s a kind, thoughtful thing to do, but also a completely normal thing to do for a friend whose spouse is terminally ill, surely.

A friend of mine’s DP is having radiotherapy at the moment and can’t eat solids, and though I’m too far away to send food, I know a mutual friend is inventing various calorific soups and smoothies to try to help keep him nourished and delivering them, and another has lent them her icecream maker for the same reason.

I have! All good.

I used to work at a big London museum, and DA was one of the trustees. When the trustees had a meeting there was a lunch afterwards and some of the staff would be asked along to talk about their work in the museum. I sat next to DA.

He chatted to all of us, and was clearly genuinely interested in what we all did in the museum. He had lots of funny anecdotes too. Lovely man.

There are plenty of stories about William.

Someone mentioned kian egan.

I also met kian egan. I used to work in a takeaway at the weekend when i was in university.

Kian egan came in one day with his bodyguard.

I asked kian what he wanted. He wouldnt even answer me . He got his bodyguard to talk to me!.

Just a five minute snapshot of him, but in that snapshot he was a bit rude

By who.? Has anyone actually come out and said that william is having an affair

Ahem. I beg to differ. I've worked with her. Quite a lot, and she's poisonous.
She tried to get a woman sacked from a radio station because she mentioned in an interview that they were both divorced.
Horrible, horrible woman. The smiley onstage persona is an act.

I saw him play Dr Strangelove in Dublin a while ago - he was fantastic! Brilliant show.

Disappointed about Lesley Manville :(

Some encounters i'm sure are personality clashes.
I've met gyles brandreth and found him very funny & charming but I can see how someone might be put off by the same behaviour.

I worry I'd be on this list if I were famous 😖 I don't hide my frustration easily in "computer says no" situations and i used to get so irritable in queues or driving etc. I didn't know why I would get so worked up, it was a horrible way to feel.

Eventually, I found out that anxiety often presents as irritability and things fell into place. I was in a permanent state of high anxiety, stress and very sleep deprived. Realising this and learning to manage my anxiety changed everything.

I'm also very shy and friends & colleagues have told me they thought I was very aloof when we first met - really I was just too shy to speak!

For those of us old enough to know who Pat Phoenix/Elsie Tanner is - when I was about 9, she came to our hometown to open a bingo hall. I was so excited as had been watch Coronation Street with my mum for years.

So there was a big crowd of people all waiting to get close enough to her, brandishing our piece of paper and autograph books for her to sign. I finally got to the front and reached out towards her, just as a man behind me thrust his arm out over my head and knocked my arm away.

It was just as if she morphed into her character there an then! Her eyes were blazing, as she glared at him and shouted, "Yes, it's very useful havin' long arms!" She made him wait, signing my paper first and then several other autographs before getting back to him. Legend!

I've always though of her fondly since then. And she seemed extremely colourful and glamorous to my young eyes!

On the other hand, around the same time, I went to an event opened by Harry Secombe. I went to him to get his autograph as he was walking across a field and pushed me out of the way with some grumpy comment and marched past! 😂

My friends saw Christopher Lee and his wife in an airport. He was in a wheelchair by that point. He was happy to chat and give an autograph and was absolutely charming. (I am so envious)

Another friend worked as a flight attendant. He confirmed Cilla Black was as awful as everyone says and the late great Shane McGowan was absolutely blootered and threw up.

@yellowdress34 I love your pat Pheonix story what a legend!

😂😂😂

Totally! ❤

I would be very careful on this- I work in music and some people who are very fan minded and come over as lovely - really aren’t, it’s very much a front - whereas others who aren’t into getting close to the fans are absolutely lovely to deal with if it’s ata business or socialising with others in the business level - they are just wary of fans getting too close in all ways- I do get that, I get some totally mental emails and this is guys ( fans) in 50s/60s/70s - mainly male ones- some total lunatics

@beguilingeyes - er - see my post I’ve just made - great example of this.

Besides working in music I once did a temp job at a Harley st clinic - Paul Young got me to put his ticket on his car- very friendly, Ruby wax was very pleasant too to my suprise. Morrissey was er , Morrissey - but no one ever said he was nice.