Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Only the apps you allow.

Meet the Other Phone.
Only the apps you allow.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Have you met a celebrity villain?

865 replies

pawsies · 13/03/2021 13:29

Someone that is controversial in the media or comes across unpleasant on TV or whatever?

What were they like in real life?

AIBU to think there might be some surprises and some of them will be a persona on TV or whatever?

OP posts:
pawsies · 13/03/2021 18:01

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Pedallleur · 13/03/2021 18:43

Jimmy Saville. Odd, eccentric whatever. But his behaviour was accepted both at the BBC and by the public. Now he would be found out but his public life his his private one. He raised enormous amounts for charities, won the Green Beret of the Marines etc. But if you met you just thought he is odd. Bernard Manning was like his character. It wasn't a stage act. But he never poked fun at disabilities so that's alright then.

nonetooshoddy · 13/03/2021 19:09

My parents went on a cruise and Jimmy Savile was a fellow passenger, before anything was known about him. My dad had such a bad feeling about the guy he was physically repulsed, and my parents never went near him the whole cruise.

My dad was dead before anything surfaced about Jimmy Savile, but his strong gut reaction on the sight of the man really reaffirmed to me to trust my instincts in life!

ReverendRicketyCricket · 13/03/2021 19:11

I've met Nigel Farage. As disgusting in real life as he comes across in the media. Also - deathbreath. Vile individual.

peak2021 · 13/03/2021 19:15

I lived in Gloucester in the 1980s. On a bus, not many seats, a woman gets on, sits by me, we engage chit chat about the weather. The woman gets off one stop before the city centre.

Rose West.

CoRhona · 13/03/2021 19:17

Not quite the same but I met Paul from Neighbours at a party, and DS1 met Jacob Rees-Mogg Grin

Baluchistan95 · 13/03/2021 19:38

Wow.

Baluchistan95 · 13/03/2021 19:38

Sorry, that was meant for peak2021.

GalleryGirl · 13/03/2021 19:40

I used to be the Nanny for the child of the CEO of Nestle - he gets a huge amount of bile online; he's a genuinely lovely man.

Notmydaughteryoubitch · 13/03/2021 19:43

I met Jimmy Salville very briefly at Flying Pizza in Leeds in the late 90s at uni, he'd go round shaking everyone's hands etc like the godfather.
I met Wolf from Gladiator at Alton Towers too if that counts!

Kapalika · 13/03/2021 19:46

Nasty Nick doesn’t count then?😁
Well just to say I’ve met him a few times through work - super polite, very softly spoken, unassuming, , generous at harvest time and shorter than me.

Pebbles16 · 13/03/2021 19:53

I was sat next to "Mad" Frankie Fraser on a bus (I wouldn't really have known but he was putting away his bus pass and I - being a nosey person and vaguely recognising him as someone I couldn't place - peeked). Also, I was doing a marketing campaign for Heinz online delivery service which led me to have a telephone conversation with Ronnie Biggs.
It would appear I have a penchant for East End criminals - and, of course, they "appeared" charming

MadisonMontgomery · 13/03/2021 20:00

I met Katie Hopkins when I was working at a previous job - thought she would be awful, especially as am a bit on the chubby side, but she was actually very warm & funny.

Whiskeyontherocks · 13/03/2021 20:09

Not a villain, but have a reputation as being 'difficult ' Noel & Liam from Oasis. I used to work front desk in a hotel. They were both a pleasure to deal with & gave away a bunch of tickets to hotel staff & left a very generous tip for housekeeping.

WowIlikereallyhateyou · 13/03/2021 20:14

Had the misfortune of being on a flight in business class at the same time as Wagatha Christie. Everyone else in the cabin could just as well of not existed and she came across just as obnoxious as she does in the media currently.

Whenthesunshines · 13/03/2021 20:20

@ReverendRicketyCricket

I've met Nigel Farage. As disgusting in real life as he comes across in the media. Also - deathbreath. Vile individual.
God. Poor you. NF really is a disgusting human being.
Becca19962014 · 13/03/2021 20:24

I have. The attitude after their crimes complete opposites to how they were treated before. Before they were seen as a bit odd. Accused of crimes but they were always a "mistake" or someone making "false accusations" and prejudice. Generally considered a bit odd at most but generally a lovely chap. People would give him their keys to work in their houses when they went on holiday for example.

His name was Fred West and he killed my aunts best friend. I went with her to the funeral, it was the most traumatic funeral I've been too - full of people from papers from around the world interviewing everyone to get the full scoop. Her remains fitted into a shoe box. It was dreadful; eighteen months later my aunt ended her life - she blamed herself.

Now of course he's known as Mr Pure Evil. Those oddities people just wrote off, like children disappearing off to boarding school in the middle of the night, or the night time gardening jokes to mention two long forgotten as the reality of the situation is now known.

His daughter I have huge respect for. Huge.
If it wasn't for her, they would never have been found out.

Becca19962014 · 13/03/2021 20:26

Oh, and, anyone thinking of hitting that "message poster" button for details. Don't even think about it. I've mentioned this on MN before and got a lot of, frankly, disgraceful PMs.

sweeneytoddsrazor · 13/03/2021 20:27

I met Hulk Hogan who was a controversial figure for a while. Have to say he came across as a genuinely nice person, very chatty and pleasant, happy to spend ages having pictures with the kids.

Matildatoldsuchdreadfullies · 13/03/2021 20:28

If that’s Nasty Nick from Eastenders, rather than Big Brother, I can confirm that he is very nice to his mum.

But then, so were the Krays...

Hoppinggreen · 13/03/2021 20:28

I knew Harold Shipman professionally.
Nice man and very concerned about patient welfare ( not being sarcastic he genuinely seemed to be very caring compared to a lot of the GPs I worked with) , his wife was a little odd though

NoMackerelInSwindon · 13/03/2021 20:32

Yep - a notorious murderer tried to break into my building on a dark night. I was a metre away. He became notorious not because he tried to kill me but because he killed others later. Very high profile.

Creamcrackersandricecakes · 13/03/2021 20:39

Oddly enough I've met Jimmy Savile and Piers Morgan.
Jimmy Savile - I was a child and he came to some running event that my dad was helping to organise. My dad had the exact same reaction to him as the poster's upthread, he said he felt like he needed a bath after being around him. We were allowed to meet him briefly then dad sent us off to play, (didn't want him near us!)
Piers Morgan - just as much of a total cunt as you'd expect.

Misshapencha0s · 13/03/2021 20:44

As a child I always felt repulsed by the sight of Jimmy Saville and Rolf Harris...on the other hand my brother idolised them. Gut feeling is a useful thing

TooMinty · 13/03/2021 21:21

I have met Rolf Harris but it was at a big crowded event and I was never alone with him, think I was maybe 9 or 10 - he had a book out about teaching yourself to draw.

I also knew the guy who had Thomas Hamilton kicked out of the Scouting movement, poor guy blamed himself for what Hamilton went on to do but of course he did the right thing and couldn't have known how it would turn out.