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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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:
Tibtom · 14/03/2021 01:04

Piers Morgan might be obnoxious but Jimmy Saville was something else. I don't think it reasonable to suggest they fall into the same category.

RolloTomassi · 14/03/2021 01:11

Gordon Ramsey. Totally charming and obliging.

TitsInAbsentia · 14/03/2021 01:17

@WowIlikereallyhateyou

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.
Woof Grin
HarrietSchulenberg · 14/03/2021 01:45

I met Rolf Harris when I was a student and he was doing a tour of universities in the early 90s. He was a bighead and not very polite to those of us who worked at his gig.

Some friends of mine worked as night porters at Leeds General Infirmary and used to talk about how Jimmy Saville would just turn up in the middle of the night, very quietly. They said he was odd and creepy but we didn't how creepy until years later.

Becca, a friend of my grandparents lost her neice to Fred West. She went missing while living in Gloucestershire and our friend never got over it. She knew her neice was dead as there was no way she would disappear deliberately but fortunately she died herself before her neice was found and identified. I say fortunately because the shock of that would have killed her anyway, she was elderly, very genteel and very frail.

Saggingninja · 14/03/2021 02:30

PebbIes 16 'I was sat next to "Mad" Frankie Fraser on a bus'

Oooh Pebbles - I once saw Mad Frankie Fraser in an M&S 'eight items or less' queue. He had at least 10 items in his basket but for some reason nobody commented! And I also noticed everyone else in the queue was giving him plenty of space. He was very short and very polite to the girl at the cash till. He bought 10 tins of Sheba cat food. Grin

Saggingninja · 14/03/2021 02:37

There's a story about Jimmy Savile being kicked off a cruise ship in 1978. Despite nobody knowing anything then, a couple on a ship complained he had been perving over their 14-year-old daughter and took their complaint to the ship captain. Who turfed him off the boat. I'm glad that somebody wasn't intimidated by his fame.

www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/jimmy-savile-thrown-cruise-ship-1376532

TaraR2020 · 14/03/2021 02:50

Interesting comments about piers Morgan, I've heard from others who've worked with him that he's the model of a kind and supportive colleague. I find it odd though when you look at how incredibly awfully he treated people on the show.

1forAll74 · 14/03/2021 02:59

I have met Jimmy Saville twice,, both times at the Stoke Mandeville Hospital Spinal unit, well before all his crimes were all out in the open.
He had just been out running,(in his bright green and yellow track suit and a bright green woolly hat, he was trying to raise money, for the spinal units swimming pool, that was out of use, with loads of broken tiles in the pool, and a bit of a mess.

I was on my first visit,with my late Mum,I was visiting my son, who had had an accident, and had become paralysed from the chest down.We arrived at the hospital, which had a huge foyer, and lots of stairs leading all over the area,so was a bit confused, as to where my son would be. We noticed Jimmy Saville, sitting on a seat in the foyer, tacking his trainers off, as they were all wet from the rain..

He immediately came to speak to Mum and myself, saying hello ladies. who are you looking for. So told him my sons name, and he immediately said, Oh, I know Robert, you will find him if you go up those two flights of stairs straight ahead, walk along the corridor, then you will reach a ward, on the left, and your son is in the first bed on the right., he is in the next bed to JOE. the elderly man who is 80, and is also now paralysed, after a young speeding driver, crashed into his car. Saville was all correct with this information.

It was very difficult to chat with Saville though, he was like he was on TV, Just jabbering away about lots of silly things, and never really listening to what you might say to him.

SilverBirchWithout · 14/03/2021 03:00

@Beeziekn33ze

A colleague had taught the boys who killed Jamie Bulger when he worked in a secure school.All he said was that they were ‘thick’.
She’s not telling you the truth. The two killers were separated and went to different secure schools.
SilverBirchWithout · 14/03/2021 03:16

I’ve met David Cameron a few times. He comes across as charming, pleasant and affable, but obviously likes to be liked. To my shame he is quite attractive in person.
I was flattered that he remembered me when I met him the second time at a local event. However he did make an inappropriate joke about the French president Nicholas Sarkozy who had met at a reception earlier in the day. Made a pretty derogatory comment about Sarkozy’s height, comparing him to Napoleon, he sounded like a typical posh bully boy - totally misjudged his audience of women who worked for a charity for the disadvantaged.

AintOverUntilTheCatLadySings · 14/03/2021 04:05

Piers Morgan is lovely in real life. Or, at least was, 10 years ago.

Frankie Boyle was quite sweet and very polite.

Both were far nicer than a lot of 'nice guy' celebs I've met via a work context.

I know… I feel dirty writing this.

SchadenfreudePersonified · 14/03/2021 05:24

What a fascinating thread - really enoying these accounts.

MumofSpud · 14/03/2021 06:00

@WeBuiltThisBuffetOnSausageRoll

I was so chuffed to get a photo with Rolf Harris........ now don't mention it so much. He seemed like a lovely bloke

Good friends of ours invested in some lovely original Rolf Harris paintings a long time ago, assuming that they couldn't fail to end up soaring in value. Slight misjudgment in hindsight, that....

Near us is an art gallery that sold Rolf Harris paintings, it was literally a couple of weeks before the story broke the: Rolf that DH was talking about buying a couple!
Luckily we didn't!

sashh · 14/03/2021 06:28

I've met a few prisoners in a past career (NHS), no idea what they had done but one guy, the guards did not want to take his handcuffs off, he was handcuffed to two officers which was unusual at that time, I don't know if it is normal now.

Usually there is a bit of banter between the guard and prisoner and prisoners are good as gold, particularly if they are up for parole.

From the prisoner's point of view a trip to hospital is a day out and one where they stand a good chance of interacting with a young female.

And in case you are wondering about the parole, if a prisoner is admitted to hospital they have to have guards 24/7 so if they are due parole it is cheaper to parole them because they don't need to be guarded so a lot of prisoners develop chest pain and try to get themselves admitted.

Fedriteup · 14/03/2021 06:57

Simon Cowell is lovely, has been very financially generous to a good friend of mine. Charm personified according to anyone who has met him.

On the flip side a certain quirky baking presenter made my flesh crawl on several occasions. Letchy, joked about underage girls, insecure, really used people and overall pretty mean in spirit. Appreciate he may have been in a bad place at that point in his life tbf, but made me shudder.

Fedriteup · 14/03/2021 07:00

Heard similar reports @MorePotatoSalad

PegLegAntoine · 14/03/2021 07:16

Googling tells me the charges were dropped anyway so maybe he shouldn’t be included, but in the 90s I met Matthew Kelly (stars in their eyes) at the stage door after a pantomime, he told me (aged 10ish) that my shiny gel pen was the colour of sick. My autograph book never felt quite the same after that Hmm:o the other cast members were lovely.

JumpLeadsForTwo · 14/03/2021 07:26

@WeBuiltThisBuffetOnSausageRoll

A certain one who shares a surname with a film was incredibly pleasant to me, but has form for being v rude

Surely not Sir Ernest Returnofthejedi or Baroness Petunia Herbiegoesbananas?!?! Probably just me, but I haven't a clue on this one - unless we're talking projects and witches....

I'd heard Sir Ernest was charming in real life Grin- not a clue either!!
Sparklingbrook · 14/03/2021 07:37

@AintOverUntilTheCatLadySings

Piers Morgan is lovely in real life. Or, at least was, 10 years ago.

Frankie Boyle was quite sweet and very polite.

Both were far nicer than a lot of 'nice guy' celebs I've met via a work context.

I know… I feel dirty writing this.

I said on one of the many Piers Morgan threads that I thought his GMB persona was him playing a part. The public wanted him to play that part. On Life Stories and when he’s interviewed he comes across totally different. I think he has a Leigh Francis / Keith Lemon scenario going on.
Lavanderrose · 14/03/2021 07:54

Alex beresford the weatherman. He was so up himself and arrogant.

OnGoldenPond · 14/03/2021 07:58

@Kapalika

DD appeared in a student film when she was around 9 or so with John Altman, Nasty Nick actor. I also stepped in at the last minute to play DD's Mum in the film as the original actor couldn't make it. We spent three days filming and a lot of that time chatting as we did a lot of scenes together.

He gave his time completely free. Said he does this fairly frequently as he likes to give something back. He gave DD lots of advice on how to get on in acting and was all round a lovely person. DD is now training at a top drama school and his advice really helped.

A real gent, and such a good actor as his Nasty Nick character is nothing like him! Smile

Lavanderrose · 14/03/2021 08:02

But of course Alex isn’t a villain

OnGoldenPond · 14/03/2021 08:06

Another one, not so nice a character.

Back in the 80s, was in a pub having after work drinks with DH and his colleagues. Senior partner was there with a client, a fairly old guy. He proceeded to try to chat me up and put his arm round me. I pushed his arm off and told him to bugger off. He shrugged and went off to the toilet. Only then did the senior partner tell me the guy used to be an enforcer for the Krays, nickname The Iceman.

Great, thanks for warning me! Shock

Bookworm65 · 14/03/2021 08:08

Stuart Hall. I was about 10 and my sister about 8, not on our own fortunately. He was very friendly, funny and charming. We thought he was great. Such a shock years later to find out what he had done.

Redannie118 · 14/03/2021 08:28

My uncle was a security guard at Tyne Tees TV in the days the Tube was on the air. Paula Yates was an absolute monster. Never spoke to any staff but crawled all over anyone famous. I was there one day and she walked past me in the corridor. I was 13 years old (48 now) and i have never had anyone give me a look of such utter contempt as she did that day. If me and my cousin( Uncles daughter) were visiting him you used to hear her screaming abuse at the make up girls from down the hallway. My uncle told me they couldnt keep staff as they constantly quit because no one wanted to work with her, and the bar next door that was regularly used in the show refused to serve her. I wasnt in the least bit suprised when all the stuff about her private life came out. ( Jools Holland was quiet and v v polite and nice btw)

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