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May 11, 2022Liked by Ilana Wiles

I used to work at an independent school outside of Los Angeles and we had a fair number of celebrity parents, including Warren Beatty and Annette Bening. We had a performance one evening where faculty and students sang as part of a fundraiser, and I sang a duet with one of our juniors. The following day, a woman saw me from across campus and called out "Rebecca!! You have the most beautiful singing voice! I was so impressed!" It was Annette Bening. I nearly died and to this day, it was the best compliment I have ever gotten.

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May 11, 2022Liked by Ilana Wiles

I was 14 years old, and we went to Disney as a family (my sister was 4). We stayed at one of the park hotels where you take the tram in to the park, and one morning we were in the same tram car as Diana Ross and her family. My mom is a HUGE fan and was freaking out quietly and discreetly the entire ride. It seemed like most people hadn't had their coffee yet and definitely did not notice that Diana Ross was just a few feet away. When we got to the park, everyone got off the tram and my mom shuffled me ahead with her. As we walked past, my mom said "Good morning, Miss Ross" and Diana Ross waved to my mom and said good morning! To this day my mom thinks she was appreciative that my mom didn't make a scene and was respectful of her time with her kids.

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May 11, 2022Liked by Ilana Wiles

In 2012 I was sitting at the bar at the Chili's in old LGA waiting for my flight to CES and watching a Giants playoff game. I'm a Jets fan but it was the playoffs and the Jets were long out of the running.

The largest person I've ever been near came and sat next to me. His knee was level with my head and I'm not particularly short. He asked a bunch of questions about the clam chowder (if they could make it w/o cream)?? and ordered a Bud Light. He got to talking to me about the game on TV - told him that I was rooting for Giants by default. He was from the South so liked the Titans who they were playing. He was on his way to the NCAA Football Championship in New Orleans. I had no idea who he was nor could I see his face because he was directly next to me and his head was about 2' higher than mine.

As we chatted a guy from across the bar said "Hey man you were funny last night". And another person said "is that on your diet" about his meal that had eventually come. This was really the only way I knew he was famous but kind of confused me as to who he could be.

So more time goes by - we chat - we watch the game. He buys me a beer. And finally about an hour in he tosses his ticket down on the bar and I glance over to see it says "BARKLEY, SIR CHARLES" -- hahahah. As he does it he says "I'll get you another beer, baby". And that's the story of SIR Charles buying me a few drinks and calling me Baby.

I never really got a head on look at him but did find out he was in town to host SNL the night before and at the time was also the spokesperson for Weight Watchers which made sense of the commentary from the people around us!

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My Dad was a salesman at a company (and also a single parent) so when he got invited on fancy work trips it usually meant bringing my sister and I along. Typically he would be in meetings and my sister and I would keep ourselves entertained in the pool, hotel game room, or just back in the room watching TV. It was honestly a pre-teens dream! Back in 2004 I was on one such work trip with my Dad and we were put up in the Ritz Carlton in New Orleans. We never went on such lavish vacations but when the company was paying we often got nice accommodations, however I remember feeling that this hotel was particularly nice. So my sister and I both decided to go to the workout room one morning and there was a guy there working out with his trainer. He starts chatting with us talking about how cool it is that we are two sisters finding time to workout together. Super nice guy, we talked to him for like an hour the whole time thinking he looked familiar but assuming he was somebody from my Dad's company or something. Finally right as he's about to leave my sister was like "Hey wait are you John Cusack?". Yep, he was. We totally blanked on who he was for an hour!!

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May 11, 2022Liked by Ilana Wiles

That's priceless. I once waited on Richard Gere at Savoy in SOHO. He was with wife and another couple. For dessert he ordered a chocolate tart and said, "if any of you want some, order your own. I am not sharing. " He wife passes on ordering and says she will have a bite of his. He promptly replied, "order your own!"

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May 11, 2022Liked by Ilana Wiles

I was living in San Antonio and went to a work Happy Hour at this restaurant that also had a private events space. They advertised that they were having a private art exhibition. Turns out it was for Anthony Hopkins’ wife. When we arrived, we spy Sir Anthony and I tell my friends we have to get in. Somehow we sweet talk security into letting us into the reception. We try to act cool and blend in. Anthony sees us looking at him and comes over and introduces himself to us. He seemed quite flattered that we were such big fans and he could not have been more lovely. He even kissed my hand. It’s a memory that I will never forget!

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Ok, mine's not quite that cool but it's pretty cool. Tom Selleck have me a piggy back ride when I was five, mid 1980s. My grandma and his Aunt were neighbors, and his uncle died, so he came for the funeral. We were playing in the backyard with some of the kids that were over there when Magnum PI himself walked over. He was giving high fives and goofing around with us and I got a piggy back ride. That was my show and tell story the next week, and probably for a few weeks afterward, honestly.

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May 12, 2022Liked by Ilana Wiles

I live in the childhood home of Michael Schur (creator of Parks and Rec, The Good Place, and Brooklyn 99). I am also on the board for our town's park advocacy group. A few years ago we were raising money to make improvements to the park. He gave a large donation on the condition that the main path through the park be named the Leslie Knope Promenade, which it is.

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I’d like to talk about my Norm MacDonald Story from 11yrs ago. Way back in the olden days I was sitting at Noshville in Nashville with @jessicaandrewschagnon after we did CMA radio remotes. Sitting in the booth across from us was Norm MacDonald who was in town for a show at @zaniesnashville. We all started talking & Norm was excited to hear that Jessica was an artist & that I worked at a record label. Norm asked us what anybody asks you over pancakes at 11am in Nashville "Do you know Billy Joe Shaver? I gotta meet Billy Joe Shaver." I laughed because another friend I knew did indeed know Billy Joe Shaver & since Norm was asking, I said I would make a call for him. Norm took my number & said "Please... I just have to meet Billy Joe Shaver." I called up my friend & told him that if he could hook Norm up with Billy Joe, I know Norm ( my new BFF) would appreciate it. An hour later I'm sitting at my desk & my phone rings. I pick up. "Hello, this is Billy Joe Shaver. I understand someone wants to meet me." I just about fell out of my chair. I explained to Billy Joe my new connection to Norm & he said I could pass his number along to Norm. So I hang up my convo with Billy Joe and call Norm, who had been texting me throughout the day asking if I had been in contact with BJS yet. Norm FREAKS OUT when I told him I had and was so happy to be connected to Billy Joe. I though that was going to be the end of this but later that night while the CMA awards were happening at Bridgestone Arena, I was across the street at The Palm, my favorite place to be during CMA week. Norm calls me up & says "Hey! Where are you?!' I laughed and said I was at The Palm with some friends. "Great. I'll be right there." And no shit. Norm and his friend showed up. So we all sat down and had a great dinner at the Palm and I think Norm & Billy Joe went on to have a really great friendship for the rest of their lives. After Norm passed, all these stories about him came out—and none of them were lecherous or gross. He was just a good, earnest guy. though I only had this one moment in life with him, I’m happy I played a small role in making this man so happy because he was definitely one of the good ones.

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May 11, 2022Liked by Ilana Wiles

I have two good ones from when I lived in Jackson Hole. One morning at about 6AM I went to Starbucks on my way to work, which at the time was inside the grocery store. Only the barista and one customer in front of me was there - an older man with a small gold hoop earring. He placed his order and then I did mine and we both went to wait for our drinks, making small talk at the pick up area. After the barista hands him his drink and walks away a lightbulb goes off and I said to the barista, OMG that was Harrison Ford. He was really nice and totally normal.

Second story was that I was babysitting at a fancy hotel in JH and took the 2 kids to the pool. They were a little older and didn't need me to swim with them, so I went into the hot tub to watch from there. Another women was in the hot tub watching her kids and she just assumed the ones I was babysitting were mine. All of the kids then started to play together. I didn't feel like correcting her, LOL, so I went along with it and chatted about being moms. About 10 minutes into the conversation I realized it was Julia Louis-Dreyfus. I never said anything to her once I realized it, but was internally freaking out. Also really nice and unassuming. And was in amazing shape!

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May 11, 2022Liked by Ilana Wiles

I was in my 20's and got invited to the Tribeca Film Festival sponsor event because one of my vendor's was hosting it. Somewhere into my 3rd glass of wine, my co-worker elbows me and tells me Robert DeNiro just walked in. I navigated my way over to him, looped my arm around his and asked my co-worker to take a picture. He tells me "whoa, watch the drink and don't spill it on me." Which I replied, "Oh don't worry, I won't! I don't have the money to pay to dry clean your suit." He bursted out laughing and we took a picture.

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May 11, 2022·edited May 11, 2022Liked by Ilana Wiles

I have a few. My parents live on Martha’s Vineyard next to a golf course, and it became a tradition for Clinton and Obama to golf there. We got to meet President Clinton one summer, and he complimented us on our beautiful golden retriever. When I met President Obama, he played with my infant daughter’s foot, and called her “buddy”. Highlight of her short life!

I also once played in a parking lot with Goldie Hawn (total child at heart), and I babysat for Harvey Weinstein (he was uber creepy even then), and also for John Stossel.

I also got an award for a story I wrote about my dog (the sweetie who was notice by President Clinton), and James Taylor presented the award to me. He is so tall, and so so cool.

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May 11, 2022Liked by Ilana Wiles

LOVE this thread. My best is that I saw the OG Bennifer (that's right, JLo and Ben from 2002) in a baby blue Bentley in Cambridge, MA getting Wendy's. JLo was wearing a sweatshirt that was likely a dress, but just looked like she was wearing a shirt and brought Fries and Frosties out to the Bentley. She hops in and I'm in a crowded car with my friends having just left brunch. My friends scream...'where are they going' to me...because Ben is from Cambridge and so is my husband (then boyfriend) and knows where he grew up. I rip out my flip phone and furiously call him to tell us where Ben's family lives...as this must be where they are headed. Me and my friends trailed them for about 10 minutes when we lost them in traffic. Monday's Perez Hilton story comes out and Bennifer had gotten engaged at Ben's mom's house (which I now know the route well). We do have one blurry photo that my friend took from her digital camera!!!! It was oh so 2002 and who could have predicted that bennifer would be back with romantic vengeance come 2022!!!!

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May 11, 2022Liked by Ilana Wiles

I was 19 and working for a government agency part time while earning by undergraduate degree. It was around the time that they were filming Antwone Fisher in San Diego. The crew was touring a whole bunch of government buildings to figure out where to shoot some scenes. My coworker and I heard rumors that Denzel Washington was in the building so we decided to investigate expecting to run into film crews and other people of no interest. We walk out of our office into the main hall of the building and run right into Denzel Washington. Really, as in my face almost went into his chest. He laughed and asked how we were doing. Both of us in shock, stared in silence then waved hi. He laughed again, flashed us that Denzel smile and said "enjoy your afternoon, ladies" and walked away. Nicest guy ever.

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I was running late for work one morning, so pretty much running down Wacker Drive in Chicago and was digging in my bag for my key card, not watching where I was going very well. I ran full bodied into the most gorgeous man, who was jogging and probably couldn't avoid me on the crowded street. I was mortified and apologized profusely, only realizing a moment after I turned away that it was Chris Meloni of Law & Order SVU fame. He was in town filming one of the Superman movies. And he is much taller and more stunning in person....sparkling blue eyes for the win!

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May 12, 2022Liked by Ilana Wiles

I flew first class in 2003 and when i got on board I was seated next to Drew Barrymore. She was flying to Boston from Chicago to film Fever Pitch with Jimmy Fallon whom I had seen in the early mornings filming in the North End where my apartment was. anyway, I'm stacked with every rag mag you can imagine and nothing else to do on this flight. So I start reading all these trashy mags and there is this massive full page spread of Drew and her happy post marriage (to Tom Green) life. I nudged her and said "you look great" and she laughed. She asked to read all my trashy mags after I was done. We didnt talk much because of the "celebrity code" but then when I got off the flight everyone was interviewing me b/c they saw me on the plane with her. I was dying to get rid of them so I could call everyone I knew! ha!

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May 11, 2022Liked by Ilana Wiles

Ashton Kutcher has a home near where I live, he grew up in the area. One morning I went to target right after it opened, still kinda half asleep. I'm walking by the shoes on a mission to get diapers and there's Ashton, Mila, and baby Wyatt with Starbucks and looking just as "I just rolled out of bed" as I did. They smiled like everyone does to each other at target and we kept walking. It took a second to register that that had actually happened. I'd seen him several times on the sideline at football games, but never just out and about.

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May 11, 2022Liked by Ilana Wiles

My favorite random encounter was back when Jennifer Aniston was dating John Mayer. He had just played a festival in Rothbury, Michigan (small town on Lake Michigan). I was eating at Applebee's in Muskegon (another town on Lake Michigan) when they walked in to eat after the show. At first it was just her and I couldn't believe that she would be at an Applebee's and in Muskegon of all places. I thought I was crazy until he walked in. She is absolutely gorgeous in person and very petite compared to him! I'm also 6'1" so it doesn't take much to look petite to me. 🤣 They met with a group of people (contest winners maybe?) and no one bothered them. I left but afterward I heard that people approached them in the parking lot after they ate and they were super nice.

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May 11, 2022Liked by Ilana Wiles

I've got two. When I was in high school I was on a trip to DC and met Ben Stein (Bueller?Bueller?). He told me he liked my name!

The other is when a friend came to visit in NYC. When I asked her what she wanted to do that weekend, she said sarcastically, "meet Gwyneth Paltrow". Well, Saturday night a friend called and said you have to come to this bar, Sheryl Crow is on stage singing. We arrived to hear her duet with Gwyneth! Mr. Big was also in the audience, along with Kid Rock. When Gwyneth walked off stage we went to find her. As we turned a corner there she was with her parents! Needless to say, my friend went home very satisfied.

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May 12, 2022Liked by Ilana Wiles

I can’t believe I forgot this one. We were in a small resort in Anguilla. At the breakfast buffet there was a guy who was just looking at everything on the Buffet and saying yummy yummy yummy yummy. He looked familiar but I couldn’t place him. The waitress told me it was Aerosmith. Later on that day he was in the hot tub with his family. We decided to pass on it so as not to intrude but then he said come on in when we walking away. We kept bumping into him during the stay and he was just so sweet and nice the whole time. I was not familiar with any of his music but he mentioned he was doing a concert at Jones Beach. When I tried to get tickets they were sold out but When I told the ticket seller the story he sold me two tickets in the handicapped section. It was a fabulous concert and I’ve been a fan since.

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May 13, 2022Liked by Ilana Wiles

A few years ago I was doing some Christmas shopping by myself (I live in Liverpool in the UK) when a man turned to me and said “Do you think this scarf would be a good gift for my wife? The sales assistant says so, but she would!” It was Henry Winkler! Fonzie spoke to me! I was a huge Arrested Development fan and would have loved a photo with Barry Zuckerkorn but it seemed nobody else had noticed him and I certainly wasn’t going to bring him to people’s attention!

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The story itself is pretty simple, but the celebrity in question was so mind-blowing to me that it's my favourite story to tell.

In 2003, I did a study abroad program in the UK. After my plane landed, I had to get from London to Brighton by train. In the train station as I'm buying my ticket, my friend spots a familiar figure in the distance and asks me to take a look.... I glance over and swear I'm seeing Paul McCartney with his then-wife Heather Mills. No one else seems to be paying any attention to him so I think we must be wrong and continue buying the ticket and head towards our train.

While walking down a mostly empty corridor in the station, I see Sir Paul himself walking towards us, now alone. I gathered all of my courage, smiled at him and casually nodded with a "Hey Paul!" He turned, smiled, and said hi back.

The summary of this story is that I'm BFFs with a Beatle. Clearly.

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May 11, 2022Liked by Ilana Wiles

In the summer of 2004 I kicked Richard Gere at Bucks Rock Camp. 😂

I was a counsellor, and his stepdaughter (Hannah Dunne) was in one of the musicals at the halfway point of camp.

I sat behind him (not knowing who he was) during the performance, put my feet on the back of his chair and accidentally kicked him.

That same year Elle King was also a camper, and I met her dad Rob Schneider the same night.

I also met Taylor Swift at an airport in 2010, and the next day there was a half page size photo of me taking a selfie with her in the city newspaper.

And once I let Zac Hanson in front of me in the line at an airport bookstore because there were fans following him through the airport and he was trying to buy his book (Rubicon, by Tom Holland) and escape them.

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May 11, 2022·edited May 11, 2022Liked by Ilana Wiles

My husband earned a trip to the MLB All Star game in 2009, the last one held at the old Yankees Stadium. I had gone inside to grab some food, and a few people ahead of me was James Lipton (former host of Inside the Actor's Studio). He was in a 3 piece suit and I remember him being shorter than I imagined. I didn't say anything, but he was very kind to the people working the food stand! That show is still one of my favorites!

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When I was a teenager (in the late 80s gasp), I served as a ball girl at a professional tennis tournament. It was very fun but also a little stressful - like during warmups of one match when I was raising my hand to give the player on my side a ball, and I took a Boris Becker serve straight to the rib. But my best story was when I was asked to serve as a "courtside assistant" during the men's final, which would mean providing drinks, towels, umbrella shade, etc. during each change over. I was assigned to John McEnroe. He was of course notoriously hard to please. He also enjoyed a Pepsi during his matches (he was not the picture of fitness at the time). So my boss told me that she had stocked the courtside cooler with plenty of Pepsi and I thought I was good to go. Until midway through the second set when Mr. McEnroe, losing badly and very frustrated, asked for/demanded his Pepsi. I stuck my arm in the cooler but all I could find were waters and Coke. I dug and dug. No Pepsi. WHERE WAS THE FREAKING PEPSI. Soon my stress was matched by Mr. McEnroe's rage. After learning there was no Pepsi, he went into a tirade that even my friends and family in the upper deck of the stadium could hear. It was obviously mortifying and a little scary at the time, but looking back some 30 years late it's kind of cool to say that I was on the receiving end of a John McEnroe tantrum. (PS: The Pepsi was in the cooler all along. I just didn't dig deep enough. Duh.)

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May 12, 2022·edited May 12, 2022

I have a few due to my job, but these are stories that are not the result of celebrities as spokespeople. Here are a few highlights. The communications agency I worked for had an LA office that was in Santa Monica right next to the Fred Segal store. A coworker and I went to Fred Segal at lunch to do some celebrity spotting. But, I quickly got distracted by the clothes and forgot our original reason for going there. We had just walked out of one section of the store when my coworker whispers, “I can’t believe we saw her!” I said, “who??” She whispers, “Jennifer Garner!” I snapped out of my shopping mode and we made an excuse to double back into that area of the store to try to casually glance at her. We didn’t bother her with photos or autograph requests. The paparazzi were waiting outside to snap her picture.

I was helping out at an event lounge/gifting suite at a hotel during Lollapalooza 2006. There was a celebrity tattoo artist giving tattoos throughout the event. I was sitting at the media check-in table near the tattoo area trying to seem cool. The tattoo artist gets up and gives a big hug to this guy with shoulder length dark hair and blue-blue eyes. I realize the guy the tattoo artist is giving a hug to is Jared Leto, who is in town with his band 30 seconds to Mars. The tattoo artist turns to me and says “will you take our picture?” and hands me his camera. I was beaming while taking the pictures and thinking “omg I’m taking a picture of Jordan Catalano!” They both told me thanks before Jared Leto went on his way.

Other random sightings. Robin Williams and family at Disneyland. Actor Elijah Wood at another Lollapalooza event. Ian Ziering at a random Chicago charity event (unplanned/unannounced…just showed up with friends)

My husband has a great story about sitting at a drive-in movie in Indiana in the back of his friend’s pick up truck when a tall, beautiful woman walks past to the concession stand. (This was years before we met!) They watch her walk back to her vehicle and see John Mellencamp sitting in the driver’s side. The woman was his wife (at the time)/model Elaine Irwin.

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And Ilana...you must have a million sightings, living in NYC...I have quite a few and only lived in NYC for about 3 years. If you keep your eyes open...the city is crawling with celebs. My best NYC spotting was Joshua Jackson walking past me with Diane Kruger in Soho!!! So dreamy!

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When I was in high school (in the late 90’s), I worked room service on weekend mornings for the “nice” hotel in my hometown. There was an HBCU right down the street and we frequently had large groups of young men come through as sports or academic teams.

One morning I was delivering breakfast to a suite. A young man let me in and had me wait for an older gentleman to come sign the ticket (again this was the 90’s). There were probably 5 young, fit men in the room. I asked the older gentleman if they were a sports team or otherwise visiting the school. He very patiently said “No, these guys are entertainers. They are DMX.” I just went “oh, okay. Well I hope you all enjoy your visit, bye!”

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I have a few, but I will share one I wish went better. When I was living in Brooklyn Heights, Paul Rudd was filming there and he was literally right in front of me. I could have at least said hi, but I completely froze and ran away. He's one of my absolute favorites and I was overwhelmed. Most of the time if I meet someone famous, it doesn't phase me, as they're just people, but not Paul Rudd apparently.

On the more fun end, I had an absolute ball meeting Kevin Smith. He's as chill as you would imagine and indulged me in doing a full scene from Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back.

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I worked in Barnes & Noble in my hometown of South Bend, IN throughout high school and whenever I had breaks from college. I was working at the cash register and another employee came over to tell me about an older man walking around doing random magic tricks that some customers loved and some freaked out. Apparently it involved a fake thumb. He didn’t say a word but would tap people on the shoulder and do the trick. Eventually he and his daughter came up to my register. It was Muhammad Ali! He couldn’t speak at that point because of his Parkinson’s. He paid with a check and we had a big argument with our manager saying she shouldn’t cash it since his signature was likely worth more than the books he bought!

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Growing up in Nashville, country music stars are a dime a dozen, but the year was 2009 or 2010, Taylor Swift was really-big-not-huge, and I was in the Green Hills Mall at the now defunct Body Shop. My babysitter nudged me and pointed at Taylor standing there doing her shopping for smelly bath products. We were the only two groups in the store and I was FAR to nervous to say anything but we sniffed the soaps side by side and she smiled at me, clearly knowing I knew who she was. I about passed out after she walked out of the store.

I was also an extra in the Hannah Montana movie (no you can’t see me in any scenes, I checked) and a lot of my friends got to go be extras in the Justin Bieber Mistletoe music video but my mom didn’t let me, since it was a night shoot on a school night.

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A more minor celebrity for sure, but some friends and I spent 2 hours randomly hanging out in a hotel room with Landon Donovan (big name American soccer player 15-20 years ago). We were in Kansas City for a wedding, and their whole soccer team was staying on the same floor of the hotel. I'm a sports fan, and it was a pretty random but fun experience!

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Having lived in New York there were many brushes with famous people doing regular things. I also was in an elevator with 007! I worked at Sotheby’s and Sean Connery came to visit his step-son, who as I remember was a specialist in European Paintings or something like that. It was so hard to stay cool. At Sotheby’s I met Jason Priestley - he collected original Walt Disney Mickey Mouse animation cels. One time I was in a cab stopped in traffic and Tony Danza rollerbladed right past the window! My favorite was when I was very pregnant with my first and I would take the subway up and get out at 72nd, gazing up at the Dakota - I’d walk across town to my job on the East side. As I was going down the path in Strawberry Fields, I see a woman bend down to pick some debris off the path. I got goosebumps when I realized it was Yoko Ono.

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I don’t know if this counts as a “celebrity” or not, but being from Vermont, it’s the closest I’ll get 😆

Once I was waiting in a long line to board a plane. All of a sudden people started moving out of the way and this man in a suit was upon me saying “excuse me miss.” I realized there were several men in suits and I tried stepping out of their way. Turns out it wasn’t the men in suits I needed to get out of the way of, and instead I stepped more in the way of Bill Clinton whom they were escorting right onto my plane! I got super flustered and stepped back and he was very kind and shaking hands of people around him, and I just stood there in my flustered state.

It took a little while extra to board that plane due to people stopping and taking pictures with him haha

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I was in the UK in 2018 and we went to the typical tourist hotspots. That morning we went to Buckingham Palace in the morning and the Queen’s flag was flying so we knew she was there. That afternoon we went to Windsor and of course her flag wasn’t flying since she was in London. We went in and did the castle tour and were walking back down the road. I turned back toward the castle to take a picture and noticed the Queen’s flag was flying meaning she was there. Obviously got excited and had to take a selfie with said flag when this red Rolls Royce comes up the road and my friend jerks me over because I wasn’t paying enough attention. We get back to the bus and everyone is talking about how they’d heard from a local that the Queen had just arrived back at Windsor from London in her car and asking if anyone had seen her. Yup. Turns out her car is a red Rolls Royce. So that’s my story of how I almost got ran over by the Queen’s car with her in it and was like 2 feet away from her and didn’t even realize it!

Mine isn’t great to most people but I love it since I’m royal obsessed!

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It was only for a minute, but I made eye contact with Norman Reedus from The Walking Dead while boarding a flight from Atlanta to New York. He looked exactly the way he looked on the show, and I almost expected to see his crossbow in the overhead! He nodded, I nodded, and I made my way back to steerage in the main cabin.

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When I was in college, working at my school's Barnes & Noble Cafe (serving Starbucks coffee) and I made a drink for Mary-Kate Olsen. I remember feeling very proud of her for not being fussy about her order; she didn't even specify a type of milk.

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In the late 90s, my family saw Lenny Kravtiz at Cedar Point (an amusement park in northern Ohio). I remember my mom was so excited to see him.

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Do you have at least one bottle saved for maybe Harlow's 21st?! hahaha

My mom catered a baby shower for Neal Schoen's (Journey) wife. Probably the most random. Another time my husband and I were at the Mall of America (local for us) having happy hour drinks. I was wearing my MN Timberwolves (NBA) tshirt and swore I saw Ricky Rubio at the store. I didn't want to say anything and then my husband convinced me to go. Went over & he was so kind and took a pic with me IN my shirt of the team he played for at the time! I like the serendipity aspect of it.

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I saw James Van Der Beek and his wife and kids at Disneyland 4 years ago!! I didn’t take pictures or approach them because it was obvious they were just trying to have some family time but it was so wild to see a celebrity sitting there having ice cream a table away from us!

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When I was a 3-year old in 1983, my grandparents took me on vacation to Texas. My grandpa's co-worker picked us up from the airport and I instantly fell in love with this man I deemed "Uncle Big John". (He was tall!) We formed a life long close bond that week and for the rest of my childhood he would take me out to lunch everytime his work brought him to our hometown, about once a year. When I was in high school he kept bragging to me (or so I thought) about his son who was an actor and a musician and I was such a brat and rolled my eyes at the notion. Apparently he was on a show called Northern Exposure and I couldn't be bothered. A year or two later he was in a movie called My Big Fat Greek Wedding and Uncle Big John mailed me a signed copy of the DVD. He also signed a copy and wrote a personalized heartfelt note of the copy of People Magazine where there was a photo of them in it together together at the Academy Awards. It wasn't until a couple of years later that my grandparents told me that Uncle Big John's son was on a show called Sex and the City. It turns out Uncle Big John's son was John Corbett, Jr. AKA Aiden! I cannot believed I had been ignoring Aiden for years! Fast forward to a couple years ago and John Corbett, Jr.'s band was playing a block away from my house in Austin during SXSW. My dad went and snuck behind the curtain afterward to introduce himself and told him we knew his dad who had recently passed away. My dad said he teared up when my dad mentioned his dad and my dad said "he asked his old lady to take a picture of us and she did." I screamed "Dad!!! Was it Bo Derek?!?!" My dad's eyes bugged out and he paused for a minute and said "Well, by God it was!"

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So, decades ago-the 1980’s-I worked in banking as a teller in the metro Atlanta area. Two of the branches I worked at were in an area of town that a lot of music artists lived/recorded. We had a number as our customers, and I was able to meet numerous artists. They were all really super nice and down to earth. I’ve got a couple of really good stories. First up, Steve Marriott of Humble Pie was one of our customers. I was working as a teller in the drive through. We were not supposed to wait on customers that walked up-liability and all🤣. One day he came walking up to my window-his home was literally across the street from my branch-I told him that he needed to handle his transaction inside. Let’s just say that he was definitely recovering from the prior evening’s antics. After he left, my branch manager came outside to my window, and told me that from now on if Mr. Marriott walked up to my window, PLEASE wait on him. Apparently, he REEKED of alcohol and marijuana! My second story involves Steve Walsh of Kansas. He was a regular customer of mine. I figured he was in music by his appearance, but I didn’t know anything else. One night, my husband and I were in bed watching a show on TBS. They would run music videos late on Friday nights. Well, a Kansas video popped up. I sat bolt right up in bed, and screamed “THAT”S MY CUSTOMER!!!” The next time he came into the bank, I was telling some of my other coworkers who he was very, very quietly and discreetly. Well, Vernice-who is NOT shy AT ALL-hollers actress the bank for him to come over to her window. She proceeds to tell him that I said that he’s the lead singer for Kansas, and they think I am dead wrong. He looks at her, and said “Your coworker knows her bands.” I must’ve been five thousand shades of red, and the rest of the gang wanted to go crawl into a hole! He couldn’t have been sweeter!

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In 2005, at the big campus dance event before commencement, I drunkenly hugged Danny DeVito. I guess his daughter went to the same college as me. I literally bumped into him at this event and instead of being a normal person and saying "oh excuse me" I fully embraced him as if he was a long lost family member. I'm not even a big fan or anything. So, so embarrassing! Rhea Perlman was there too, but I didn't really register her presence until after my boyfriend dragged me away. He was a very good sport- just sort of laughed at me.

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You would think I would have more based on where I live but I am either very unobservant or just not in proximity to very many.

The biggest celebrity siting I’ve had was Jeana one of the OG Housewives from Orange County. I was at my Gyno/OB getting my 36 week check-up and she was in the waiting room. She saw me checking in and made some comment about how I was going to have the baby right then and there. 😆 didn’t have the heart to tell her I had a month left so I just laughed it off with her.

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Alright, this story was everything. Thank you for sharing. I really love Mike’s ultimatum in the situation. Enough already 007! So I’m going to break the rule and share a few short tiny celebrity moments! Once when I was newish to the city (age 22 or 23) a friend and I were walking home across Union Square. She was carrying a large platter of leftover sandwiches from a work event (bc when you’re young and live in NYC you don’t let food go to waste!) and we spotted Joshua Jackson. Like fools, we decided to follow him. We walked all the way into the East Village pretty much just behind him, but we were too nervous to say hello. It somehow felt ridiculous because of the sandwiches. Lol. Fast forward about 15 years and I saw Jimmy Fallon at JFK. A friend of mine works with him, so I had a lead to start a convo. We chatted, we hugged, and it was actually a fabulous interaction! Oh and another quickie was when I did karoke with Mr. Balding (that’s his Saved By The Bell name) at a dive bar in LA. He was randomly there by himself and he actually seemed a bit sad :( Alas, they are just like us!

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My favorite celebrity story I have happened when I was a travel nurse at children’s hospital in California. One of my patient’s family was being honored by a doctor. When I got to the conference room, the family was talking about Mark McGuire of St. Louis Cardinals fame was. I said, “Oh my goodness…you guys got to meet Mark McGuire. What’s he like?” The patient’s mother said “Sherryl, he’s right there.” She pointed and sure enough, there he was. He stood up and put his hand out and said “Hi, I’m Mark.” I shook his hand and said “It’s so nice to meet you” as I was slowly dying inside. Makes for a funny story that I’ll never forget.

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Back in 2004, my husband and I had just moved to Washington, DC. On a random Saturday afternoon in November, we were doing some Christmas shopping in the gift shop of one of the museums. We were dressed pretty casually in jeans and sweatshirts but noticed a lot of really dressed-up folks milling around inside. As we were leaving the gift shop, it became apparent that all of these well-dressed people were leaving the museum at the same time, so we kind of slid in line to make our exit. When we got to the door, we were astounded to see Bob Woodward (yes, the Watergate Bob Woodward) standing there. He reached out, shook my hand and said, "Thanks for coming!" We had unknowingly crashed his book signing!

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Daniel Craig winked at me and smiled during Macbeth last week. My husband verified I wasn’t hallucinating! The best/worst celebrity encounter was in Vienna at Nikki Lauda’s funeral at the cathedral. I was traveling solo with 4 kids in the pouring rain and was oblivious to the funeral procession walking us by while my 5 year old threw a tantrum on the ground, screaming and crying and refusing to put a coat on. I look up and Arnold Schwarzenegger is walking toward us, and then we’re surrounded by security and paps while Arnold and his GF and bodyguard are trying to get into the parked vehicle my daughter is flailing around next to. Behind him were a bunch of F1 drivers and the Austrian PM and everyone looked at us as I tried to back away and become invisible. It was so mortifying and I was terrified we’d end up in the news.

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I have a few celebrity run ins, but I once sat next to (but across the aisle) from Owen Wilson in first class on a flight from Maui to LAX (5+ hours). I didn’t want to be “that person”, so I told myself I wouldn’t talk to him. But as we were beginning our decent to land, I accidentally dropped my headphones at his feet as I was putting them back in my carry-on. I apologized and we ended up making small talk. When we landed I sheepishly asked for a picture as I explained to my kids he was “Lightening McQueen”. My kids were not impressed. LOL

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I don’t have any great celebrity tales, but my community (which is in northern British Columbia, Canada) is occasionally used as the backdrop for a movie. Last fall, JLo was here shooting a movie for Netflix, and a few years ago Liam Neeson was here shooting “The Grey”. Anyway, our town isn’t like a little hick town - there’s been significant effort out into attracting tourism and it is a beautiful and not totally unfashionable place. But you can 100% tell when Hollywood is in town. The first thing to happen is that the town will very suddenly be overrun by shiny black SUVs. Then you will start noticing new people at the coffee shop wearing very, very clean clothes. Like, perfectly pressed jeans and jackets with brands that they definitely don’t sell on Main St. accommodation becomes impossible to find (we had to cancel hockey tournaments last fall because the kids had nowhere to stay). And the locals start taking long drives around town to see if they can spot a celebrity.

For the record, Liam Neeson was awesome - he even mentioned our lovely sushi restaurant on late night TV and lots of people met him. Not a single person seemed to see JLo and the only confirmation anyone had that she was here at all was an IG story that she posted right before she left forever.

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