Meeting celebrities is always a toss-up. Will they be friendly, will they be an a-hole, or will they just ignore you altogether? Not to mention, controlling your own reaction can be extremely difficult.
However, it’s comforting to know that not all of Hollywood’s biggest stars are as intimidating as they seem. Redditors are sharing some of their most wholesome celebrity encounters and it’s proof that fame doesn’t go to everyone’s head.
1. Robin Williams
“Robin Williams used to walk around my childhood neighborhood near San Francisco. I saw him once, after hearing many rumors about his sightings. My brain didn’t fully comprehend what it was seeing. But, I could tell he was trying his very best to remain incognito and not draw any unwanted attention. We locked eyes. He smiled, I smiled and nodded back, and we both went our separate ways.”
2. Chris Rock
“I was a cab driver back in the ’90s. One time, when I was dropping off a passenger at a resort, another guy asked if I was a taxi, and I said yes, so he told his friend their cab was here.
His friend got in the car and said ‘This ain’t no cab, smells too good to be a cab,’ in that unmistakable, Chris Rock voice.
He and his friend just bullshitted with each other for the 15 minute drive to the local night club. There was a kid trying to talk to a yellow-cab driver ahead of us in the parking lot, and Chris Rock started imitating the kid like, ‘I need a ride, yeah, I’m drunk, but I need a ride,’ and I was trying really hard not to laugh out loud.
He wasn’t nearly as famous yet at the time, but I had seen his stand up routines on Comedy Central and knew exactly who he was, but didn’t go fan boy on him. 10/10 would drive Chris Rock again.”
3. Justin Timberlake
“I went to a basketball game with my dad and we stopped by the bar area in the arena first. The game had just started, so it was pretty empty except for the bar itself. My dad went to use the restroom, so I walked over to the bar to order a beer. There was only one seat at the bar next to a guy in a baseball cap and sunglasses. I politely asked if the seat was taken and he just said, ‘Nope, all you,man.’ We shot the shit for a couple minutes before he said he and his wife were going to go to their seats. He extended his hand and asked me my name. I told him and asked his name. He said, ‘Justin. Nice to meet you dude, have a good night.’
He and his wife left and the bartender came up to me and said, ‘You know that was Justin Timberlake, right?’
I immediately did a double take and couldn’t believe I didn’t recognize him even with the hat and sunglasses. I told my girlfriend at the time, who was a huge Justin Timberlake fan, and she couldn’t believe I met him without knowing it was him. She wouldn’t let it go for like a month.”
4. Stephen King
“I was in the horror section of a book store in Rhode Island. I picked up a book by Stephen King, flipped it over, and saw his picture on the back. I looked up, and in the next aisle over, right across the bookshelf from me, was a guy that looked exactly like Stephen King. So, I held up the book and asked, ‘Is this you?’ He said, ‘Yeah.’ Then I said, ‘Good books,’ then he said, ‘Thanks.’ And that was that.”
5. Steven Spielberg
“I was working a shift helping freshman move into their dorm rooms when I saw a guy in a hat and sunglasses who was, unmistakably, Steven Spielberg. I struck up a conversation, asked if he needed help with the bags, etc. Later, when his daughter opened the door for the first time, he whipped out a camcorder and, wearing the biggest Dad grin, recorded the whole thing before turning the camera on me and my friend to ask us about the city.
So, I have a supporting (the luggage) AND speaking role in a limited release (home movie) film shot by Steven Spielberg.”
6. Miranda Cosgrove
“I once stood in front of Miranda Cosgrove in line for Space Mountain at Disneyland. The weirdest part of it was we shared a car with her and nobody screamed or did anything during the ride. It was completely silent. Me and my sister just looked at each other like, ‘WTF is going on?'”
7. Jamie Foxx
“I was at a convenience store in Los Angeles when me and a very nicely-dressed black gentleman walked up to the cashier at the same time to pay. It was nighttime and he had dark sunglasses on and was talking on his phone. I gave him the ‘after you’ gesture and he nodded and said, ‘Thanks, buddy,” paid, and left. It wasn’t until he was out of the store that I realized he was Jamie Foxx.”
8. Samuel L. Jackson
“Samuel L. Jackson was on my flight once. I was the second to last person to board the flight and there was all this commotion with the flight attendants and gate crew. Once I approached the door of the plane, I realized they were all looking at Samuel L. Jackson. He was standing by the cockpit, making himself available to passengers and fans. I played it cool, didn’t say a word. Turns out, I’m shy around celebrities. I’m just glad I didn’t make a Snakes on a Plane joke.”
9. Shaun Alexander
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“Before I realized who he was, Shaun Alexander asked me if I liked football. I told him I liked the Steelers. He said, ‘Yeah, I lost to them in the Super Bowl.’ I felt pretty stupid, but he thought it was funny. Super nice guy.”
10. Jeff Goldblum
“I was walking out of a gas station over on Crescent Heights and Sunset and heard a, ‘Hey!…Hey!’ coming from a cracked, tinted window of a Range Rover that was parked at one of the pumps. I walked over to the car and saw Jeff Goldblum, who had somehow seen the gold ring I was wearing on my right hand from 20 feet away. He proceeded to tell me how he loved my ring and has been looking for one just like it and asked me where I got it. I told him it was my grandfather’s and he asked to see it up close. I held my hand up to Jeff Goldblum’s face, he took my hand, gushed about my ring for a minute, and then thanked me. I said, ‘Sure,’ and walked back to my apartment.
I like to think we’re friends now.”
11. Alan Rickman
“I worked at a Barnes & Noble in New York as a clerk, but once or twice I’d be called over to the in-store Starbucks café to help out whenever they were understaffed. One time, Alan Rickman came in and ordered something, I can’t recall what. I wrote ‘Hans Gruber’ on his cup, though. He smiled at me when he noticed it.”
12. Michael Jordan
“Me and my dad were picking out birthday cards for my mom at Walgreens when Michael Jordan and his son came into the same aisle to look at some cards. My dad kept his cool and continued to look through different cards, giving him his personal space. I, on the other hand, was 9 years old and in awe, so I was definitely staring at him. After M.J. picked out his card, he winked at me and gave me a fist bump as he walked by.
Didn’t really set in until I was older how cool that was.”
13. Larry Fitzgerald
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“I was sitting at the Genius Bar at an Apple store one day when a very large man with dreads came in and sat next to me. He was bringing his phone in to get fixed because he dropped it and didn’t have a case. I overheard an employee jokingly say, ‘You wear a helmet when you play football, shouldn’t your phone have the same protection?’ I knew it was Larry Fitzgerald, but I didn’t want to be a fanboy so I started asking very broad questions about what he did as a profession to stay engaged in a conversation with him. Larry Fitz is, to this day, one of the nicest, most humble people I have ever met.”
14. Jared Leto
“I work at an outdoor goods store in Boulder, Colorado. Jared Leto once came into the store to get some stuff for a climb. He had been outted in the middle of the footwear department by a coworker of mine in front of a big group of customers so by the time he got over to the climbing area where I worked, he was really on edge and unfriendly. I walked up to him and, honesty, just acted like he wasn’t hot shit. I acted like I didn’t really know who he was and just spoke to him like any other customer, even breaking conversation with him at several points to answer questions for other folks, as opposed to giving him my full undivided attention.
After about 5 minutes, he totally relaxed and his entire demeanor changed. He went from being a little closed off to being very chill, calling me bro etc., and I ended up walking around the store with him for like 25-30 minutes helping him shop. The only time I implied I knew who he was was towards the end of his visit as I rang him up. He asked me to recommend some climbing spots close to town, like the Flatirons. It was a beautiful Saturday and I said to him that those places were great, but he would get bombarded by people if he went there and I recommended some spots just outside of town instead. He leaned in and thanked me for my discretion and that was it. It seemed like he really just wanted to be treated like a normal guy.”
15. Chuck Norris
“My husband was vacationing in Arizona and ended up killing time in a bar over a burger and a beer one night. A guy sat next to him and my husband had a nice chat with him. The guy left and when my husband went to close his tab, the bartender told him it was covered by the guy he was talking to.
The bartender asked if he knew who he was talking to. My husband had no idea. It was Chuck Norris, they were at his bar.”
16. Fred Durst
“I was at Soundwave Festival in Australia a few years back. I was at a small stage, watching a relatively unknown band called Dredg. I was standing there watching when I noticed a guy standing next to me watching too. I recognized him but I didn’t let on. I asked if he knew the band and he talked about how creative and underrated they are. Later that night, he headlined the festival as the lead singer of Limp Bizkit.”
17. Owen Wilson
“A couple of years ago, me and my sister were at ComicCon. We were at one of the booths, waiting for their giveaways, when a man suddenly came up beside me, all excited and full of wonder. He told us how great everything was there and how much of an experience it was for him to be there. He asked where we got our poster tubes, and that’s when I realized who he was, but decided not to mentionit because I was kind of still in disbelief and pointed him in the direction of the booth that was selling the poster tubes.
The man was Owen Wilson. It was kind of heartwarming to see how excited he was to be there in the crowd.”
18. Leonardo DiCaprio
“I used to be a server at a Mexican restaurant in Los Angeles in the late ’90s. One day, Leonardo DiCaprio came in with his mom to have lunch. This was post-Titanic, so he was definitely considered A-list. He waswearing a ball cap, sunglasses, and was unshaven, but I recognized him anyway. I didn’t let anyone know, though, and I wrote something like, ‘Your movies are awesome, I hope you liked our food,’ on his receipt when I dropped it off at the table.
After he left, I swung by and picked up his payment and he had left me a note back that said ‘Thank you so much for not blowing my cover,’ with a $100 tip. Shit was awesome! I was only 19 at the time and ended up getting some PlayStation games with it after my shift ended.”
19. Scarlett Johansson
“This happened yesterday! My wife took my son to the zoo, and hewanted to read every little plaque in the reptile area. My wife was distracted for a moment, so he asked the nearest stranger to read the plaque for him. My wife turned around to see Scarlett Johansson happily reading the info to him.”
h/t BuzzFeed