A while back, we wrote about people who randomly met a celebrity and didn’t realize it at first. Then, our readers shared a bunch of their own celebrity encounter stories. Here are the most interesting ones:
The people who shared their stories allegedly speak from personal encounters. Obviously, we weren’t there for these encounters, so feel free to take them with a grain of salt.
1. “My mom just casually became pool buddies with Pitbull when she was living in LA…”
“She had absolutely no clue who he was and even asked him one day what he did for a living. He told her he was a rapper and went by Pitbull, and she said she would try to check out his music because she hadn’t heard of him. Later, on the phone, she asked me if I’d ever heard of him. She would call him Armando and say he was very sweet and a gentleman.”
—laurabellejean
Alexander Tamargo / Getty Images for Atlantis Paradise Island
2. “My grandma had been shopping in Rhode Island, and told me about some nice, young, blonde lady who’d helped her reach something off the top shelf…”
“‘She sings, but I’ve never heard of her. Your cousin said she recognized her, though.’ It was Taylor Swift.”
—rebeccad9407
Matt Winkelmeyer / Getty Images for The Recording Academy
3. “I used to work in a bank at a grocery store in Orange County, California. Once I was walking back from the bathroom and saw the floral department lady chatting with a tall guy with long dreadlocks and sunglasses on…”
“I said hi to her but kept on my way before I realized the man she was talking to was Snoop Dogg. It turned out that the lady’s son played on Snoop’s sons’ football team, and they had become good friends.”
—kimmmmmmm0520
Kayla Oaddams / WireImage
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4. “I was at a convenience store in LA when me and a very nicely dressed gentleman walked up to the cashier at the same time to pay…”
“It was nighttime, and he had his dark shades 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.”
—[deleted]
Arturo Holmes / Getty Images for REFORM Alliance
5. “I was 10 years old in 2002 when my mom took me to the Bronx Zoo for the first time. It was a rainy day, so we practically had the whole place to ourselves except for three British kids running around, chaperoned by a woman…”
“My mom quickly befriended the woman while I made like a kid and joined the hoard, looking at spiders and scorpions and sharing in the awe and excitement of the animals. About an hour after we said our goodbyes, my mother told me that the kid, Daniel Radcliffe, who I had been hanging out with had played Harry Potter in the movie that came out last year. I had thought he looked familiar.”
—Syntactic_Acrobatics
Stefan Rousseau – PA Images / PA Images via Getty Images
6. “I was in line for a ride at Disney when the group of girls behind me started hysterically screaming and pointing…”
“When I asked the girl who they were pointing at, she just gave me a funny look and got on the ride. And that’s the story of how I didn’t recognize Kylie Jenner at Disney World.”
—ashleyc4d46e38da
Mike Coppola/MG25 / Getty Images for The Met Museum/Vogue
7. “My dad was at a beach on vacation in California. He bumped into this guy on the staircase, who had this total surfer dude look…”
“They exchanged the usual ‘sorry’ before my dad walked away. He looked familiar to him, but it took him a second to realize who it was. His now ex-wife had a huge crush on said person at the time, and she looked back at my dad, in shock, and said, ‘That was Keanu Reeves.’”
—starcasmlol
John Nacion / Variety via Getty Images
8. “My wife took my son to the zoo, and he wanted 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.”
—mojomann128
Robert Kamau / GC Images
9. “My friend’s mom owns a small Asian grocery store. Post Malone came walking in with his girlfriend, and my friend’s mom had no idea who he was…”
“A few cute things happened:
1. She was nervous because of his tattoos, but happy/not worried once he bought a lot of food. She had no idea he was a celebrity.
2. She gave him a free snack for buying so much food and told him to come back for lunchtime for cheap and tasty gyoza (he did come back the next day!).
3. She was worried he would get mugged going to his car because of three big men outside, so she followed him outside (they were his bodyguards).
4. She really liked his ‘cool car’ (it was a Lamborghini).
When Post Malone came back the next day for gyoza, she got a selfie with him. The whole thing is adorable with how innocent his mom is.”
—Resviole
Lorne Thomson / Redferns
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10. “My mom is a big sports fan. One time, she was shopping and saw a really large, fit-looking man who she didn’t immediately recognize but seemed familiar…”
“She thought it must have been a professional football player or something, so she went up to the only other person in the shop, who was this smaller weird-looking guy, and asked him if he knew who the athletic-looking man was. The short guy looked at my mom and said, ‘That’s my bodyguard. I’m Elton John.'”
—tastefulsidebutthole
Dave Benett / Dave Benett/Getty Images for Burberry
11. “My wife and I were hiking on a trail that was supposed to loop around, but we were pressed for time, so we decided to turn back the way we came…”
“Five minutes later, we saw three people walking toward us up the trail, and my wife said she wanted to ask them how far it would have taken if we stayed on our original route. She started talking to the guy while I’m chewing on my lip trying not to laugh. He gave us directions, and we went our separate ways. After a beat, I say to her, ‘You know that was Tom Hanks, right?’ She had no idea that she just had a three-minute conversation with him. Not to mention he was hiking with his wife Rita Wilson and another friend of theirs. We still laugh about it.”
—davidschiff
Justin Palmer / Getty Images
12. “When I was 15, I was really into playing Starcraft. After finishing this one particularly epic match (close game, we won), we all got into a chat room to talk about how fun it was…”
“One of them says something to the effect of ‘Not sure if you all care, but you just beat Ben Affleck.’ Of course, we all ask him to prove it, so he told us to wait a minute and visit his official website’s message board. He had just made a post in red (red meant it was Ben Affleck himself) about just losing a game of Starcraft.”
—gregorykay
Slaven Vlasic / Getty Images
13. “Around 2000, my mom was selling at a flea market and thought she recognized this cute, young blonde woman who was clearly trying to stay incognito while browsing the booth…”
“Mom thought she’d come up with the solution and asked, ‘Do I know you from somewhere?’ The woman smiled and adorably did the ‘shhh’ finger to her lips, but Mom had no chill and asked, ‘Are you Tracey Gold from Growing Pains?’ The woman responded, ‘Uh, no, I’m Reese.’ As in Reese Witherspoon, right when her fame was exploding. My mom was about 10 years out of date when it came to cute pop culture blondes.”
—squirreltooth
Jamie McCarthy / Getty Images
14. “I worked at a movie theater in Albuquerque at the time they were filming the first Avengers film…”
“Captain America was about to come out; I remember because we had the huge standee of him in the lobby. I was reading in the box office when three people came up. The guy asked for three tickets to Bridesmaids. It was dark out, and he had a green baseball cap and sunglasses. He paid with a credit card. Chris Evans. I stared at the card after I swiped it. Handed it back. ‘I need you to sign the receipt’; he did. And then, he walked in.”
—sarahm0ses
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Arturo Holmes / Getty Images
15. “My mom yelled at Pierce Brosnan…”
“She and my dad were at a ski resort getting lunch. My mother gets quite hangry and was waiting in line to order. Right as she’s about to order, a guy tried to cut in front of her and interrupt her. She snapped and told him to go to the back of the line like everyone else. She got her food and went back to my dad sitting there, mouth wide open in shock. ‘Do you know who that was?’ ‘No?!’ ‘That was Pierce Brosnan. You just yelled at James Bond!’ ‘Well, he shouldn’t have tried to cut me.’
—XANA12345
Karwai Tang / WireImage
16. “I was working a shift helping first-year college students move in. I see a guy in a hat and sunglasses. I strike up a conversation, ask if he needs help with the bags…”
“He gives first names only — ‘We’re from California. My wife, Kate, and I sent all our kids to East Coast schools, though.’ Stuff like that. 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 my friend and me 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.”
—AdamHR
Jerod Harris / Getty Images for Warner Bros. Discovery
17. “Back in the late ’90s, my dad got invited to watch a Liverpool game in London…”
“He sat in the business lounge and noticed Robbie Fowler and a couple of top Liverpool players walk through the lounge with a few ladies. Once they had passed him, he turned to his friends and said, ‘Did you see Robbie Fowler?’ His mate said, ‘Yeah, but did you see who the ladies were?’ My dad said no. Turns out it was the Spice Girls!”
—pandorahopeless
RJ Capak / WireImage
18. “My father was coming back from work and stepped around a bus that was outside the Port Authority bus terminal in NYC. As he came around, someone else was coming the other way, and they bumped into each other…”
“My father apologized, and the guy just gave him a smile, letting him know that it was cool. As he walked away, my dad looked back again and realized that it was Henry Winkler, and he almost knocked him on his ass.”
—dontdillydanie
JC Olivera / Variety via Getty Images
19. “Years ago, my ex spent 15 minutes in conversation with another dad in a mom-and-pop toy store while last-minute Christmas shopping…”
“My ex said the guy’s voice sounded really familiar, but just couldn’t think of who it was until he walked away. Bruce Springsteen is apparently also a last-minute shopper!”
—njdevils1
Gareth Cattermole / Gareth Cattermole/Getty Images for BFI
20. “Probably close to 20 years ago, my grandparents were visiting family in LA and went out alone to do some shopping while everyone was at school/work…”
“My grandpa went into a small boutique by himself to look at gifts for my grandma. He held the door open for a woman and two men. He had a light conversation with the woman while he looked around. As he was leaving, one of the men pulled him aside and said something like, ‘Thank you for not making a big deal out of being in here with her. We’ve been dodging paparazzi all day.’ My grandpa was super confused but just said, ‘Of course.’ When he got to my grandma, he asked if she knew who the woman was who’d gone into the store after him. It was Angelina Jolie.”
—nikola2393
Carlos Alvarez / Getty Images
21. “I used to work with an older lady, and one day, she came back from her break with ice cream. She said, ‘Some young guy and his friends decided to buy me ice cream…'”
“She explained, ‘He was about your age — I should have given him your number!’ Later that night, she saw on the news that Drake had done an event near our job. She came in the next day to say, ‘THAT WAS HIM! I really should’ve given him your number!!!'”
—pinnockleanne6
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Cole Burston / Getty Images
22. “I was working at a high-end retail store at a ritzy mall in my area. A man and a woman came in, and the woman immediately started picking out the coolest, most expensive things in the store…”
“I started her a fitting room while she and the man kept looking around. The store was playing old R&B music at the time, and I noticed the man snapping his fingers and bobbing his head along. I said to him, ‘Aren’t these jams the best?’ to which he nodded his head and smiled at me. A few minutes later, a group of ladies came in asking for photos with the man. I had no idea who the people were until a coworker whispered to me…’That’s John Legend and Chrissy Teigen.’”
—lsamson
Olivia Wong / WireImage
23. “One day, while shopping, I saw a Jeep I really liked…”
“As I pressed my nose up against the VERY darkly tinted driver’s window (to see what the dash looked like), the window rolled down, and I was standing there almost nose to nose with Robin Williams. I stuttered out that I really liked his car, and he invited me to sit in the passenger seat. He spent five minutes or so happily showing off all the features to me. I have no clear memories of anything I said, so I’m pretty sure it was gibberish. It was an awesome experience and probably why I can’t bring myself to watch his movies anymore.”
—rlwstream
Ethan Miller / Getty Images
24. “My friend invited me to go meet the original cast of Hamilton in New York City. We were admitted directly onto the stage in the theatre, and immediately we saw a man in a ponytail, center stage, talking to at least 10 people…
“We walked over, and my friend is basically tripping over herself, stuttering words of admiration about the man. In my head, I’m like, ‘Why is she being so weird? Who is this guy?’ He was so warm and sweet. He introduced himself as Lin, and my friend is literally ready to pee herself. Instead of telling him my name, I asked him where Leslie Odom Jr. was. It wasn’t until 20 minutes later that I realized I shrugged off a conversation with one of the most prominent playwrights in modern history, Lin-Manuel Miranda.”
—cpacheco
John Lamparski / Getty Images
25. “My cousin rode a ski lift with Jack Black in Vail, Colorado, just the two of them…”
“Her husband and I were in the lift behind them, freaking out. When we got off the lift, they’d gone their separate ways, and we made our way to her. She was like, ‘Wow, that guy on my lift was so nice.; We were like, ‘NO SHIT, THAT WAS JACK BLACK!’ She was like, ‘THE SCHOOL OF ROCK GUY?!?!’ She was so embarrassed. She said she rambled on about living in Iowa for most of their conversation. We laughed our asses off.”
—palexander_6
Monica Schipper / Getty Images
26. And finally, “A few years ago, I was at a local barbecue place, sitting outside on the patio eating. It was late afternoon, and the restaurant was pretty dead…”
“This big car pulls up, and a guy in a suit gets out and walks inside. I see through the windows some of the employees getting photos with him. I thought it kinda looked like the current mayor, so I didn’t think anything of it. A few minutes later, he walks out with a bag of food. I waved at him, and he waved back. After the car pulls away, I walked inside to get a refill of my drink. I asked one of the waiters, who the guy was. He just looked at me like I was a complete idiot and says…’Do you not know who Jack Nicholson is?'”
—tomb4adc7727a
Foc Kan / WireImage
Responses have been edited for length/clarity.
Have you ever met a famous person and not realized it until wayyy later? Let us know in the comments. Or, if you prefer to remain anonymous, leave your submission in the form below.
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