A brush with fame? Tell your story!

[Italiahaircolor]

I thought this would be fun...
I loved hearing your UFC fighter stories, so it could be even more interesting to hear our real life brushes ....

Here is my story...

Back in my wild, crazy, single days I actually had a nice little relationship with Barack Obama''s PR advisor while he was running for Senate here in IL (so, this was years ago--and well before he ran for President and won).

What a crazy life that was, even for the little bit of time it lasted.

First of all, I should say that this boyfriend of mine at the time was much older than I was by about 20 years. When I met him, he lied and told me he was in his 30''s...which I debunked after googling him and finding out that when I was in elementary school, he was a Goverment offical working with enviromental issues. He wasn''t very attractive...but he was so smart, the things he knew were amazing, and he never talked down to anyone---he would talk to an important politcal figure the same way he''d talk to my beauty school friends. He was extremely successful, very wealthy, and lonely...we actually dated thru the holiday''s and he gave me a lovely Coach bag, and also gave lovely gifts to my friends that year too and hosted a great lunch for all of us at the Clubhouse in Oakbrook Illinois which is a pretty upscale place for a bunch of 21 year olds. If I were to call him, he''d drop everything to get to me--I remember one time calling him a downtown Chicago hotel where I was staying for a work party, and he was at political benefit dinner and he left to come party with me.

Through this guy, I actually spent time with Senator Obama (now President Obama) socially, and he was such a nice man the handful of times I was around him. I look back now and genuinely feel like that was an experience I was to young to fully appreciate. This guy would invite me to Washington with him for different benefits or dinners, and I would actually turn him down--l totally didn''t get what an amazing experience I was in the middle of.

Of course, the relationship eventually failed---he had lied to me thinking I wouldn''t like him if I knew the truth, and that absoutely set an expiration date for our fling--but, the places I was able to go, the things I was able to do, the people I was blessed to meet...

My ex actually now handles some of the PR for Google (ironically) and still works with Obama which is very awesome.

____

But thats my closest brush with a suto-celeb what''s yours?

 

[joflier]

Living around the Green Bay vacinity, I''ve met many different Packers football players and coaches. If your into sports, then I guess you could consider that famous.

Some have just been in passing, others socially, and work related. I won''t elaborate for privacy''s sake.

 

[Italiahaircolor]

Oh that totally counts!! How fun for you!!!

 

[Kaleigh]

Went to college with Clark Greg, he''s married to Jennifer Grey. He plays the husband of Julia Louis Dreyfus, in the adventures of old Christine?? Probably messed the title up. But Clark was a great friend of ours, he was crazy in college.

I met Chachi, as in Charles in Charge, The Happy Days, in LA. Not too thrilling.

Telli Savalis, also met in LA. For those that can''t recall he was the bald headed dude Kojack??

Alan Iverson, my son knows Auntie Iverson well. He used to sit with them at the Sixers games. He kinda smoozed his way into the whole deal. They thought he had spunk and adopted him. Cracked us up. For that matter, my son also made his way into the 6''ers locker room and got all his stuff signed. He had big balls back then, he''d never try that now.

Brooke Shield''s, friend of a friend, so down to earth.

Tea Leoni, DD used to babysit her kids.

Kathie Lee Gifford, Frank Gifford, they know us from afar. Frank is very friendly.... We saw Cody and Cassidy grow up. I know for some makes ya want to throw up.. But still...

Ralph Lauren, that was super cool. My son worked at one of his stores during the summer.

Chris Mathews our kids are friends.

Ted Kennedy and family.... Prayers to them right now. Hubby knew John growing up.

 

[joflier]

Oh, I forgot. I have a cousin who lives in West palm beach . Their house is across from Donald Trumps (one of his many) and they are friends with him and Melania.

 

[portia]

Great thread idea! I love reading these!

Had lots of small brushes with fame while growing up. We used to go on family ski trips to Aspen, CO during spring breaks and holidays. Lots of celebs out there. One in particular that we often saw was George Hamilton. He was always wearing fur coats, very plastic looking and always super tan in the middle of winter.

I met Grant Show when I did a Skip Barber (car racing school) lapping day. They had different lapping sessions so we ''shared'' a car. I talked with him a bit about racing. He did mention that his girlfriend (who at that time was Laura Leighton) wasn''t too keen on his racing hobby.

I also met Brian Johnson, lead singer of AC/DC. I was racing at Sebring in Florida and I had been racing that morning with a little yellow sports racer type car. I didn''t know who that guy was in the yellow car, but he was really trying hard to pass me and I kept out running him through the turns. Finally he got a good pass on me and went by... we had a good time dicing out on the track! He then came up to me on the grid while I was in my car getting ready for our next session, shook my hand and introduced himself. He was talking very excitedly about the fact that it was a *girl* he had been trying to pass. LOL!! I still can''t believe he walked over to my car and introduced himself to *me*! How funny! He seemed like a really nice guy.

And one more... I was invited to Bobby Rahal''s (famous Indycar racer and current team owner) private garage to see his cars out at a race track we were racing at. I was with some fellow racers... it was just three of us, Bobby and his father. Such nice people and VERY cool cars!!

 

[Madam Bijoux]

I saw Bruce Willis in a record store once. I knew it was him because he said "Excuse me miss" when he walked past me.

 

[isaku5]

I don''t know whether anyone remembers or watched Dynasty many years ago, but in the lobby of the hotel we were staying at, I saw Gordon Thompson who was a rather villainous character on the show, but IRL, he appeared very quiet and soft spoken. DH wanted me to walk over the few steps between us and say, "Hello". Just looking at him turned my legs to mush so I doubted very much that I''d be able to utter hello, or anything else for that matter coherently.

 

[sba771]

Hmmmm...Gavin Degraw, Diddy, Tommy Lee, all of Nickelback, Sharon Stone, Stanley Tucci, The entire cast of Gossip Girls, John Legend, Rosie O''Donnell, Star Jones, Justin Timberlake and Jessica Biel (actually ate off his plate because I was a wee bit drunk and had a long conversation with Jessica)

and soooo many more

- Ok I worked in celebrity and night club PR in NYC so this is why I had many cool and ridiculous experiences and many many stories, but I actually gave that up because I realized it was not the kind of life I wanted, but it was fun for a few years!

 

[portia]

Oooooh, sba771... I bet you have some great stories!! Any you can share?

 

[iheartscience]

I''ve had lots of fun celeb-sightings because I used to go to LA a lot. I''m terrible at spotting celebs because I''m not really a big movie or music person, so I don''t usually recognize them! Here''s one funny one:

I was sitting in LAX reading, waiting to board my plane. This guy was walking through the airport and a girl was talking on her cell phone, following him and yelling "Nick! Nick!" and then saying into her cell phone "He won''t talk to me! He won''t talk to me!"

I was completely clueless and thought to myself, "That''s embarrassing-that girl''s fighting with her boyfriend in the middle of the airport and telling her friend about it!" So my friend hits my arm and says "That''s Nick Lachey!" I wasn''t convinced at first, but then I saw his face and sure enough, it was him! He was on our flight and got on right in front of us. The flight attendants were pretty excited which was so weird because they were older women...it was hilarious!

I''ve also seen Dr. Drew Pinsky at LAX. I love him from Loveline! Who else...I saw Dita Von Teese in LA once at this place called the Newsroom I like to go for breakfast. She''s so pretty but she had on a pile of make-up at like 11 am! I saw David Duchovny at the same place another time.

And one of my favorite sightings at Newsroom was Marguerite Moreau. She was the girl in Mighty Ducks, but she was also in this movie I LOVE called Wet Hot American Summer. I got super excited and texted all my friends who love that movie. But I didn''t say anything to her...I wish I would have told her that I love her! That would have been too weird, though!

Another time I stayed at the Hotel Roosevelt and they were having the premier of Big Love across the street, and Chloe Sevigny came to the bar to hang out after the premiere. I LOVE her.

And in NY I saw Alanis Morissette and Ryan Reynolds in Soho back when they were dating. Also Minnie Driver-she''s super tall-taller than I thought. And at a trade show in Vegas I saw Paris Hilton-she was there promoting her clothing line and people were FREAKING out. It was hilarious!

 

[purrfectpear]

In my mid 20''s I worked for a personal manager in Bev Hills. Through him I met many people in the movie and television industry. I dated Eddie Fisher for about 4 months (addict who still pined for Elizabeth) , Dennis Cole just before his marriage to Jaclyn Smith (he was a completely self absorbed jerk, I ended up standing him up after about 6 dates), Mark Goddard (Lost in Space fame), French singer Jean-Paul Vignon, and a bunch of other semi-famous actors, producers, and managers.

It was a crazy, fun time for a young single girl, though most of the guys were anywhere from 20 to 30 years older than I.

 

[Haven]

I''ve met Gary Sinise and spoken with him on the phone a few times because I babysat for a couple who was friends with him. The mom went to HS with him, and they remain friends to this day. I just about fell over the first time he called and left a message for her. (I babysat for them one night a weekend for eight years, and I swear, every time I was there after that first phone call I hoped he would call again!)

He grew up in the town where I live now, actually. Such a talented man.

Michael Jordan lives in my town, too, or at least he did for a long time. I''ve seen him and a bunch of other Bulls and Bears players throughout the years. My hubby has a few Bears players for clients, so he''s been to their homes, which is pretty cool. He says they''re all very nice. And huge.

We''ve actually seen BJ Armstrong multiple times since we''ve moved into our new home. He was a huge Bulls player when I was in school, and I had the biggest crush on him ever. We''ve never bothered him, but it''s cool to see someone you used to idolize.

 

[mochi]

Not directly, but indirectly..... I met Hugh Hefner''s mom. My co-worker thought she would be funny and asked her, "So, how''s Hugh doing lately?" She promptly replied... "I don''t want to talk about him!"

 

[Irishgrrrl]

WOW! You guys have some very impressive stories!

I''ve only had one very small brush with fame, but it was a nice one: XH and I went to Jamaica for our honeymoon. On the day we flew home, we were waiting in the Montego Bay airport for our flight to start boarding, when we saw Ernie Hudson! For those of you who can''t think of who he is, I know him best as the very nice cop who buys a hot dog for the little girl in the movie "The Crow," although he has been in many other movies and TV shows over the years. "The Crow" was one of XH''s favorite movies, so he wanted to talk to Ernie. He was with some friends (or maybe family members?), so I kinda felt bad about disturbing him, but he was very gracious! He let me take XH''s picture with him, and he congratulated us on our wedding. VERY nice guy!

Great thread, Italia!

 

[April20]

I was on a work trip in LA about seven years ago and was entertaining the group during the day by making things up- basically saying crazy things to make them laugh. There were about seven of us on the trip and we ate at Nobu that night. We had this big round table that was towards the front of the restaurant, adjacent to the bar. I looked over and John Cusack was about three tables away, further towards to back. I leaned over to the guy next to me and told him that John Cusack was to our left. Given all I had been doing and saying all day, he didn''t believe me. "Yeah, right" he says. About ten minutes later, John Cusack got up and walked out with a phone in his hand. When he came back in, he stopped to speak to someone by the bar, basically stopping directly by our table and directly in our line of sight. The guy next to me that didn''t believe me looks at me and says "That''s John Cusack!!!".

I have always thought John Cusack was cute, but that night he looked like he had been rode hard and put up wet.

 

[Tuckins1]

I used to work at an elementary school in Michigan where several of the Detroit Red Wings sent their kids... I have met many of them. While on the outside I was cool and collected, on the inside I was screaming "Can I have your autograph!?! OMG you totally kick a#$!!"

 

[strmrdr]

I have met Daxx and Miles Nielsen of Harmony Riley but haven't met their Dad(Rick Nielsen of Cheap Trick) in person but saw him when he was in a meeting at one my ex-clients.
They mixed a album at one of my ex-clients studio and another ex-client was their manager for a while.
I know several people that know all the Cheap Trick band members.

I have seen other members of Cheap Trick around town a few times.

 

[purselover]

My favorite celeb spotting was sharing an elevator with Kate Spade and her husband

I also saw Chris Noth a few months ago and he was in a suit and talking into his phone it was so Mr Big of him. I few weeks ago I saw Barbara Walters at work, she is super skinny in person. Last year Beyonce and Jay Z bought a house a few miles away and I''ve been dying to run into them ever since. Lol I always joke our kids will go to the same school and we will become best friends

 

[brazen_irish_hussy]

I have lots of quirky connections with fame, including thanksgiving with Mark Hamill''s relatives and friends with the daughter of Tim Allen''s best friend, but the best connection I have is that I am 2 degrees from Kevin Bacon.

My DH has both his grandmothers and his mother''s mother remarried after divorcing his grandfather. She is now married to Kevin Bacon''s uncle as it happens and the uncle is a nice guy, but kind of a weird one. Anyway, me to the uncle to Kevin Bacon is 2 degrees and my DH and I think it is really funny

 

[redfaerythinker]

I built a Habitat House with Clark Howard once. Some people haven''t heard of him but he''s a talk show personality that''s famous for being super cheap, and warns people of financial scams and such. I totally didn''t recognize him because um well he''s on the radio. But he offered me a chicken biscuit and I was like Holy Crap! lol

And i''m related by marriage to Jimmy Carter. He''s a cousin I guess. He comes to all of the family reunions on my mother''s side.

And I doubt this counts but I was on Good Day Atlanta, and the evening news, and football broadcasts through my colorguard days.

 

[mia1181]

I am veeery jealous of all of your star sightings, mine are lame:

Paul Walker (Fast and the Furious)- Saw him at the Monterey Bay Aquarium where he gave a speech for about ten people. I guess he was promoting a movie he was in about scuba diving. Anyway afterwards he was just standing there talking to people and taking pictures, DH wanted me to get a pic with him. But I feel like that is so weird so we didn''t!

Jerry Rice (SF 49ers) used to come in the Jamba Juice I worked at all the time. He works out at the fancy gym next to the Jamba Juice. I took his order all the time and handed him his drink.

Oh I just remembered, my "celeb" sighting this summer was "Pumkin" from "Flavor of Love." Does anyone know who she is? She was at Six Flags Marine Discovery Kingdom this summer. Ha Ha! You should have seen all the people trying to get pictures with her! Lots of guys were screaming "hey pumpkin will you spit on me?"

Eewwwww!

 

[LAJennifer]

I have many, many stories. I have a lot of friends and a few ex-bfs on tv and in film - so I won't mention any of them. But a couple of really funny (or sad, actually) encounters come to mind.

1) At a club a few years ago - waiting in line for the women's restroom (single bathroom - no stall). The men's line kept moving while the women's wasn't moving at all. A guy knocked on the door for us to see what the hold up was. The door opened and he was talking to the woman inside - then the door closed again. He said, "she is inside and she won't come out - but you can go in." The ladies in line in front of me chose not to go in (didn't want someone to "watch"), but I didn't care because I really had to go (too many martinis). So I go in - and the lady inside was a very distraught Farrah Fawcett, talking on a cell phone. I went ahead about my business - and while doing so she hangs up, turns to me and starts telling me how her son is sick and she is very worried. I had to . . . console her.

2) I was accosted on the street by a very inebriated Steven Dorff. While trying to pick me up, his friend started having a side conversation with my friend. While our friends were distracted, Steven (I kid you not) grabbed my hands, leaned towards me and whispered in my ear, "I'm Steven Dorff. I'm a movie star."

3) Antonio Sabato Jr. has a very strange obsession with Batman. That's all I'll say about that.

 

[elrohwen]

Awesome thread! Um, I saw Molly Shannon with her husband and kid and NYC a few months ago (in Chelsea I think). She looked kind of pissed off about something ... Her husband looked much younger than her.

My friends and I saw Justin Long in NYC last weekend at 2am which was pretty cool because I've always liked him (anyone else watch "Ed"? he was great in that show). It was funny when my friend couldn't remember his name and started yelling (probably loud enough for Justin to hear) "It's the Mac guy!! What's his name? I love him!" Lol At that point he started walking really fast, probably to try and get away from us.

Saw Cynthia Nixon in Central Park once.

I was on a plane from Columbus to NYC once with Dan Rather which was kind of cool. It was a tiny tiny plane with only 20 or so people, so I was just a few rows away from him.

I don't know if this counts, but my high school friend's dad looks exactly like Chuck Norris, so anytime I was out with him I felt like I was hanging out with a celebrity. He has been chased down in airports many times by people yelling "Chuck!! Chuck!!" and once they went swimming with dolphins in FL and the owner of the place took his picture (with his family) and put it up in the shop for people to see that Chuck Norris had come there. I guess he didn't have the heart to tell them the truth? Haha. He might not be a real celebrity, but all of my guy friends get excited when I say that I know a guy who looks like he could be Chuck Norris' twin brother.

 

[Irishgrrrl]

AH! I thought of another one! I was on vacation with my Mom and her XH once (in Chincoteague, Virginia) and we ate dinner at a nice seafood restaurant one night. There was a guy sitting at the next table, and I''m almost POSITIVE it was Stephen King! Seriously . . . if it wasn''t him, it was his twin brother! My Mom and I are both huge fans of his, but we didn''t say anything to him . . . I guess we were too chicken! LOL! My Dad and Stepmom now live on the Gulf Coast of Florida, and rumor has it that Stephen King and his wife live in that area for about half of the year, so maybe I''ll see him again someday?!?!

 

[luckystar112]

Date: 11/24/2008 1:45:12 PM
Author: LAJennifer
I have many, many stories. I have a lot of friends and a few ex-bfs on tv and in film - so I won''t mention any of them. But a couple of really funny (or sad, actually) encounters come to mind.

1) At a club a few years ago - waiting in line for the women''s restroom (single bathroom - no stall). The men''s line kept moving while the women''s wasn''t moving at all. A guy knocked on the door for us to see what the hold up was. The door opened and he was talking to the woman inside - then the door closed again. He said, ''she is inside and she won''t come out - but you can go in.'' The ladies in line in front of me chose not to go in (didn''t want someone to ''watch''), but I didn''t care because I really had to go (too many martinis). So I go in - and the lady inside was a very distraught Farrah Fawcett, talking on a cell phone. I went ahead about my business - and while doing so she hangs up, turns to me and starts telling me how her son is sick and she is very worried. I had to . . . console her.

2) I was accosted on the street by a very inebriated Steven Dorff. While trying to pick me up, his friend started having a side conversation with my friend. While our friends were distracted, Steven (I kid you not) grabbed my hands, leaned towards me and whispered in my ear, ''I''m Steven Dorff. I''m a movie star.''

3) Antonio Sabato Jr. has a very strange obsession with Batman. That''s all I''ll say about that.

LMAO!!! These stories are HILARIOUS.
You have to tell me more....

 

[sunnyd]

Fun! BF has many more cool stories than I do, he installs home theatres and has been inside nearly every Seahawk''s home except Hasselbeck''s and Alexander''s! Also friends and neighbors of Bill Gates (Paul Allen has a strange giant safety pin statue in his front yard...

). Some early Microsoft guy''s wife gets lost in her own house! He''s also a music freak and has had drinks with several band members throughout his years.

I met Journey once at a hotel, no Steve Perry though so that was a bummer. I would have made him sing to me.

Drew Lachey, nice guy, I was taller than him!

I held a door for Nicole Richie and baby. I was much taller than her too. LOL!

My best friend growing up currently writes for ''The Cleaner'' on A&E, does that count?

My sister used to date a Hollywood big wig''s son. His sister was friends with Kim Stewart. But we all had dinner at Wolfgang Puck''s restaurant (he was a family friend!) and as we were eating, Heather Locklear came in and had to wait for a table.

 

[Erin]

My favorite story is dining in New York. Someone knocked on the (single) bathroom door and when I opened it was Bebe Neuwirth. The funny part is that we were both dressed in hot pink pants and a pink/red/white multi colored t-shirt with our hair in pig tail braids. It was hilarious - we both stood there laughing at each other with some comments like nice outfit, you look great, are you my stalker - I was gonna ask you the same thing...

 

[Irishgrrrl]

Date: 11/24/2008 2:42:44 PM
Author: sunnyd
Fun! BF has many more cool stories than I do, he installs home theatres and has been inside nearly every Seahawk''s home except Hasselbeck''s and Alexander''s! Also friends and neighbors of Bill Gates (Paul Allen has a strange giant safety pin statue in his front yard...

). Some early Microsoft guy''s wife gets lost in her own house! He''s also a music freak and has had drinks with several band members throughout his years.

I met Journey once at a hotel, no Steve Perry though so that was a bummer. I would have made him sing to me.

Drew Lachey, nice guy, I was taller than him!

I held a door for Nicole Richie and baby. I was much taller than her too. LOL!

My best friend growing up currently writes for ''The Cleaner'' on A&E, does that count?

My sister used to date a Hollywood big wig''s son. His sister was friends with Kim Stewart. But we all had dinner at Wolfgang Puck''s restaurant (he was a family friend!) and as we were eating, Heather Locklear came in and had to wait for a table.

OMG!!! Sunny, that is one of my favorite shows!!! I can''t wait for it to come back on! Do you know when that will be? And can you ask your friend to make sure that William and his wife get back together for me? Thanks!

 

[ChinaCat]

Coming out of lurking to say:

LAJENNIFER- I have the exact same story about Stephen Dorff. Literally. Leaving a restaurant, he is trying to hit on me, I ignore him, his friend starts talking to my friend. Valet pulls up, we get in car, but other two still talking. He leans into my car window and said the EXACT same thing to me. Oh, I"m dying. That''s too sad!!!!

In my head, I am thinking, I know who you are, dumba**, which is why I kept walking. Eww.

What''s even funnier is that I had forgotten all about it, till I read yours, and I''m like, wait a second, that happened to me too! I have a really bad memory....