“Never meet your heroes.” This old proverb simply tells us that admiring an idealized figure from afar is typically better than interacting with them in person because, for the most part, the encounter turns out to be a massive letdown. 

Many people have had this experience with celebrities, and it’s recently become a topic on Threads. One user asked, “Who is the rudest celeb you have met? What happened?”

The usual names came up, those with a reputation for being stand-offish. But there are surprising mentions like Keanu Reeves, who is known to be the nicest man in Hollywood today. 

Whether it was actual obnoxious behavior or a reaction to a bad day, rudeness stains a person’s image. Unfortunately, it is magnified for celebrities, as it is the nature of their chosen profession. 

#1

I went to grammar and high school with Nicholas Cage but he was Nicholas Coppola back then. We both worked on high School musicals, me behind the scenes, him in front but I think we had a scene together in Our Town when I decided to act for a minute. But we played at each other's houses and everything. It's not like he was just in my class. We were friends. Fast forward about 10 years. I was a line cook at a fancy restaurant in San Francisco and he came in with some people. . I came out to say hello. Hey Nick, I said. He was so rude and acted like he couldn't even be bothered to look up and say hello. I was like whatever dude. I don't want anything from you just to be treated like a person. FU Nick Cage

Image credits: beedeepinko

#2

Jim Jarmusch and Adam Driver are two of the nastiest people I have ever met, and this was inside the venue of their premiere for Patterson. I told Jarmusch what a big fan I was and how much his films has inspired me to become an actor and he was very belittling and acted like he was a god. Adam Driver is just the same, people keep pointing to Drivers “anxiety” as an excuse but it ain’t it.. I was with Driver one on one and he’s just an ass, fame has gotten to his head and he thinks he’s too good

Image credits: iamrobertholik

#3

Bryan Greenberg thinks he’s Al Pacino or something and it’s hilarious because even Al Pacino doesn’t act like that.. said “I don’t do that” when I kindly asked him for a photo like he’s royalty and was super rude and condescending, this was just me and him mind you
Tells you everything you need to know when he went from having prominent roles in One Tree Hill, Prime with Uma Thurman and Meryl Streep, Bride Wars, lead on October Road to literally fading away. Dude is his own worst enemy

Image credits: iamrobertholik

#4

I saw George Clooney at a grocery store yesterday. I told him how cool it was to meet him in person, but I didn’t want to be a douche and bother him and ask him for photos or anything.
He said, “Oh, like you’re doing now?”
I was taken aback, and all I could say was “Huh?” but he kept cutting me off and going “huh? huh? huh?” and closing his hand shut in front of my face. I walked away and continued with my shopping, and I heard him chuckle as I walked off.

Image credits: robsmithireland

#5

Diddy... I saw him at a Walmart in Van Nuys a few years ago, and I asked him for a photo. He gave me a disgusted look and said, ‘Don’t you have anything better to do loser? I was shocked, but I still complimented his work, told him "Come With Me" was one of my fave songs ever. He rolled his eyes and said, ‘I don’t need your validation.’ When I was at the checkout, he came up behind me and shoved all my groceries onto the floor, laughed, and whispered, ‘Pathetic". Horrible experience

Image credits: rollinronin15

#6

Julia Roberts, I was standing behind her in a convenience store. The cashier was a new employee and was struggling. Julia Roberts began belittling the poor girl. I’ve never been impressed with actors, they’re just overrated and overpaid court jesters.

Image credits: fredtrujillo

#7

I gave Mila Kunis a facial once and she was a total b from the moment I called her name in my room. I acted like I had no idea who she was and didn’t make a point to make her feel special. I just matched her energy. This was before black swan even came out.

Image credits: radicalreiki

#8

Gwen Stefani.. gave me a Death stare when I offered her hors d’euvres at an event in LA. She freaked me out. Her eyes literally turned black during her death stare. Blake was there. She’s territorial.

Image credits: leslieannefranklin

#9

Bill Murray. I met him when he was partial owner of the St. Paul Saints in the mid-90s. He was standing in the concourse signing autographs when a kid that looked to be about 6/7 walked up to him absolutely gushing about how much he loved him in Ghost Busters. The kid was a bit heavyset & Murray MERCILESSLY mad fun of his weight. The kid ran away crying. I was a chubby tween girl, so that's stuck with me ever since.

Image credits: than0203

#10

JLo. She stuck her chewed gum in my hand and laughed as I led her through the shooting gallery at the VMAs.

Image credits: craighermes

#11

Most celebs I’ve met have been on good behavior. It always impresses me, because I can’t imagine how exhausting it is to interact with hundreds of people per week who all think they own a piece of you.
So I’ll share a vicarious encounter. My sister was friends with a knockout gorgeous woman. She looked like a 1980s music video model (this was the 1980s!), but she was a waitress like my sister. She was 19.
Anyway, she got on an elevator at a hotel, and who should be on it but... David Lee Roth. Yep, Diamond Dave himself, and in 1988, there were no hotter front men in the world.
Naturally, she was starstruck, but too shy to talk to him. Never fear! Diamond Dave to the rescue.
He had propositioned her for sex in his hotel room practically before the doors closed.
She said no.

Image credits: myth_independence

#12

Paris Hilton. I was working as a stylist assistant on a shoot with her and held my hand out so she could give me the garment she was wearing. She literally dropped it next to my oustreched hand on the floor.

Image credits: midnightblueelephant

#13

Scarlett Johansson, I was used to work at theost famous hotel in Edinburgh, Scotland and I served her once, I was just doing my job, she didn’t even look at me once while I was serving afternoon tea (2hours session), not even a thank you but the worst was she made fun of the manager, big time, big rude uggly time. Nobody was asking for photos or anything, we were just working, doing our best as we always did. Having a bad day or not, tired or not, you just say thank you when someone serves you!

Image credits: lilianasangelo

#14

Tyrese. A few years I was a waiter at a fancy restaurant in NY, he came into the restaurant very demanding and rude to everyone on the staff. This was back when he was doing the promotional tour for fast and furious, even the girl he brought in was rude and obnoxious. Omg they complaint about everything nothing was at his standards. He did not like the table, the food, he asked to be change tables like 3 times cause it was notto his level

Image credits: vonfurstenbergomar

#15

I met Ann Burrell at a convention in Chicago. I was so excited to meet her because I really looked up to her as a female back in the day. She was drunk and burnt the risotto she made and was really not friendly when I went to take a photo with her and get her autograph on the cookboook I bought

Image credits: sooziethefoodie

#16

I met Ryan Reynolds and his wife Rob McElhenney in a store in Boise, Idaho, he looked very smart in his blue velvet tuxedo suit with pink shirt and white bow tie, his wife looked adorable in a pink chiffon dress, they were buying some cheese slices, I couldn’t help but remark, wouldn’t you like the camembert instead, he wasn’t very happy and replied, why can’t people leave us alone when I am preparing for my next film role, apparently he’s playing Ted Bundy.

Image credits: a.rodge12

#17

Jaime Foxx. I was in Vegas at a store inside the MGM buying something. He walked up, put a bunch of candy on the cashiers desk and told me I should buy it for him. I was like, yeah, right. No"

#18

Hands down, Jimmy Buffet.
He came in to do a sound check so drunk he could hardly stand. He saw me on stage and started yelling about a woman working on the crew. There were very few female sound engineers back then.
His people tried hard to fix it but I said I wasn’t dealing with that nonsense and walked out. They had to pay extra to keep the rest of our crew. Turned out Jimmy had a reputation for meaness on the road that I hear improved somewhat in later years.

Image credits: peek_a_boo_boo_boo22

#19

William Shatner. Watched him refuse to give an autograph to an 8 year old boy. Boy was in tears. He doesn't "do" those anymore, he said. A** hat.

Image credits: texasmando

#20

Jon B and NeNe Leakes. And I usually try to give celebrities a lot of latitude. They get approached so often that they get worn out. Also, sometimes you might just catch them on a bad day. But in these two cases, they exhibited the kind of rudeness that was so off-putting that it seemed like their regular personality.

Image credits: jemelehill

#21

Anthony Mackie. I was working at a bar at a stadium offered him a drink cause it’s my job, literally said that he didn’t get why I had such a stupid job if he can just go to the bar and get the drink himself… like I get it 100% but a simple “no thanks” would’ve been nice

Image credits: grethelvaleraa

#22

Bill Murray….there I am eating at Wendy’s when all of a sudden Bill freakin Murray walks by, steals a French fry, stares me dead in the eye as he eats it, and says, “No one will ever believe you”

Image credits: unclesacchi

#23

Simone Biles: I met her during the Olympic Games and I also heard from athletes at the Olympic Games that she is a completely different person in front of the camera than behind the camera.

Image credits: dnl_blnsv

#24

Robert Redford - he filmed several movies in my hometown. My 86 yr old grandmother really wanted to go watch some of the action where they were filming because she loved him. We were walking across the parking lot and she put her hand gently on a car to step down a curb. He came running out of a building and screamed at her for touching his car. The car was parked in a fire zone FIY and the roped off area for spectators only allowed people to walk right there. She apologized, he kept yelling.

Image credits: sitstayplaymichigan

#25

I was a server at a high end dine in movie theater and Michael Phelps came in and spit chew EVERYWHERE

Image credits: campyscampii

#26

Mindy Cohn from Facts of Life. My wife and our friends and I met her when we were in our teens, and she has been the punchline in a running joke ever since. It would make me so happy if she learned this. Her shoving my 7 year old sister into a door jam and yelling “get out of my way!” is always our favorite part of the story.

#27

I was in a band that opened for Oasis in the very early 90s in Houston. We got the gig right before they blew up in the US. They were incredibly rude and condescending to us. Made snide comments about our music and just acted like total pricks.

#28

Bob Geldolf. He called me a c*nt. He was apparently notorious for doing that when he would throw temper tantrums, in fact an Australian radio show Triple J ran a contest where you could call in if you had a story about him calling you one.

#29

Keisha Cole- a fan was telling her how she helped her get out of a DV situation that almost ended her life. Every woman in the bathroom had tears in their eyes. Keisha barely acknowledged that woman & walked out the bathroom. Every woman in that bathroom audibly GASPED in disbelief.

#30

Alyssa Milano. Snottiest person alive. Her mom too. They dined at a restaurant I worked at and were demanding and awful the whole time. Had us open the bottom floor for her family alone and her mother would ask for things by saying “I’m Alyssa Milano’s mom..” made me wanna laugh/puke in her face. Just rude and gross.

#31

Head and shoulders above the rest: Micheal Stipe of R.E.M. And anyone who’s ever crossed his path while working in a restaurant would agree. Used to come in to restaurants long after closing time, yell and demand to be seated, would try to smoke incessantly at the table, demanded ridiculous off-menu food and freak out when told no (like asking for pancakes in a fine dining Italian restaurant) and ALWAYS stiffed the staff. He’s actually quietly black-listed from a bunch of spots in NYC still…

#32

Emma Roberts and her sister, expected to be treated like ✨royalty✨ in a store I worked in at the time, they were also annoyed that I didn’t care who they were lol

#33

Will.I.am. I was hired to make social content for BBC’s The Voice. The dude wouldn’t even look me in the eye, and refused to work with me, having a meltdown in front of his team because he wanted to make vids with “a hot girl”. 🫠 he ended up just turning to my camera and said “that’s Huw Samuel, you’re watching The Voice” before walking off.
In comparison, Sir Tom Jones shook my hand, and was up for being silly and danced with me. He was amazing.

#34

Cameron Diaz-- I was an extra in the movie "Sex Tape" (originally called Basic Math) with her and Jason Segel.... the WHOLE time she was on set she was on her phone and straight up ignored every single person who tried to speak to her. Jason was super friendly and interacting with people but she put her feet up on the chair in front of her and played on her phone the whole time. Acted like such a princess. Like girl stop, you're not even that good

#35

LeToya Luckett. She came to Fayetteville State shortly after a first solo album came out. She was in the student center. I walked up and asked for an autograph poster she was handing out. She had an entire attitude. As she quickly rushed signing the poster I said “I love your music!!” I was in love with her album. She pushed the poster to me and sat back down. I was really disappointed at her behavior. I took the poster threw it in the trash as I walked out the door. I know she saw me

#36

Kenny Rogers. He refused to shake my hand at one of his concerts, after already shaking the hands of many others & he was noticeably rude about it. A few minutes later, he made the announcement that he wasn’t going to shake anyone’s hand if he couldn’t shake everyone’s hands. This was AFTER he had already done what he said he wasn’t going to do.

#37

About 30 years ago when Alec Baldwin was just starting out in his career I think he had just finished filming the Hunt for Red October I was working out at the Mirage hotel Gym. I recognized him when he walked in he and I were the only ones in there. I was on a stationary bike and completely ignored him. He walked over to an attendant and asked her to tell me to leave. I said no way I'm a guest here I have every right to stay so he proceeded to give me dirty looks the entire time! Rude.

#38

Wayne Brady. I simply smiled at him at LAX because our eyes met. I would have with anyone. I’m from Kanas and was raised that way. He looked me literally up and down and rolled his eyes. Totally changed my perception of him.

#39

Dustin Diamond pulled the "don't you know who i am" routine in us in line at a bar. This was right after his fake set tape fiasco.

#40

James Caan. He whipped it out and started peeing in front of us at a Rodeo.

#41

Steve Aoki, he was late and drunk to a M&G and Made his team kick us, since then i don't listen his music

#42

Eddie Murphy on the set of Dolomite is my Name was such a let down.. dude would NOT come out of his trailer and let people wait for HOURS.. he literally did not come out for 2 hours because he decided he wanted to sleep

Image credits: iamrobertholik

#43

Issa Rae. Years ago I was a super fan of Awkward Black Girl. I was in a theater lobby with my kids when Issa walked in. I didn’t approach her, my baby was breastfeeding at the time, but I yelled “Awkward Black girl” and waved. She rolled her eyes hard af like she was disgusted to be seen by me. Then left. I never watched her later shows. Still turn the channel if her face appears. Seriously considered walking out of Barbie. I’m a Virgo, this is 4eva

Image credits: goddess_a_woman

#44

Tyrese Gibson yelled at us for a good 5 mins cause we asked politely for a picture.

#45

When I was 12, me and my family took a day trip to Disneyland. Me and my older sister got separated from the group because we saw Hugh Hefner and his four gfs (the ones from his reality show) in line for the haunted mansion ride. Since we had a camera, we asked if we could take a pic but he didn’t hear us and Holly Madison’s wack a*s legit said, and I quote “You can’t take a picture of him but you can take a picture of me!”

And what pissed us off is that she had the nerve to pose in front of us, blocking Hef from our view. Like actively making sure we couldn’t snap a flick no matter how hard we tried. But later on that night, my sis ran into Hef at the gift shop and he was nice enough to give her a pic. I went to the bathroom so I missed out.

Image credits: king_obie617

#46

Jessica Simpson. I met her in an airport. We were all in Air Force uniforms in a large group coming home from training. One of the guys spoke to her and she rolled her eyes at him. He looked crushed. We had been travelling for several hours and were extremely tired . She could have just said hello

#47

Russel Simmons was extremely rude and creepy towards me in JFK airport

#48

Will Farrell.Arguing with a fan who wanted an autograph.”What do you need an autograph for?”I’m busy”.

#49

I met Lisa Marie Varon aka Victoria from WWE. Had a crush on her as a kid. She was signing at a local show in the Bay Area where I was selling my comics and I happen to be sitting next to a craft lady and her father that she knew. I said hi to Lisa and was cordial to her but her response, can’t remember her exact response, was dismissive and rude.
I found out later that the same year I met her, her nudes and s*x tape leaked. If that and her 8 hr trip didn’t piss her off, I don’t know what did.

#50

Adelaide Kane from Reign and Greys Anatomy was super stuck up. Wouldn’t converse with people who paid to meet her and when I went up to take my paid photo with her she wouldn’t smile and said “okay, let’s get this done.”

#51

Letoya luckett. When I worked at Starbucks she talked to me and my coworkers like we were the help. & she also tried to get an attitude when my coworker asked (for confirmation ) if that was her & she said yes like my coworkers were bothering her

#52

I met Birdman while working room service at the Ritz-Carlton. Dude sized me up & asked what I wanted when I brought the food he ordered. And no he didn’t tip

#53

Christopher Reid. Met him on a flight as a kid. As I was passing by, I asked if he was Kid and told him I loved watching his movies and he said yes & u can’t have an autograph & I said I never asked you for one.

#54

I’ve met tons of celebs with my jobs but they were all natural interactions. The only one that was weird, not rude was Faye Dunaway. The woman is insane.

#55

Gerry Halliwell. Stopped me mid sentence and wouldnt listen.
We made them successful, give your (ex) fans a few seconds! Rude rude person.
Her words were “ya know what” and walked off. I wanted to say “ ya know what, what I really really want…..manners”
I only wanted a photo.

#56

Keisha Knight Pulliam. I said hello and congratulated her on her success. She looked at me like I was gum on the bottom of her shoe.

#57

Kathy Najimi was terrible. I was at a movie premiere as a member of a literacy organization and she had narrated the film about the life of Dr. Seuss. She arrived with an entourage and her dog. Made us all move and leave a seat between her and her dog. Was rude to everyone. Not even a celebrity really!

#58

Y’all are gonna k*ll me for this one… Keanu Reeves. Saw him briefly in Toronto last year, and he completely dissed the small group of us that showed up for him. I know that celebrities don’t necessarily owe us for anything, but there were only about 4-5 of us women- nobody was being pushy, and some of them waited hours outside to see him. He walked by without acknowledging anyone and walked into his trailer. (His band was performing at a venue, but the show wasn’t even close to starting yet)

Image credits: kaitexpressions

#59

The late Bob Hoskins. I tentatively approached him just to ask for his autograph saying what a big fan of his work such as Pennies from Heaven I was. He just yelled at me saying ‘Get out of my kitchen’

#60

The pink power ranger. I was seven, and I waited hours to meet her, wouldn’t even take off her helmet.