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30 Well-Known People Described By Folks Who Supposedly Knew Them From School And Other Places
Have you ever been surprised by how much your old schoolmates changed? Or seen a colleague at a party and thought it's like they have two different personalities? Well, celebrities are usually seen in a highly controlled image to allow them to be consistently hired due to the cult of their public personality. Sometimes fans get curious about what they were like before fame or in a private setting.
Someone asked Reddit users "People who were childhood friends with a now celebrity, Who were they & what were they like as a young person?" The post was commented on over 30k times. Bored Panda selected the most popular replies. Read them with a grain or rather a cup of salt, as there have always been plenty of fake celebrity ex-classmates grade digging or second cousins that want money from them. To sum it up, take them as seriously as if you were reading some fan fiction.
More info: Reddit
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#1
My dad interned with Tom Hanks when he first started out at the Great Lakes Shakespeare Festival. He was always very kind and charismatic with everyone, and just a constant ball of energy. When his son Colin was born, he proudly showed him off to everybody. he was probably just days old.
About 3 years ago, there was a reunion of all the Great Lakes interns. My dad went, not knowing if he was going to show up and if he did, if he'd remember him. But not only did he show up, he approached my dad and remembered him by his full name. He is honestly just a really great man.
Many celebrities have pointed out that becoming famous is traumatic. Celebrity psychologist Donna Rockwell who wrote on fame says "Developmentally, the celebrity often goes through a process of first loving, then hating fame; addiction; acceptance; and then adaptation (both positive and negative) to the fame experience." She adds that celebrities often develop two different characters, one of them authentic, and the other as a celebrity.
#2
Not me, but my aunt. She knew Snoop during highschool, and at the time everyone there were getting into colors. She decided to join in, tied a bandana to her arm. Later in the day he took it from her, without a word. Turns out that people wearing her color were being hunted down.
Overall, pretty cool dude. I hear he hasn't changed much.
#3
Went to elementary school with Justin Bieber. He was a total bully and a giant a**hat but for some reason he took a liking to me and invited me to all his birthdays. A funny memory I have is of him making fun of some kid on the stairwell and then tripping and falling down the stairs and then crying all the way to the Principals Office. He has always been a total douche.
#4
Emma Stone! She was very bright, intelligent, and naturally charismatic. She often got the lead in all of the school plays. I remember one year, in our 3rd grade play, the main role was something she really wanted, and I ended up getting it! Even though she was disappointed, she still told me Congratulations and that she thought I would do a good job. We used to play gymnastics at her house all the time and pretend we were Kerri Strug, her parents got us both USA leotards! She was a sweet girl, we kind of split up later in elementary school and don’t talk anymore but she was a great friend! Also wanted to add that I called her by her real name, Emily, haha
The psychologist recommends coping with fame by countering it and the narcissistic side it feeds by "becoming part of something larger than oneself," for instance, advocacy and charity work.
#5
Studied performing arts in Baltimore and shared a stage several times with Tupac.
he was kind, sweet, and brilliant. His public persona was just his brand. The rest of us knew then he was going to do something great. Other people would do 2 or 3 person workshops on stage and the rest of the group would study lines or workshop on the floor in the corner, but when he was up, everyone would watch. His only dream was to be kind, and his drive to success was for no other reason than to be able to be kind to as many people as he could.
#6
My husband grew up with Rami Malek. Probably comes at no surprise but he and his twin are just as cool and down to earth as you'd expect.
Jennifer Taylor 2 years ago
When to college with him, he was very quiet in class, but very nice!
#7
My Great Grandma (still alive) lived close to Elvis' home, they talked like 3 times, she literally thought he was the most annoying little sh**
We can only speculate if we would be exposed to more diverse art and initiative if people's occasional obnoxiousness, whether past, present, or provoked by paparazzi and reporters, was not always taken as a fatal character flaw, or not.
#8
Not me but my father went to high school with Viggo Mortensen (Aragorn from LOTR). He said he was a really nice guy from the couple times he met him, and that he totally understands how he went on to save Middle Earth.
My dad is a huge LOTR fan if you can’t tell.
#9
Mike Myers went to a high school down the street from mine. We hung out with the same people.
Charmingly funny and very humble. I haven't seen him for a very long time, but I do watch his interviews and he seems to be the same guy he was. I always loved it when he came on the TV wearing a Toronto Maple Leaf Jersey.
Happy he has done so well. He was a jokester and always good to people.
Hasn't forgotten where he came from. That's endearing and rare.
Some celebrities have publicly blurted out so many socially unacceptable things that they have become immune to career pitfalls due to such missteps from the glossy pastel norm. It becomes part of the package deal when they perform or are advertised.
What are your thoughts on celebrities, fame, and voyeuristic fans?
#10
Don’t know if this counts but I went to the same jr high and high school as Jensen Ackles (Dean Winchester in Supernatural). All the teachers would talk about how nice he was and how he was going to make it big (think he was already a regular on a soap opera by then). I finally saw him when I was in tech theatre, he had come to see his sister in a high school play. He stayed to the end and looked so proud of her.
Jessica Cifelli 2 years ago
One of my favorite actors! Seems legit. Everyone who gets to meet him at a convention all say he is very down to Earth.
#11
My father-in-law went to high school with and briefly (like one date briefly) dated Gillian Anderson. He says she was really wild, your typical bad girl, but she was super sweet and genuinely a good person so she got away with it.
#12
My mom went to college with Bob Odenkirk (Better Call Saul guy). They were in the radio department together and apparently he was super funny. They also took shrooms together and I’ve been jealous of my mom ever since I heard that story.
#13
Taylor Lautner would get mad when people called him Sharkboy in high school.
Can’t say I blame him
#14
I went to high school with Pink. I was kind of shy but a lot of my friends were better friends with her. She was alright. I remember her singing to herself a lot.
#15
My uncle went to college with John Cena. He said he would walk down the dorm halls naked.
#16
My dad went to college with Stephen Fry. Said he was one of the funniest dudes he ever met
Also my granddad went to art college with John Lennon. I unfortunately don't know if they knew each other well or not since my granddad passed away when I was 6. I learned that they went to college together through my mother
Helen Haley 2 years ago
I imagine stephen fry to be witty in real life and think he'd be just a hoot to hang out with.
#17
My old roommate went to high school with Jake and Logan Paul. He said it was when they were starting to get big on vine, they started turning into complete a**holes. So nothing has changed.
Scipio Africanus 2 years ago
Jake still seems like an asshole but Logan looks like he’s maturing into less of a terrible person
#18
Went to LaGuardia High School in NYC. (The "Fame" school.)
I graduated with Marlon Wayans and Omar Epps. Both very chill, Marlon was funny as hell. Like, seriously funny. Omar was chill as well but always had a... I dunno... A strength behind his eyes. Like he was having fun, but seemed aware of everything at the same time.
I was a year older than Adrian Brody, I taught him how to run the sound board in the school theater. Nice kid,
I was two years after Jennifer Anniston. She was nice, but I didn't know her well at all.
In the end, we were mostly just high school kids doing high school stuff. I think Marlon had an idea of what his future held because of the rest of the Wayons family, but in general, we just cared about passing Mr. Murphy's math class and not getting busted by Mr. Cooney, the always angry dean of students.
#19
My aunt was Zendaya’s teacher in 4th grade. She says that she was a sweet girl.
They saw each other at a meet and greet a while back, pretty nice.
#20
I went to school with Chris Pratt - and he was a nice guy. Was able to bounce between all the different circles / or cliques. Got along with everyone. I wasn’t surprised when he became famous.
#21
My great grandmother was a rockette dancer in the Macy’s NYC Parade, she used to brag about how she went on a few dates with frank sinatra.
#22
I went to school with Sophie Turner (Sansa Stark). She was a couple of years below me, but I was in a few plays with her. She was just an average girl tbh, in every way. Really normal, didn't really stand out, but wasn't quiet or shy either. She never got the big parts in plays and wasn't even considered to be one of the 'good' actors at our school, was always just a part of the chorus. Was quite surprised to hear she got a major part in a TV drama, seemed to come out of nowhere.
#23
I was best friends with Post Malone in high school, and he’s pretty much the same person he was then in high school that he is now, just some more wild adventures, but his personality has been that same, and it’s nice to see, with the fame and money he stayed who he is. Fun fact; he use to be an indie music guy in high school, wore Hawaiian V necks, high water tight black jeans, and toms. Coolest, chilliest, and funniest dude you could of hung out with.
#24
Went to school with several people in various royal families, European and African. They could never show in team sports photos or things like that for security reasons but surprisingly there were no actual bodyguards required (at least not that I saw). They seemed pretty down to earth compared to all the other rich a-holes there.
Fritz Baumeister 2 years ago
No royalty, but I went to an elite private school with a lot of children of very old rich families. Unlike all the TV and movie tropes with privileged, spoiled rich kids behaving badly, being bullies, etc... I never saw any of that. The truly rich kids were very laid back and grounded. They were much too classy for any of that. They had nothing to prove to anyone.
#25
My siblings and I found some pictures the other day of our mom with John Travolta and Peter Horton hanging out on the beach and with his private jet when they were younger. Our grandma was and still is best friends with Ellen Travolta, John's older sister. :)
ForgotMyPWSendHelp 2 years ago
Weird choice of photo for the story. I was waiting for the part where OP's mom visited a school with John Travolta.
#26
Not a friend, but I knew Henry Cavill when he was a kid. He was sweet and reliable and generally a very nice person. Haven’t seen him since around the era when he was taking roles in films like Hellraiser VIII because working as an actor isn’t easy.
Can’t really imagine what it must be like to be the subject of the intense media gaze that goes with being a global celebrity.
#27
One of my cousins went to school with 6ix9ine. They weren't friends, I asked him what it was like. He told me that 6ix9ine was just the same dumba** that he is today and I'm not really surprised.
#28
My dad went to high school with George Lucas.
George was the same age as my aunt, and had a huge crush on her. She was already dating my uncle at the time, and was super popular, so that never would have happened anyway.
My dad was a few years younger. He was on the tennis team with George and would get rides to practice from him from time to time.
My dad said George was nice and also pretty nerdy (no surprises there, and my dad was too so they got along fine). I don't think he was bullied necessarily, but it definitely wasn't popular. He had big ears. They weren't friends, but they were friendly. At least as much as a senior would be to a scrawny freshman on the tennis team. He also talked about the car accident. It was a really huge deal in the town.
I like to think George Lucas would remember my family, but who knows.
#29
Knew Ryan Lochte. Not much changed since he was a kid. Swims fast, thinks slow. I view him now as a teenager's mind in a middle-aged man's body, still doing things that don't make much sense
#30
The kid who wrote the Eragon series (Christopher Paolini) went to school a ways from here. I can't say I knew him, but its rural montana so I ran into him a few times since nobody lives out here. He used to show up at our school promoting his book dressed in reneassance fair style clothing. We all thought he was kind of a geek. He's worth like 30 mil now because of a book he wrote when the rest of us were still trying to figure out who to take to prom.
Whats funny is that I actually recognise a few charecters and places in his books as being partly based on locals and the surrounding area.
What do you think ?
Dave P 2 years ago
I know someone whose son was college Roommates with Lin-Manuel Miranda at Wesleyan. They went to see Hamilton (when Miranda was still acting it) and after the show waited out back with fans to see the actors leaving (when most try to get an autograph or picture), they saw him and said they were "so and so's parents". They said his eyes got wide, and took them aside in private and talked with them, asking how his old roommate was, etc. Gave them free tickets to another showing with much better seats and a back stage pass.
Signe Manat Hansen 2 years ago
There's not really backstage passes in theaters. You just get invited to the dressing room after the show if you know one of the members of the show :)
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Alexandra Copperclaws 2 years ago
I had a few classes with Scotty Miller (Tampa Bay Wide Receiver, #10) in High School. Dumb as rocks but super sweet and kind, carried my books for me when I was in crutches. I look at his pictures now and his smile hasn't changed, he is so genuine and full of joy always.
Marnie 2 years ago (edited)
I dated a guy for a short while who was friends with Nick Swardson (Grandma's Boy, Reno 911) when he was a teenager. In Grandma's Boy, there is a guy who has long hair, does martial arts, deals weed out of his basement, and has a ninja monkey that does kung fu. (https://youtu.be/jo_DmKT8Ims?t=58) This guy I dated always had long hair, was a black belt, dealt drugs out of his basement, and used to go on a schtick talking about his (pretend) monkey who knew martial arts and would kick your a**. My friend thought he had to be the inspiration for the Grandma's Boy scene, but never knew for sure. He'd lost touch with Swardson. I like to think he was :-)
Melissa TO 2 years ago
Omg, I love your comment soooo much! I would love to know for sure if your ex boyfriend was the inspiration for that character!
Load More Replies... Dave P 2 years ago
I know someone whose son was college Roommates with Lin-Manuel Miranda at Wesleyan. They went to see Hamilton (when Miranda was still acting it) and after the show waited out back with fans to see the actors leaving (when most try to get an autograph or picture), they saw him and said they were "so and so's parents". They said his eyes got wide, and took them aside in private and talked with them, asking how his old roommate was, etc. Gave them free tickets to another showing with much better seats and a back stage pass.
Signe Manat Hansen 2 years ago
There's not really backstage passes in theaters. You just get invited to the dressing room after the show if you know one of the members of the show :)
Load More Replies... Alexandra Copperclaws 2 years ago
I had a few classes with Scotty Miller (Tampa Bay Wide Receiver, #10) in High School. Dumb as rocks but super sweet and kind, carried my books for me when I was in crutches. I look at his pictures now and his smile hasn't changed, he is so genuine and full of joy always.
Marnie 2 years ago (edited)
I dated a guy for a short while who was friends with Nick Swardson (Grandma's Boy, Reno 911) when he was a teenager. In Grandma's Boy, there is a guy who has long hair, does martial arts, deals weed out of his basement, and has a ninja monkey that does kung fu. (https://youtu.be/jo_DmKT8Ims?t=58) This guy I dated always had long hair, was a black belt, dealt drugs out of his basement, and used to go on a schtick talking about his (pretend) monkey who knew martial arts and would kick your a**. My friend thought he had to be the inspiration for the Grandma's Boy scene, but never knew for sure. He'd lost touch with Swardson. I like to think he was :-)
Melissa TO 2 years ago
Omg, I love your comment soooo much! I would love to know for sure if your ex boyfriend was the inspiration for that character!
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