30 Times People Encountered A Celebrity And It Was An Absolute Pleasure
Interview With AuthorYou can’t always know what to expect when meeting a celebrity. And as some people have come to discover, bumping into a famous person isn’t always a pleasant experience. Plenty of celebrities seem to have developed a reputation for being A-class A-holes. Not too long ago, Bored Panda reported on 30 times people met stars who turned out to be very unpleasant people. Among the names on that list: Dr Phil, Kendall Jenner, Madonna, Adam Levine and Hailey Bieber.
Fortunately, there are some celebrities who haven't let the fame and fortune go to their heads. They're known as genuinely nice people who treat those around them with kindness, and bring a touch of wholesome goodness to this world.
When former Hollywood assistant Lauren Modery posted about her encounter with actor Jeff Goldblum, over 14,000 Threads users tapped the "love" button. Modery, who goes by @hipstercrite described Goldblum as "hands down one of the nicest celebrities." Her post prompted other ordinary netizens to share their own wholesome celebrity encounters. Bored Panda has compiled a heartwarming list of posts and comments about the most amazing A-listers people have had the pleasure of meeting. We also chatted to Modery about her time in Hollywood.
Image credits: hipstercrite
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Lauren Modery is the woman behind the original Threads post about Jeff Goldblum. Born in Central New York, her childhood obsession with film led her to Los Angeles at the age of 20, where she eventually landed a job as an assistant in Hollywood. Her podcast "Love Will Tear Us Apart," takes a deep dive into the intriguing relationships of the rich and famous. We reached out to her to find out more about life in Tinseltown, what celebs are really like, and what inspired her to praise Goldblum recently.
"I talk about Jeff Goldblum all the time," Modery tells Bored Panda. "But what prompted me to write about him on Threads was an Instagram Reel of Leonardo DiCaprio on the Jumbotron hiding his face vs. Jeff Goldblum on the Jumbotron smiling, standing up and dancing, and giving the Taylor Swift heart gesture. It reminded me of my wonderful experience working with him and I decided to share the story on Threads."
The former assistant has been a Goldblum fan for years and wasn't too surprised by the positive response to her Thread. "It's apparent that Jeff Goldblum, for decades, has done an excellent job warming the hearts of fans with his smile, quirky and kind demeanor, and acting choices," said Modery. "His fans now span generations, from the folks who remember when The Fly came out, to the kids who were obsessed with Jurassic Park (hi, that's me), to now the young'uns who enjoyed Thor and Wicked."
She added she loved how those who'd previously met Goldblum also had great things to say about him. "Most people who met him shared a similar experience to me," Modery told Bored Panda. "Many people said that Goldblum made them feel like they were the most special person in the room. I wish I had that ability!"
Modery met many superstars during her time in Hollywood. "I met a lot of celebrities. More than I can count. Not all of those experiences were good. In fact, most celebrities look like deer caught in headlights on the regular," she revealed. "Working in Hollywood made me realize that being a celebrity is like being a prisoner of sorts. Depending on who you are, you can never really go out in public and be anonymous again, and strangers will say and do weird things to you. You become an object for society's consumption."
"I know someone might read this and think, 'Oh boo-hoo', but seriously, being a celebrity isn't always that glamorous or fulfilling," adds Modery. "In fact, imagine you have all the money in the world and everyone loves you and you're still not happy. That must be a tough pill to swallow."
The former assistant says the best celebs that she's met, apart from Goldblum, are Paul Reubens, Robin Williams, Snoop Dogg, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, and David Lynch. "I can tell you who isn't that nice," said Modery. "But I don't like spilling the tea."
Went to a pizza shop (The Italian Store) in Arlington, VA with a friend. He points out this girl who used to work there, whose picture, like all former employees is still on the wall. "Does she look nice to you?" "Yes.... and she's very pretty.... sorta like a poor man's Julia Roberts." He started to laugh and said, "That's Sandra Bullock." Of course, ironically, Julia Roberts got her start portraying a pizza shop worker at a DIFFERENT pizza shop I've wandered into (Mystic Pizza). Seriously, the only reason I said "a poor man's..." is just because she looked so *normal.*
The story on This American Life. It's the one where someone's mother is giving a list of things one mustn't talk about socially. There was "route", how you got to the party. Daughter reminded mother of the time Robert Redford came to dinner and talked about the route he'd taken from NY to their Long Island house for the first 15 minutes. Haha, love that show and love him.
Despite getting to meet, and work with, some of the biggest names in the industry, Modery soon realized not all that glitters is gold. As per her website Hypstercrite.com, she spent five years in denial, drowning her sorrows with drinks. "Having lost all her creativity and tired of living the plotline to 'Swimming with Sharks,' she jumped in her car one day in 2008 and drove to Austin, Texas, where she knew no one, had no job lined up and only $500 to her name," reads the site.
During our interview, we asked Modery to delve a bit deeper into why she threw in the towel on Tinseltown. "I left Hollywood because I wasn't happy being a personal assistant, and my trajectory would have been development or producing - two roles in which I had no interest," she revealed. "I'm more of a creative dreamer, and working behind the scenes in Hollywood means your creativity goes out the window."
I read here on BP about John Lithgow where he went into a shoe store to buy a pair of shoes for his son. He demanded to get a discount on the shoes. He end up being jerk about it. This was back in the 90 I think.
Modery tells Bored Panda that things got to a point where she realized she could no longer stay in Los Angeles. "I knew I needed to get out before I woke up one day, years down the road, a miserable alcoholic," she said. "So I packed what I could in my car and moved to a city I had never been to - Austin, Texas - and worked 3 service industry jobs 7 days a week while I wrote on my blog."
Leaving Hollywood and starting her blog turned out to be one of the best decisions she's made... "That blog got some eyes on it and over time I turned that blog writing into a full-time copywriting career," Modery tells us.
She's married to a filmmaker, and recently had a baby. She works as a copywriter by day and a scriptwriter by night. "I've never looked back, though I do write screenplays. I'm also writing a creative fiction novel about my time in Hollywood... with vampires."
According to Modery's blog, "her work has appeared in The Guardian, xoJane, AOL Travel, Austin Monthly, Austin Insider Mag, Spinner and Scoutmob." And it doesn't stop there. "Her blog was selected by Blogger as 'Blog of Note' in 2009 and she was named Austin's Blogger of the Year at the Austin Blogger Awards in 2010," reads Hipstercrite.com. Modery has also won awards for a film she wrote and co-produced.
Modery has previously written about the harassment she endured in Hollywood. "I was offered the job of personal assistant at 20 years old. I felt lucky for the opportunity. A small-town nerd and lover of the Marx Brothers and David Lynch somehow made it to Hollywood," penned the former assistant.
"Male chauvinism was a foreign concept to me, having been raised by a strong-willed single mother and ambitious grandmother. Maybe this upbringing was damaging, for I wasn’t prepared for Hollywood’s gender divide and rampant sexism."
According to Diddy leaks and past sexual assaults claims I'd say Cuba is a monster.
Modery goes on to detail some of the incidents she encountered, allegedly at the hands of some of the men she worked with in Hollywood. "Supervisor often talking to me about the size of my breasts," writes Modery. "He’d regularly ask another female employee to lift up her shirt and give him a show." She then goes on to say that "none of these occurrences fazed me at the time. It was Hollywood after all. That’s just the way it is..."
Bored Panda asked Modery if she had any advice for Hollywood celebs when meeting ordinary people. "Gosh - I'm just a humble nobody, so I'm not sure they'd take my advice," Modery says. "But if I had to give one piece - be more like Jeff Goldblum."
Nice... but I don't think fans should be hands-on with peeps they don't 'know'. It's disrespectful - unless they make the first move to hug/grab your hand/s.
When I worked in Public Safety, Kid Rock was in town for a concert. He came to our office (our office led Police, Fire, Animal Care, and Homeland Security) with a 100 tickets for his show and asked me to make sure the officers and firefighters got tickets. I told him I would, and he gave me four extra tickets for me so I could come without taking away from the tickets for the first responders. This was in 2008 so he wasn't as crazy or repulsive and was still a big name in music.
I remember that show - well, some of it - Jeff Goldblum and Ben Vereen, and it was quite funny. Didn't last long, unfortunately.
Dave Myers the hairy biker used to shop in the supermarket I worked in absolutely lovely man. RIP Dave.
I have no idea who he is but I love the description and anyone who is pleasant in a grocery store is a good person and I’ve never worked in one!
Load More Replies...Paloma Faith is a sweetheart, I was there for her first show as a judge on The Voice. The Producers told us not to speak to the judges, so that we didn't distract them whilst filming. Paloma came out and wanted to chat to everyone, she kept asking us if she was doing OK and interacting with the crowd as much as she could. Boy George was a total Diva, WillIAm was shy and quiet, Ricky was pretty forgetful.
Years ago there was a fly on the wall series about the Pineapple Dance Studios in London, and in one episode some backing dancers were hired for a pop video.. It was to work with Paloma Faith, who'd I'd never heard of at that point, and she was **so** considerate of the dancers it was fantastic. Kept checking in that they were okay and did they need a break. Another dancer went off to record the visuals for a video, where she had to dance in something with the consistency of syrup/thick oil, on her hands and knees, and it was noticeable that all everyone was focused on was getting the best shot (which is obviously extremely important) and no one checked how she was doing.
Load More Replies...Met Adam West outside a restaurant in LA; he was so friendly and kind! Was before the days of cell phone pics so I only have an old-fashioned paper photo, but I'll never forget how nice he was. R.I.P. Batman/Mayor West.
Carl Palmer of Emerson Lake & Palmer is about the nicest person in the world. Not only an amazing drummer but a very low key normal guy. I’ve been lucky to have talked to him a few times. Jim Thome who used to play for the Cleveland Indians in the 90’s was an a@shole. Don’t know what he’s up to now but I hope he has cold food in every restaurant he goes to and wait staff spill things on him.
Most politicians come off as EXTREMELY friendly. They live off of interacting with the public, the ultimate extroverts. Doesn't matter their politics: I've met Newt Gingrich, Chuck Schumer, Jesse Jackson.... Hate him if you want, but part of Donald Trump's early celebrity in New York was every cabbie, electrician and construction worker adored him for incessantly chatting with anyone he met, ESPECIALLY if they were blue-collar.
I used to live very close to Pat Sharp who was very big in the 90s in the UK. Anyone here remember Fun House? He is a nice person. I have also met drummer extraordinaire Gavin Harrison at a drum shop while we were buying my son a drum kit. He posed for some pictures and was happy to hear my son was getting a drum kit
Dave Myers the hairy biker used to shop in the supermarket I worked in absolutely lovely man. RIP Dave.
I have no idea who he is but I love the description and anyone who is pleasant in a grocery store is a good person and I’ve never worked in one!
Load More Replies...Paloma Faith is a sweetheart, I was there for her first show as a judge on The Voice. The Producers told us not to speak to the judges, so that we didn't distract them whilst filming. Paloma came out and wanted to chat to everyone, she kept asking us if she was doing OK and interacting with the crowd as much as she could. Boy George was a total Diva, WillIAm was shy and quiet, Ricky was pretty forgetful.
Years ago there was a fly on the wall series about the Pineapple Dance Studios in London, and in one episode some backing dancers were hired for a pop video.. It was to work with Paloma Faith, who'd I'd never heard of at that point, and she was **so** considerate of the dancers it was fantastic. Kept checking in that they were okay and did they need a break. Another dancer went off to record the visuals for a video, where she had to dance in something with the consistency of syrup/thick oil, on her hands and knees, and it was noticeable that all everyone was focused on was getting the best shot (which is obviously extremely important) and no one checked how she was doing.
Load More Replies...Met Adam West outside a restaurant in LA; he was so friendly and kind! Was before the days of cell phone pics so I only have an old-fashioned paper photo, but I'll never forget how nice he was. R.I.P. Batman/Mayor West.
Carl Palmer of Emerson Lake & Palmer is about the nicest person in the world. Not only an amazing drummer but a very low key normal guy. I’ve been lucky to have talked to him a few times. Jim Thome who used to play for the Cleveland Indians in the 90’s was an a@shole. Don’t know what he’s up to now but I hope he has cold food in every restaurant he goes to and wait staff spill things on him.
Most politicians come off as EXTREMELY friendly. They live off of interacting with the public, the ultimate extroverts. Doesn't matter their politics: I've met Newt Gingrich, Chuck Schumer, Jesse Jackson.... Hate him if you want, but part of Donald Trump's early celebrity in New York was every cabbie, electrician and construction worker adored him for incessantly chatting with anyone he met, ESPECIALLY if they were blue-collar.
I used to live very close to Pat Sharp who was very big in the 90s in the UK. Anyone here remember Fun House? He is a nice person. I have also met drummer extraordinaire Gavin Harrison at a drum shop while we were buying my son a drum kit. He posed for some pictures and was happy to hear my son was getting a drum kit