Meeting a celebrity in person is like seeing a dog walk on its hind legs—it’s shocking and sometimes incredible. When we picture celebrities in their everyday lives, we often think that they are too busy and too famous to give us normal folks the time of day. However, some celebrities are downright kind, sweet, and caring — you’d never know they were “famous” by the way they interact with others.
Some people online were fortunate enough to have random encounters and experiences with some of the world’s most famous celebrities. They shared which ones were the nicest in person.
Gene Wilder
Embed from Getty ImagesImagine getting candy from Willy Wonka himself? HypatiaofEdmonton shared that when she was two or three years old, she used to see an older man walking a small, white dog in the grocery store she frequented. Every time she saw him, the man would let her walk the dog, fill a small basket with candy, and then pay for it. She later learned that the man was none other than Gene Wilder.
Keanu Reeves
Embed from Getty Images“Was at coffee shop and no place to sit, a man said please join me here. I sat and realized it was him and talked about comic books for about 30 min. Normal as can be,” wrote another Reddit user.
LeBron James
Embed from Getty ImagesTwist83 shared that he was at a shoestore looking at sneakers when he stopped to look at the latest LeBron James basketball shoe. While he was looking, he realized someone was standing behind him, and it was none other than LeBron himself. He asked him if he was going to buy his shoes, to which the Reddit user replied, “Yes.” LeBron asked his size, bought him two pairs, and signed one of them for him.
Tom Hanks
Embed from Getty Images“I was a nanny for a Hollywood family, met hundreds of A-listers. Most of them were self-obsessed wankers, but Tom took the time to shake my hand and made sure he learned my name. He never forgot it. Also he would always say ‘There’s a snake in my boot!’ for the youngest of my charges, which obviously made him laugh hysterically,” shared shellshoq.
Morgan Freeman
Embed from Getty Imagesnesshin_chan explained that they are from the same town in Mississippi as Morgan Freeman. One day, they were having lunch and realized Morgan Freeman was in the same restaurant. Even though they were totally “fanning out,” Freeman sat and took the time to talk to them, and even paid for their lunch before leaving.
Lady Gaga
Embed from Getty Images“I sat down with her and had someone take a picture of us. I complimented her on her show but I was overall super nervous and flustered. I quickly got up to walk away but she grabbed me, told me to sit down, and demanded we talk some more and take a few more pictures. It was glorious,” recalled boober_noober.
Kourtney Kardashian
Embed from Getty Imageshungree admitted that when Kourtney Kardashian was pregnant with her first son, Mason, she went into the homeless shelter they worked at to help and play with the children. There were no cameras, no one was filming the show; she just went in there to spend time with the kids. She was “super nice” to everyone there.
Daniel Radcliffe
Embed from Getty Imageseggsmashumactually said that while working an event, he was serving the Harry Potter actor dessert and accidentally tripped, spilling some of it on Radcliffe. Instead of making a scene, he apologized to the Reddit user for what happened and asked if he was okay. Apologizing for getting dessert spilled on him? Seems like a pretty nice guy!
Paul Rudd
Embed from Getty Images“I met Paul Rudd on a flight from NY, sat next too him on the plane. My buddy leaned over and told me that he wanted to compliment him on this band shirt he wore when making Clueless, but he ‘didn’t want it to be weird’ So his solution was to write him a note and slip it to him, lol,” wrote _Glibnik_.
He continued: “So he does this, and Paul just gets this nervous look on his face, opens the note and reads it. Starts cracking up laughing, leaned over to us and said ‘best note ever.’ He then told us the whole story of the shirt, how he fought with the costume dept about it because it was the shirt he wore to set that day. We talked the whole flight, dude was super cool.”
Jim Carrey
Embed from Getty Imagessomeboooooodeh said when they were 11, they attended a party with their parents where Jim Carrey was. Totally in awe and shell-shocked that he was there, they couldn’t stop staring at him. Of course, Carrey eventually noticed and instead of making a scene. He made one of the iconic faces he makes in Mask to make them laugh.
Ice-T
Embed from Getty Images“Ice T was on the same flight as me, my mom, and my sister when I was younger. My sister needed help getting her bags off the carousel but I was too busy reading Harry Potter and basically told her to fuck off. Ice T comes walking over, shoots me the worst look, then grabs all my sisters bags and helped carry them to our car. I learned a good lesson that day; never help anyone because it’s easier to let a celebrity do it for you,” confessed slightly_inaccurate.
Ryan Gosling
Embed from Getty ImagesMaynardJayTwa said they were on a spring break trip in California with some friends when they realized they parked their car in the same parking lot as Ryan Gosling. While waiting for their cars, they realized Gosling was waiting alongside them. They began talking and Gosling joked about how the kids “must be loaded” to drop all that money on expensive parking lots during spring break. He ended up paying for their car’s parking tickets, instead.
Paris Hilton
Embed from Getty ImagesAnother Reddit user shared that their car broke down while on a trip in Germany and they needed help. However, they barely spoke German and it was hard to communicate with anyone. They walked to a burger van and were approached by a “big American guy” in another van. He offered him tea and asked if he needed help. When getting into their van, there was one other guy and none other than Paris Hilton herself.
She hugged the guy, made him a sandwich, and told him about traveling in Europe while she’s not working. They towed his car to a garage to get fixed, too.
Robin Williams
Embed from Getty Images“I played paintball with Robin Williams and made it a point to run straight to his bunker and shoot him right in the face, he was going to be my prize. He was a good sport about it and spent the rest of the day giving me a running commentary/riff track on the game as it progressed. Really nice guy considering I just shot paint into his face,” shared The_Adventurist.
Adam Sandler
Embed from Getty Imagesnmneedle revealed that their grandmother and Adam Sandler’s father went to chemotherapy appointments at the same office, back-to-back. She had stage three cancer and was under a great deal of stress. Sandler used to rub her back, talk to her, and help ease her nerves before going to appointments. Unfortunately, Sandler’s father passed away, but the Reddit user’s grandmother always spoke of how kind he was to her at the office.