Meeting celebs IRL (something I’ve had a little experience with after 30+ years in L.A.) can sometimes be disappointing. Some act like assholes right in front of you, while others look surprisingly different than they do on-screen. Back in the ’90s, for example, I met two female stars I thought were impossibly beautiful, but in real life they were shockingly thin and one had visible acne scars that must’ve been covered up on camera. I know, I know, I’m not exactly Brad Pitt, so who am I to judge. All I’m saying is it was surprising.
Other times, however, you meet celebs, and there is an almost palpable charisma that envelops them. And yes, some are (somehow) even more attractive in person! About a decade ago, I interviewed Hilary Duff for BuzzFeed, and being from an older generation, I knew very little about her, so I went into the interview with zero stress. But the minute I sat across from her, and she looked into my eyes, it was clear she had that “star” aura many of them have — and she was absolutely better looking in person to boot. Here are a couple of photos of Hilary from the interview. Imagine this woman looking at you like that from two feet away. But I digress. My point is just that some celebs are even better looking and more charismatic IRL!
1.
“I met Sandra Bullock on an American Airlines flight from LA to DC in 1995. She was seated directly in front of me in first class, traveling with her sister. I spoke to her briefly. On that flight, in that moment, she was 100% absolutely and ridiculously good-looking. She was wearing makeup, I’m sure, but probably just her everyday look, not professional TV or movie makeup. But she was stunning — just looked like she had walked right off the pages of People magazine or something.”
2.
“In 1991, at a now long-gone VERY high-end furniture shop on Western Avenue in downtown Seattle, I met Kevin Bacon. He was so much better-looking in real life that I didn’t recognize him at first. He smiled right at me like we were old friends (I think he was expecting me to say something like, ‘Hey, you’re Kevin Bacon!’ or something like that. I didn’t. He was with his young son (about 3 years old at the time), and his wife, Kyra Sedgwick, was talking to some design consultant a few feet away (I didn’t know who she was at the time either). It wasn’t until I was about to leave the shop that I finally figured out who he was (my brain clicked suddenly: Hey, that’s Kevin Bacon!). I chatted with him briefly, and he said he was visiting Seattle as his wife was here filming a movie (that movie turned out to be Singles).”
3.
“I spent 10 years working at the box office of a mid-scale regional theatre and met quite a few famous folks during that time. Now, this was a theatre in the UK, where our celebrities tend towards ‘funny looking’ rather than ‘ridiculously good looking,’ but with that in mind, here’s one that stands out: Rupert Evans. He looked like he’d just walked out of the makeup trailer on a film set. Not a hair out of place, flawless complexion, and piercing eyes. Somehow, the harsh lighting of the foyer that washed everyone else out just bounced off him. Also, a nice chap, though he had two seasons of The Man in the High Castle under his belt by this point, so I thought he had a nerve to ask if he could get an Equity discount on a £10.00 ticket.”
4.
“In the early 1990s, I volunteered with an animal rescue group that held an adoption fair each Saturday at a park in Manhattan. This 6’ tall blonde comes up with her mother, who was equally tall and striking. They asked genuine questions and chatted for quite a while; they had German accents. I had to concentrate on talking to the mother because every time I even looked at the daughter, I couldn’t form a coherent, intelligible sentence. The daughter was Claudia Schiffer. They were very warm, friendly, and genuine. I literally couldn’t even keep a thought in my head.”
5.
“Jessica Alba, hands down. And I’m in the entertainment business. No makeup. At her house wearing jean shorts and a white sleeveless tank top. Knee-weakening beauty.”
6.
“Angelina Jolie. Met her at a traffic signal, of all places. I was on a bicycle heading to the gym, and she was in her black BMW, heading to a tennis game. We were the only two humans around for about 30 seconds. Pretty surreal experience. What stood out was her incredibly angular jawline. It was not even human. Looked like something out of a comic.”
7.
“On one of my very few business flights somewhere, I boarded the plane only to find a lady I recognized who was dressed down, seeming not to want to be recognized, but even so, was just gorgeous, no matter what she was wearing. Even though I hadn’t watched the Star Trek series, Jeri Ryan was sitting next to me. I knew it was her, I guess, because I’d seen pictures of her. I told her I recognized her, and she acted like ‘Don’t broadcast that,’ so I didn’t. She was friendly but wanted her privacy. I don’t think anyone else recognized her. I guess she just impressed me with the way she looked and didn’t want to look. She’s one who can’t hide her good looks!”
8.
“Back in 2012, my wife and her best friend were having dinner at the Hyatt in Sydney, Australia. I think it was my wife who first noticed (a very facially hairy) Hugh Jackman having dinner with his wife. My wife and her best friend could not stop talking about how impressive Hugh was.”
9.
“I’ve lived in Tribeca, New York, since 1976. Many years ago, a young man and his friends passed by my table in a local restaurant. He was gorgeous; literally the handsomest man I’ve ever seen. It was JFK, Jr., I realized after they’d passed by. He was so good-looking that you were just amazed at first.”
10.
“Lauryn Hill from the Fugees came into the main Levi Strauss store in London when I was a sales assistant there to get some clothes. I obviously knew her from photos, and I thought she was very cute. However, when I saw her in person, I was literally stunned by her beauty. Like the face of an angel.”
11.
“Jennifer Beals. The camera doesn’t do her justice. She has a rather subtle allure that gets flattened out on screen. The way she looks is intriguing and a little hard to analyze.”
12.
“In 2001, I did Internet tech for behind-the-scenes interviews at a TV show in Germany. We had a few celebrities who were interviewed by a presenter working for my company, and I had the opportunity to speak with a few of them and meet a few others. By far the most attractive person I ever saw at that show was Vanessa Mae; she looked like she was photoshopped.”
13.
“Paulina Porizkova. Back in the ‘70s, my brother and I were staying at the Biltmore Hotel in Los Angeles, and a photo shoot with Ms. Porizkova was taking place in the lower bar area around the fountain. She looked otherworldly beautiful. My sister-in-law used to work in retail cosmetics in Toronto and later told me that Ms. Porizkova once arrived for an in-store promotion and went to do her makeup, which my SIL thought was funny because, without her makeup, she was already the most beautiful woman she had ever seen.”
14.
“Back in the ’90s I did some install work for Vanessa Williams’ home. She was one of the most naturally beautiful people I have ever seen. A very nice person as well.”
15.
“My wife is a successful television and film producer (and former model/actor). In my estimation, she is the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen. However, given her job, I routinely meet and hang out with very good-looking people in the entertainment industry, and one celebrity really stood out during a dinner at our home. Like a good host, I hung out with the guests, including the leading actor in her current project. When everyone had gone home, my wife said, ‘Dina is really beautiful!’ I responded, ‘She is so good looking, it hurts to look at her. I felt something like physical pain looking at her and pretending to chat with her as if it were routine!’ My wife laughed and said, ‘I knew you would.’ My wife and I routinely discuss our work lives, and she appreciates my honest responses. In case people haven’t figured it out, I am referring to Dina Meyer.”
16.
“I’d have to say, Rupert Everett. My friend and I saw him in a play many moons ago, and afterwards, we had coffee with him, and he sat and chatted with us for ages. He was mesmerisingly beautiful and utterly charming, and he was damned good in the play as well.”
17.
“At a fundraiser in New York many years ago, I had the opportunity to meet David Bowie and his wife, Iman. It was only a brief chat — sadly for me — but he was charming and gracious. I’m six feet tall, and he was a couple of inches shorter. Iman was shorter than him, which surprised me because she was/is a famous model. What really struck me was how glamorous they both were. They just LOOKED famous. My main memory of Bowie was his hair — thick and shiny — and skin with no visible pores. If I had to sum him up back then, I’d say: a fit older man with the hair of a teenage girl, rockstar cheekbones, and perfect skin.”
18.
“Andre Benjamin. That guy is perfect…not only in his looks, but in the way he carries himself. Andre Benjamin is, to my eyes, the most beautiful human being I ever saw.”
19.
“My husband met Ricky Martin. He was touring schools in NYC for his children. Women from ages 9 to 90 literally stopped in awe. Ricky Martin is used to this and handled the attention graciously and kindly. He signed autographs, kissed old and young, and took selfies. My husband said, ‘I know I’m a dude, but this guy was gorgeous.’”
20.
“I was walking down 7th Avenue South one evening in the ’90s, and from around the corner appeared Serena Altschul from MTV News. I recognized her right away, but this was nothing like seeing her on television. Mind you, she wasn’t dressed in any spectacular way. She didn’t have much, if any, makeup on, but she was absolutely stunning. Mesmerizing. In fact, looking at her made my eyes hurt, as if I were staring at the sun. It was a ‘Helen of Troy’ moment. I had to look away! I’ve never experienced that with anyone else, before or since. My feeling was that cameras simply couldn’t capture her beauty, but maybe that was to her benefit, as she was striving to be a serious journalist, and can still be seen occasionally on CBS’s Sunday Morning.”
21.
“I never met Marilyn Monroe, but a woman who had studied with her at Lee Strasberg’s studio told me, ‘In person, she was more beautiful.’”
22.
“When I was in my 20s, I flew into the Salt Lake City Airport and was walking through the terminal. I suddenly encountered Marie Osmond face-to-face. I had never really thought about her much before that, but her beauty in person was truly stunning. I never forgot that.”
23.
“Angie Dickinson when she was the celebrity greeter at LeRoy Jewelers in 1956, where I worked during Christmas vacation from high school that year. She had black hair at the time.”
24.
“I was at a Lakers game back in the early 80s and somehow gained access to the Forum Club, which was very exclusive at the time. There were a lot of celebs there, but the one that drew my attention was Jan-Michael Vincent. This was back in the day when he was really good-looking. I went up to him and said, ‘I’m a big fan of yours.’ He kissed my cheek and said, ‘I’m a big fan of yours.’ I walked away all giggly.”
25.
“I was walking down Madison Avenue in NYC when a woman in a coyote fur coat was coming toward me. I’m a tall woman, but she was way taller, and she had a huge, thick mane of long blonde hair. She was, and still is, the most striking woman I’ve ever seen. Although we didn’t meet, I will never forget staring at Margaux Hemingway on that cold day in the 1970s, as she passed me.”
26.
“Anne Hathaway was standing in line to get coffee, just ahead of me, completely de-glamorized, wearing a baggy pink hoodie. When she glanced back at me, I nearly tripped and fell into the limpid pools of her gorgeous brown eyes. It wasn’t till a few minutes later that I realized it was her. I just thought she was one of the most ridiculously good-looking persons I’ve ever seen.”
27.
“I saw Halle Berry at a film premiere. There is a reason she’s been considered one of the most, if not the most, beautiful actress in Hollywood. She’s breathtakingly gorgeous in person.”
28.
“I was checking in at the gym about 11 years ago when I looked at the blonde next to me. It was Margot Robbie. And I was tongue-tied. She is surreal in person.”
29.
“About 30 years ago I was sitting in a small, wonderful restaurant about 10 feet away from Paul Newman. He was an incredibly handsome man.”
30.
“Around 30-40 years ago, I was walking in New York City when, walking in the other direction, was Sigourney Weaver, and, wow, was she stunning. Zero makeup, drop-dead gorgeous, incredibly fit, she moved like a panther, positively oozing grace and sensuality. I stopped dead in my tracks with my mouth wide open, starstruck, like I’d been hit by a bus. I watched her walk to the end of the block and disappear.”
31.
“Milla Jovovich, I worked as a featured extra on a film and spent four hours with her in a small space on a subway car. Wow, so hot and very nice too.”
32.
“The most ridiculously good-looking celebrity I ever met was someone who wasn’t a celebrity yet when I met him. Unfortunately, he drowned in a horrific accident right about the time he was becoming famous. That beautiful man was Jeff Buckley.”
33.
“Scarlett Johansson. Stood in line next to her at a Hollywood grocery store once. Breathtakingly beautiful without makeup. And really nice, too!”
34.
“I served Lynda Carter at the restaurant I was working at back in my LA phase. This was a few years after Wonder Woman. The woman was…radiant. You just wanted to sit there and bask in the pure joy of looking at her. A lot of celebs, mostly TV, ate at this place. She is the one person who just stopped you in your tracks because she was so darn beautiful. I kept stealing glances just for the pure hit of it. She was also charming and friendly as all get out, and tipped well.”
35.
And lastly: “A pre-fame Richard Gere (in his 20s).”
Have you ever met or seen a celebrity in real life who blew you away with how ridiculously beautiful they were? Let us know in the comments or by using the anonymous form below, and it could be featured in a future BuzzFeed post!
