People Who Knew Celebrities Before They Were Famous Reveal What They Were Like

1.

"My Grandpa(RIP) owned a grocery store in Miami in the late 70s. Wesley Snipes and his friends once stole some candy from his store and when he caught them he let them have it. Since then Wesley and his friends were regulars. Once, Wesley left his bike in front of the store and it got stolen (was a pretty bad area). My grandpa gave him his old bike that he kept in the back of the store. My uncle took over in 2001 when my grandpa died. In 2007 he came back to the store while my uncle and cousin were there, to ask about my grandpa. My uncle said they talked for a little over an hour about how he my grandpa treated him like a son. When he found out my grandpa passed he felt guilty he didn’t visit sooner. He embraced my uncle and cousin and left. My uncle said he told him they plan on having the building repainted while they talked. About a week later a crew of painters arrived and told my uncle they were already paid to have the building repainted. Such a genuine dude."

2.

"This is real late and second hand but I knew someone who went to ACM with Ed Sheeran. He said he was lazy in class, skipped classes and just wanted to smoke weed, and my acquaintance was mad when Ed started getting more and more famous when Ed didn’t even bother with his music courses. I thought that was funny."

3.

"I went to college with Joe Keery aka Steve Harrington in Stranger Things. He was my college boyfriend’s suite mate and just the nicest guy. His hair has always been dreamy and amazing. Last time I saw him was at a viewing of the Hateful Eight after we graduated and he still made a point to come over and say hi!"

4.

"Work in a restaurant about 15 years ago as a manager. Rachel McAdams walked in for an interview. She was still in acting school and serving table to pay for it. She worked at my restaurant over the course of the next 2 summers, serving on our patio. Still friends to this day. She hasnt changed a bit. Still bikes to get groceries."

5.

"Friend of mine was friends with Tom Hanks in high school and went to prom with him. He still writes her personalized BDay cards on one of his typewriters."

6.

"I went to Junior High with Norah Jones. She was the most sincere and serene person. She was fun to talk to and she never gave a hint of who her father was. The night she won all those Grammys was very telling that she hadn't changed a bit."

7.

"I went to high school with Mark Ruffalo. He was nice. He was “one of those thespians”. Our high school had an acting group that challenged the students to get out of their shell and do things in front of strangers like introducing yourself as the wild fairy of the woods and presenting them with a flower. We didn’t talk much, but like I said, he was a good guy."

8.

"I knew Bret & Jemaine (Flight of the Conchords) back in the late 90s / early 2000s, and met Taika Waititi a few times too - I was a big fan of his art at the time, there was one painting of someone in a bathtub that stuck in my head. (I knew Bret better than the others, because he was in a reggae band with my good friend Barnaby). As far as I can tell, they are all... exactly the same."

9.

"Went to middle school with Meagan fox for a bit. She rode my bus and she mostly kept to herself. Most of the guys would fight over who was going to sit next to her but she was very shy and didn't really have much to say."

10.

"I went to school with Rupert Grint (Ron Weasley from Harry Potter). I was into acting too, so we had done a few school plays together. He was really nice, very chill, a good laugh. I haven't seen him since school days, but he kept coming to classes whenever he wasn't filming, was always happy to chat about the movies. Sometimes he'd need a little break from so many people wanting to talk, and would come and hang out in the library, and honestly, you'd never know he was in the biggest film series at the time. Honestly, I think a lot of these answers boil down to if they want fame or not. Rupert loved what he was doing, but didn't care about being famous and having people kiss his arse. Just a nice normal kid."

11.

"A co-worker of mine met Daisy Ridley while on a backpacking trip, got to know each other pretty well while traveling together. She told my co-worker that she wanted to become an actress, looks like that panned out pretty well. They said Daisy was an absolutely lovely individual."

12.

"My aunt used to work with Gordon Ramsey’s mother but never made the connection. Once they were out for lunch and he ended up coming in to see his mum and met my aunt in the process. She said he was so lovely and polite!! Plus my dad has a bunch of Gordon’s old jumpers he didn’t want anymore. Not signed or anything like that, it’s just a fun family story now."

13.

"My grandfather taught Jack Nicholson in High School math class. Said he was rebellious but wasn't too bad at math."

14.

"My grandmother and mum were really good friends with George Michael and Andrew Ridgeley from Wham! They got invited to concerts and got to sit in special seats etc. And a few years ago me and my family stayed with Andrew Ridgeley in his guest house in Cornwall for a weekend. But, they seemed to me like they stayed really nice to my grandparents and mum. And Andrew Ridgeley was very kind to my family when we met him."

15.

"My mom is friends with Johnny Knoxville’s cousin. She met him once and had no idea who he was. She said he was nice and funny as all hell. She didn’t realize until years later she’d even met him until I showed her one of his movies. From what I gather he’s a normal dude and pretty hilarious."

16.

"A friend of mine is buddies with Paul Rudd. Says he's exactly the same and a great human."

17.

"My mother in law was at a very fancy dinner party and didn’t realize she was sitting next to Orlando Bloome and Katy Perry. She turned to them and asked “so what do you do?” She’s very chatty and clueless about celebs and genuinely had no idea who they were. We all love retelling that story at family dinners"

18.

"I knew Robert Pattinson about 15 years ago. Nice guy, friendly, a lot of fun to be with. He lived by himself in the centre of Soho, London, in a tiny one-bed flat that I think he felt like the romantic vision of a starving artist, or at least wanted to. He had a weird side. He'd say random, violent, depraved things. He was obsessed with Jack Nicholson. He never really gave a fuck, he had confidence and he was always himself, and he knew he could be deliberately contradictory and he used that as a personality trope. But he was a good guy, and I get the impression he's very comfortable with himself now that he has developed his career, that he acts very well, and that he can pick and choose his roles based upon what he wants to do and who he wants to work with. Twilight for him was always a means to an end, and I think he worked it very much to his benefit, and didn't compromise himself."

19.

"I live in the town where Dolly Parton grew up, and practically everyone above the age of 50 who grew up here claims to either be a distant relative of Dolly’s, or they claim to know her in some way. Everyone has their story of the time they met Dolly. It’s pretty obvious, but regardless of who you talk to, Dolly has always been sweet and generous, but everything has simply grown exponentially due to her fame. Examples are the millions of books she gives out for free to children around the globe each month, or how she gave out $10,000 cash to many of my close friends after their houses burned in a fire a couple years back. Thousands of people are employed here and work for one of the businesses she owns, and it’s a tad strange to see when you walk in, but the birthing center at the local hospital is funded by and named after her. I honestly can’t think of one person I know who doesn’t like her. Dolly’s heart has only gotten bigger because of fame."

20.

"My coworkers dad grew up with Queen Latifah in North Jersey. His whole family loves her because they were about to lose their house, so she paid it off for them. They’ve never said a bad thing about her. (Queen Latifah, if this gets back to you, thanks for what you did for your friends in NJ. Phil’s a really cool guy.)"

21.

"My mom used to ride the bus to work in downtown Cleveland with Steve Harvey’s first wife. Apparently she supported him while he was trying to get his career started. And then basically as soon as he got successful he divorced her for a younger woman. My mom always hated him because she felt that he treated his first wife like shit and always yells “bastard!” at the TV when he pops up."

22.

"My mum knew Mel B from her high school. Apparently she always copied other peoples work."

23.

"My Dad went to school with Steve Irwin, reckons he was exactly the same as a young fella. He would be away from school all the time on trips with Bob to rescue and rehome crocs all over Australia. No good at footy but."

24.

"My 8th grade science teacher dated Bill Nye. Broke up with him because he didn’t like kids."

25.

"Ke$ha. Total nerd. 1600 on her SATs. Quiet. A bit of a social outcast. Nice, though. You could tell she cared about others and wouldn't ever hurt a flea."

26.

"I went to high school with Post Malone. We graduated the same year. He always wore a suit to class and was that nerdy dedicated kid. Glad to see how his life turned out. I hoped nothing for the best for him and now I listen to him all the time haha. I’m just a rando to him though. We never really talked"

27.

"I knew Cillain Murphy back in secondary school, we didn't go to the same school but mingled a lot. He was a few years older than me. Dude was super quite, but really damn friendly. I remember when he was cast in 28 Days Later and people were pretty hype for him, but a good few people didn't think much of it. Once it came out though a lot of people changed their tune when they could see him actually act amazingly."

28.

"I knew Tom Holland at the time he did the tsunami movie, we were not really friends but he was so funny and friendly"

29.

"My dad was good friends with Johnny Depp back in the day. It was around when he was first filming 21 Jump Street (the show, not the movie lol). My dad says he was really humble and kind and always paid their bar tab. Apparently he was quite generous in giving out lots of free quality cocaine at partys too!"

30.

"Bruno Mars’s mom was a bartender at a local karaoke dive bar that I was a regular at. At the time, his biggest hit was the hook for “Billionaire” by Travie McCoy. Anyway, she was selling tickets for an upcoming concert he was having and she asked our table if we wanted to buy some. My friend declined and she exclaimed “WHY NOT! HE’s MY SON!!!” I ended up getting a couple of tickets despite not knowing any of Bruno Mars’s songs. It turned out to be one of the best concerts I’ve ever been to. The guy knows how to put on a good live show. The tickets were only $40 each I think. His opening act was a local group of large Polynesian men singing Motown who went by the name “Nesian 9”. They were pretty good too. The next time he was in town for a concert, he had blown up and the tickets were going for $400. I would have loved to see him again, but not at that price... His mom was really nice, down to earth, and a pretty good singer herself. RIP Bernie. At least she lived long enough to see her son’s success."

31.

"My mom dated Will Ferrell for a little while. He came round quite a lot and she said he was real down to earth and incredibly funny. However afterwards they really just lost touch. So we never got to know how he personally changed, my mom says she’s still like he used to be. My mom and dad still laugh about her dating him."

32.

"I had a friend in high school whose cousin is Kendrick Lamar. He's said Kendrick's pretty much still the same guy, acts the same around friends and family, just with millions of dollars now."

33.

"Jennifer Lawerence. I moved to Louisville middle of 7th grade year. She was my first friend, and the first person I had a sleepover with. We hit it off. She was very different from me, a cheerleader, came from a lot of wealth, but her family was really awesome and we were both kinda weird and outgoing so we become good friends very fast. Her family owned a farm that had a children’s summer camp (Hi-Ho) and we went to it a couple of times, she had one of her birthday parties there! I remember her kissing our friend Jon under a trampoline. We talked about it for way too long! We hung out fairly often until she moved to NYC a year and half after we met. We started taking acting classes together in 8th grade at a local theater here in town, Walden Theater. It’s funny because on our first day, we had no idea we were both taking the class. I walked in to the first one, and there she was. We were both so excited to have a friend! We were in the first level of the theater but after a couple weeks, both moved to the intermediate class (we were the oldest people in the class, so that’s why they moved us up so fast) We carpooled together to Walden Theater every Tuesday and Thursday for acting class. I would ride the bus home with her, her mom would take us to class, then my mom would pick us up and take her home. She was a natural at acting, I’ll tell you that. I was still somewhat shy, but she could pretty much be given any character and even though she was 14, you’d believe it. She ALWAYS talked about how she had a photographic memory, and that’s how she was able to remember lines so easily. And she did. It was insane. *i have read where she said she’s had no prior acting, but this isn’t true? I’m not sure if she said this for a part of her look, or maybe she considered it informal, but we definitely took acting classes our entire 8th grade year I will say, what you see with her is what you get. She was always very quirky, kinda weird (which was funny because she was so preppy presenting, but really wasn’t like that), she was very loud, made her presence known. It’s been bizarre seeing her in interviews because she acts the exact same. I remember she moved to NYC to pursue modeling between 8th and 9th grade. It worked because soon after she was in a commercial for Burger King and a couple of MTV’s “My Sweet 16” commercials as well. She was doing online classes for our high school (Ballard High School) and came to visit one time in 9th grade and another in 10th grade. I squealed when I saw her, I genuinely missed her. I had no idea she was about to become one of the most famous actresses of our generation. I always hear she comes to town for holidays, but at this point I have no idea how to contact her. She had a private Facebook for a while (assuming it was really her, for a time, I had a few fake accounts for her request to be my Facebook friend, along with a lot of people we went to school with), the last time we spoke was for my 21st bday (I’m 29 now) but I would love to catch up with her. I can’t help but wonder if she remembers me. I still have her yearbook photo she signed hanging up in my room, our yearbooks and a couple photos from a disposable camera."