From Fights to Proposals: Celebrities Reveal Their Craziest Fan Encounters

Credit: David Fisher/Shutterstock

From Fights to Proposals: Celebrities Reveal Their Craziest Fan Encounters

Taking it too far? While most fans ask for a photo or an autograph when they meet their favorite celebrities, some people have extreme reactions to seeing stars in the flesh. "Good morning to everyone except for the lady that slapped me in the face at the airport because she got mad at Lawrence for something he did in season 3," Insecure's Jay Ellis wrote on Twitter in January 2022. The actor played the on-and-off love interest of Issa (Issa Rae) throughout the show's run and their tumultuous relationship clearly struck a cord with this particular viewer. Of course, Ellis is far from the only celebrity to experience a physical reaction from fans. In an October 2010 interview with dos.ca, Selena Gomez recalled a young fan who attempted to make a move when he spotted her in a movie theater. "A kid bursts into the room [and said,] ‘Selena I’m coming to talk to you’ and like runs up to me and tries to kiss me," the "Come and Get It" singer recalled. "It was so cute because he was like ‘Oh, well I’m just a fan.’ And I go ‘OK, but I’m not going to kiss you.'" She continued: "That was probably the weirdest [fan interaction]. It was sweet because he was only 11. But I was like ‘Well, OK. You’re very sweet [but] forward for an 11-year-old." [jwplayer Sv6beV6t-zhNYySv2] Daniel Radcliffe, however, has a much harder time turning down fans' requests because he's conscious that people assume that former child stars will be "a total d--k." "That has sometimes meant that you can be really rude to me, and I'll be like, 'OK. Fine,'" the Miracle Workers star said during a November 2015 appearance on The Graham Norton Show, before recounting an awkward moment with a fan who asked for a photo. "Just saying words, not meaning anything by it, I said 'Yeah, if you want to.' And she just went 'Well, I wouldn't have asked if I didn't want to.'" He continued, "I was just like, 'Of course you wouldn't have, [how] silly of me.'" The Harry Potter alum didn't even realize how rude the fan had been before his girlfriend, Erin Darke, pointed it out. "She was like, 'That girl was a d--k to you. You don't need to [apologize],'" Radcliffe said. "She's given me a little bit of sense that I don't need to [be overly nice]." Keep scrolling to read even more crazy encounters that celebrities have had with their most over-zealous fans. [podcast_block]

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Jodie Comer

Because she plays charismatic serial killer Villanelle on Killing Eve, Comer has had her fair share of creepy requests from fans. "Someone asked me for a photograph ... and [we] were posing quietly whispered in my ear, 'Will you strangle me?'" the Free Guy star said during an April 2019 appearance on The Graham Norton Show. "My publicist was with me at the time and she went 'No!'"

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Joe Keery

Over the course of Stranger Things' run, Keery's character Steve Harrington (and his hair) has become a beloved fan favorite, leading to one over-zealous fan's request. "Somebody asked me for a piece of my hair one time," the actor told E! News in October 2017. "That was probably the weirdest." Though they "just asked" and didn't actually pull any of his locks out, Keery promptly turned them down. "I said, 'Don't think so, but thank you!'"

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Jonas Brothers

The Jonas Brothers have been topping the charts for over a decade now, which means that Kevin, Joe and Nick have had their fair share of awkward moments with fans. However, one of the most memorable moments for the trio came courtesy of an unusual gift. "The craziest thing we've ever been given is definitely a dead shark," Joe told Digital Spy in 2009.

Nick continued: "It wasn't a real big shark though. It was only a baby shark but they'd preserved it in this tube for us. That was odd. They didn't even leave a note explaining. It was just, 'Here's a dead shark.'" At the time, the brothers were "still trying to figure out how they actually went about buying" the present, according to Kevin, who added, " "I mean, is there such website as Buyadeadshark.com?"

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Rupert Grint

While chatting with his former Harry Potter costar for the 2015 documentary Tom Felton Meets The Superfans, the Servant star revealed that he has a hard time turning down fans' requests. "I just can’t say no. I would do anything if someone asks me to do it," he told Felton. "It’s got me in a few weird situations. I met this drag queen and went back to her little flat with all her drag queen friends because I couldn’t say no. They dressed me up and we went to get bagels at 4 a.m. I was in full heels and [a] feather boa. It was really weird."

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Nikolaj Coster-Waldau

The actor known as Jaime Lannister accidentally found himself playing a key role in a Game of Thrones fan's proposal. "I once met this woman and her husband [and] he was inside this costume," Coster-Waldau recalled during an April 2019 interview with Variety. "His hand came out and he gave me this note that I had to give to her. He basically proposed to her ... through me." As awkward as the moment may have been for him, the actor noted that it was actually very "sweet."

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Will Forte

He may be known for playing out-there characters on Saturday Night Live, but even Forte was taken aback by one fan who came up to him at an inopportune moment. "I was in the shower at the gym one day [and this man came up to me] and he really wanted to express just how much he liked the show ... He was completely buck naked," the MacGruber star told Entertainment Weekly in April 2016. "That was the weirdest situation, but it was still very nice to hear positive thoughts. I would take naked praise over full-clothed disdain any day."

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Jared Leto

"Someone cut their ear off once and sent it to me, that was very strange," the 30 Seconds to Mars frontman told Xfm's Phil Clifton in March 2013. "A whole ear. The Van Gogh move." The strange gift came with a note that just read "Are you listening?" so Leto never knew who lent him their ear. "I poked a hole in it and wore it as a necklace!" he added.

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Aubrey Plaza

Parks and Recreation fans fell in love with Plaza when she played April Ludgate — so much so that fans want her to be mean when they see her on the street. "One time I was in a bar and some guy came up to me and he said, 'I know this sounds weird, but will you punch my friend in the face?'" the Ingrid Goes West star recounted during an interview with Dewey Singleton in December 2020, adding that he offered to pay her $20 to hit his friend. "A lot of people want me to be mean to them, they want me to berate them in public. I'm not sure why." 

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James McAvoy

The Split star revealed that he was once propositioned by a fan who said she was his "free pass" at a costume party. "I met her and her fella and she came up afterward and said 'You're my allowance ... [My partner] is cool with it," McAvoy recounted during a November 2015 appearance on The Graham Norton Show. "I was taken aback by it and I said 'I'm married, but that's very flattering. And then she said this thing that was meant as a compliment ... but it was still really backhanded. She went, 'Because, you know, a lot [of] girls would be after someone like Channing Tatum.'"