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(#1) Meryl Streep Thought Abigail Breslin Was Crashing A Photo Shoot
Abigail Breslin got her big break when she starred in Little Miss Sunshine, which came out when she was only 9 years old. She became the fifth-youngest actress to be nominated for an Academy Award. Following her work in the indie hit, she continued to add to her acting resume.
Despite her massive success, she baffled her August: Osage County co-stars - including Meryl Streep - when she showed up for official pictures sporting her new hairdo. Apparently they thought she was just a random person crashing a major motion picture photo shoot.
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(#2) Jerry Seinfeld
- 69
Jerry Seinfeld had an awkward encounter with pop star Kesha in June 2017. Seinfeld was in the middle of a red-carpet interview when Kesha stopped by, exclaiming, "I love you so much!" She then asked for a hug, but the comedian shut her down - repeatedly. Kesha walked away, but Seinfeld made the encounter even more awkward by telling the interviewer, "I don't know who that was."
He spoke about the weirdness later that summer:
I was right in the middle of an interview, it was a little off. When you get to be my age and you’ve done a couple things, you have your own reality. In my reality... I don’t hug a total stranger. I have to meet someone, say hello. I gotta start somewhere... hug isn’t first moment of a human, two humans. I never did that.
Kesha provided her own view of the situation on a podcast in June 2023. After explaining what a fan she was of the series Seinfeld, she described how she felt during their interaction:
I get to the f*cking charity event and I got really excited because [Seinfeld] brings me peace and love and all things good in the universe. And then he didn’t hug me in front of cameras. It was hilarious, but also so sad. It was the saddest moment of my life.
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(#3) Mariah Carey
- 53
The jury's still out on whether this is a genuine moment of celebrity forgetfulness or a master class in shade. Perhaps it’s a combination of the two. Nevertheless, Mariah Carey gave an interview to a German television channel in the early 2000s. When she was asked about fellow songstress Jennifer Lopez, she simply shook her head, smiled, and said, "I don't know her." Thus, a meme was born.
To be fair, Carey maintained in 2016 that she still didn't know Lopez.
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(#4) Ed O'Neill
- 77
Britney Spears is, arguably, one of the most recognizable celebrities on the planet, but it turns out even she gets a little starstruck in the presence of her heroes. And who's the lucky recipient of Spears's adoration? None other than Modern Family's Ed O'Neill.
Spears approached O'Neill in an airport in June 2016, and told him, "Oh, Mr. O’Neill, I love Modern Family, and you’re my favorite on the show." O'Neill was probably very flattered, but here's the kicker - he had no idea who this fangirl was. But he took a photo with her, which she tweeted. O'Neill was later told by his manager that he had been hanging with Britney, b*tch.
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(#5) Taylor Swift
- 33
In 2016, Britney Spears was interviewed on The Kyle and Jackie O Show, where she was asked if she would rather hang out with Katy Perry or Taylor Swift. Spears opted to hang with Swift, because she'd "never met her."
Oops. The two actually met at the 2008 MTV Video Music Awards, and even took a picture together.
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(#6) Phil Collins
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It's hard to imagine anyone is unaware of Adele's impact; she's the award-winning songstress behind record-breaking albums. But Genesis drummer Phil Collins admitted to not knowing who she was.
In 2016, Collins told People, "We met in London maybe three or four years ago, maybe longer, because she wanted to write with me and I was very flattered, but I didn’t know who she was, because I had been living under a rock."
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(#7) June Shannon
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June Shannon AKA Mama June of Here Comes Honey Boo Boo fame has a fan in one of the most recognizable pop stars of the 21st century: Miley Cyrus. Still, the reality TV regular didn't recognize Cyrus when the singer gave her a hug at a Good Morning America taping. In 2013, Mama June spoke with Wendy Williams of the quick encounter.
"This may sound bad on my part, but because it was so crazy at Good Morning America, [Miley's] like, ‘Oh my god, there’s Mama June!’ and she came up and hugged me," she said. "Because it was so fast, I didn’t realize it was her until after she walked by!"
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(#8) Goldie Hawn
- 77
Amy Schumer has made it big in the comedy world, but that doesn’t mean Goldie Hawn took notice right away. In a 2017 appearance on The Today Show, Schumer recounted the pair's awkward first meeting, which came after a shared flight. "I left [Hawn] alone during the flight," she said. "We’d never met. I waited till we got off the plane and then I went up and I harassed her. And I was just like, 'I really want you to play my mom in this movie.' And she was just like, 'Okay, honey.'"
Hawn admitted she felt a little bad about failing to recognize Schumer, but had kind words for her Snatched co-star: "Amy came up and she was just, you know, sweet, you know, and adorable and all of it, and I hadn’t seen [Inside Amy Schumer]."
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(#9) Martha Stewart
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Renowned lifestyle guru Martha Stewart met Jonathan Cheban at Cannes in June 2016. Cheban is a reality TV star and a close friend of the Kardashian sisters, Kim in particular. But Stewart was totally mystified as to his identity, and even tweeted the Daily Mail about it:
#seriouslypopular @DailyMail @MailOnline do you know this guy?? He says he is well known pic.twitter.com/9jGJSxz2oV
— Martha Stewart (@MarthaStewart) June 22, 2016Flocks of Twitter users clued Stewart in, and she later tweeted another picture of Cheban, saying: "Better photo of Jonathan who is very famous bff of the Kardashians. Who knew!"
Fortunately, Cheban didn't seem to mind Stewart's confusion. The pair later grabbed dinner, and he posted a picture of the two of them on Instagram.
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(#10) Britney Spears
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In August 2016, Colton Haynes of Arrow and Teen Wolf fame joined Britney Spears onstage at one of her Las Vegas residency shows and performed "Freakshow" with her. But here's the gag - Spears thought Haynes was just a random fan brought onstage for fun. She asked Haynes his name and then complimented his butt.
Haynes seemed to take it in stride, and posted on Instagram about how cool the experience was.
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(#11) Christopher Nolan
- 53
It's unbelievable that anyone could dodge One Direction mania. But director Christopher Nolan somehow managed. Nolan apparently didn't know Harry Styles was a member of the megapopular boy band, or a solo star in his own right, before the director cast him in his World War II epic Dunkirk.
In 2017, Nolan told the Associated Press: "I don’t think I was that aware really of how famous Harry was. I mean, my daughter had talked about him. My kids talked about him, but I wasn’t really that aware of it."
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(#12) Rami Malek
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Mr. Robot's Rami Malek revealed that, unlike his character on the show, he's not especially clued in to the ways of modern technology. In 2017, Malek told People and Entertainment Weekly that he danced with an international supermodel but completely failed to recognize her.
"I'm not on social media," he said. "I'm not as in touch with things as I should be. I was dancing in Paris the other night with Bella Hadid and didn’t know who she was."
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