I met George Clooney and Matt Damon on the sets of movies they were shooting in the airport in Saint Louis. I had a quick conversation with Paul Sr., Jr., and Mikey at a gate in La Guardia. I have shaken hands with the Secretary of Commerce, Agriculture, and Education while they waited for their secret service detail to arrive on the ramp in D.C. I have rubbed elbows with billionaires, chatted with movie stars and had investment strategy conversations with business moguls but none of those occasions was as impactful as the time I met Jared. That's right, Jared from the Subway commercials.
The only way I knew it was him is because someone pointed him out to me in a crowd. Just a regular looking guy headed to Madison Wisconsin. I was leaving on the same flight and asked the gate agent (a good friend of mine) if there was a seat available next to him. To be honest, I had nothing to say to the guy except, "Hey, I know you. You're Jared" or something dippy like that. But I asked anyway. Turns out the seat next to him was taken so I took the seat across the aisle one row up. I followed (stalked) him as he boarded and was surprised that no one else knew who he was by now. I was not going to blow his cover so I said nothing.
The plane took off and so did the woman next to him. As I was eves dropping (as one would expect) she talked to him non stop the entire two hour flight about how her son was going to school and was doing so great on his own. She stopped to catch her breath only once to ask him what he did for a living. He told her he was helping to open a Subway in suburban Madison. She smiled said that was nice and continued to describe her son's plans for the future.
We arrived at the gate and after deplaning and while waiting for our over sized carry-ons to be handed back to us, I approached him with my boarding pass to sign. He was more than obliging. I think for a second he was glad to be recognized. I didn't bring any additional attention to him but instead quietly thanked him for his humility on the flight, told him I was proud of him for his accomplishments, and wished him the best. He handed me back my now signed boarding pass, we shook hands, and he thanked me. We went our separate ways and that was that.
Not as entertaining a story as driving Carmen Electra to her next flight or meeting the blind FBI training instructor that teaches close combat skills, but the example of humility from a B-list celebrity was the lesson I needed that day and is one I still carry with me.
What is your greatest celebrity encounter? Comment below to share your story.
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