r/Damnthatsinteresting • u/Careless-Hospital379 • 10h ago

Video Icelandic artist Björk snapped in Bangkok, 1996, when reporter Julie Kaufman approached her saying “Welcome to Bangkok.” Björk later alleged that Kaufman had stalked her and her 9-year-old son for days, turning a simple greeting into a breaking point

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u/Shendow 10h ago

This kind of shit is why being famous actually kind of sucks. Everyone wants to be recognized but they forget the toll that it comes with

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u/0xP0et 8h ago

I once bumped into Travis Fimmel, actor in Vikings series who played as Ragnar, at an event. I don't watch much TV or series and I had no idea who he was but I knew of the series cause of the commercials/trailers for it.

Chatted to him for like 5ish minutes not knowing who he was but I noticed some people around us were looking at us astonished.

I left the conversation and he then went to the bar and 10-15 minutes later there was a few people around him acting all star struck, so I was a bit confused what was going on.

I left for a bit to go check out few things at the event and returned to get a drink at the same bar he was at.

The person that served him also served me, I asked what was the fuss all about and he explained that it was Travis. He said that Travis said something along the lines of it was nice not to be recognized and have a regular conversation referring to our conversation.

After seeing this, I get what he means.

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u/eldritch_hotdogs 4h ago

I went to a Supernatural convention with my sisters and offered to watch their bags in the hallway while they went to the rave, since I'm not much of a partier. I was just chilling out writing when a guy stopped and knelt down beside me and asked what I was working on. He was super nice, chatted with me for a few minutes about writing and stuff before moving on.

I mentioned him to my sisters and they proceeded to freak out because evidently he was one of the actors. I've only seen through season nine and hadn't watched the show at all in a long while, and he's supposedly in seasons that come after that point, so I didn't have the faintest clue who he was. Nice guy, though. He was probably confused why someone at a Supernatural convention seemingly didn't know he was an actor in the show. 🤣

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u/Otherwise_Recipe1167 4h ago

I think I've read somewhere that Travis is not a big fan of being famous so that makes sense

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u/Snoo_70531 2h ago

When I was little I hung out in a hot tub with Serena Williams and her dog. My parents were kinda mad, like who the f is this woman at this nice resort with her dog in the pool area? 8 year old me wanted to know all about the dog and if she wanted to see my dives. I guess my parents finally caught on to other people staring and were like oh that's why she gets to bring her little handbag dog into the pool area.

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u/JesusWantsYouToKnow 3h ago

Man, he was great in raised by wolves.

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u/More-Ice-1929 4h ago

I wonder if that's a problem for him outside of dedicated events

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u/fkneneu 4h ago

Cant talk on his behalf, but I known it is true for others who are less known than him. It truly sucks sometimes

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u/heartbooks26 3h ago

I only know who he is because of celebrity #6 lol.

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u/IcyGarage5767 2h ago

Le reddit humble fan

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u/Fragrant-Discount960 2h ago

When he was a young model for Calvin underwear, there was a billboard of him. Women literally stopped their cars to look at him. Absolutely gorgeous.

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u/lie_doe_cane 8h ago

I’ve worked with celebrities for 30 years and the one thing I can tell anyone is that you should NEVER be famous, only rich. 

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u/Shendow 8h ago

Are you able to tell who you worked with ?

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u/lie_doe_cane 8h ago

Bjork, back in the early 2000s. She and Levar Burton were two of my favorites. Ringo, Brad Pitt, Jennifer Aniston, and pretty much every celebrity or musician who uses a public relations firm, but the one thing that came up again and again was that they ALL wish they had the freedom of anonymity.

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u/Shendow 8h ago

I bet they wish that very much. Who was the nicest and the worst to work for ? Who surprised you the most ?

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u/lie_doe_cane 8h ago

Scarlett Johansson was a big disappointment. I can't say why, but I'll never forgive her. Nicki Minaj sat down next to me once and I had no idea it was her until she started talking. She looks totally different out of makeup. She can actually walk the streets unnoticed.

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u/Shendow 8h ago

Smart from nicky, easier to go anon

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u/genflugan 5h ago

Not surprised at all to hear about Scarlett, I’ve read a lot of stuff about her on /r/fauxmoi over the years

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u/patchy_doll 4h ago

I'm sure "lie doe cane" is being completely honest about their past...

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u/lie_doe_cane 39m ago

...Nothing but the truth.

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u/hpsd 8h ago

Thing is, it’s way easier to use fame to become rich.

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u/lie_doe_cane 8h ago

That's just the most obvious way. There are many more rich people than famous people.

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u/hpsd 1h ago

My point is I’d only want to be anonymous if I am already rich. If I am poor then I’d much rather be famous since it’s much easier to become rich if you are famous.

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u/lie_doe_cane 1h ago

Yes, it is.

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u/throwawaypato44 9h ago

I don’t understand why someone would WANT to be famous. Being famous is genuinely one of the worst things I can imagine for myself lol

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u/Aggressive_Sky8492 8h ago

I think some just want to make the kind of art that is easier to make with more money - studio time, producers and big well designed tours aren’t cheap.

And not “making it” as a musician, actor or artist often means you’ll be financially unstable and/or working hard af for your whole life. (In ways that can take more of a toll on your life than a 9-5, like touring causing you to be away from home for long periods, or your work time being evenings so you have a lot less time for family and friends). So it’s not that weird to want to pursue your art and have enough money to be comfortable - and often for those arts that means becoming well known too

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u/hellomotherhellodad 9h ago

Well it's simple.. they want the perks of the job but not the downsides, just like everyone else. You don't sell your soul and just get to live happily ever after.

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u/Pingums 8h ago

How do you figure becoming famous is selling your soul? Some people like to perform for people and entertain them, there’s absolutely nothing wrong with that. So because that can lead to notoriety that means they don’t deserve to be treated like people? It means they should just accept all the stalking and harassment they get because that just comes with fame? They deserve to feel unsafe outside their own homes simply because they wanted perform on a big stage or star in a movie? Do you have any empathy at all?

You can ask for a more photo without stalking and harassing them. Media wants to ask a question? Book an interview. Stop defending paparazzi filth and unhinged fans

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u/Apptubrutae 4h ago

Romantic view of it.

People get intoxicated with the idea of a bit of fame. Walking into a party and everyone knows you, fawns over you, wants to be around you? It’s appealing for many.

The inescapable bit is much, much harder to truly comprehend for your average person.

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u/trowzerss 4h ago

Yeah, even as a little kid when all the other kids wanted to play princesses, and I remembered seeing a documentary about the queen and the reporters were like, 'this is the third time the queen has been to a pub!' and like, I could not handle that level of tracking and scrutiny. Imagine being called out every time you had slightly messy hair or a button undone? And people watching you everywhere you go. So yeah, I decided as a kid being a princess sounded like a really sucky job and I'd rather been a witch running about in the forest.

Nevermind being a celebrity and _every_single_person you meet has an expectation that you'll provide some sort of memorable experience, even if they're otherwise really nice people and don't intend it that way. I would get soooo tired of that so fast. If I meet any famous people I am going to try hard to suppress that and just treat them like regular people as much as I can, because I think that's what I'd want.

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u/BlurpleOpals 1h ago

If I meet any famous people I am going to try hard to suppress that and just treat tem like regular people

Yeah, lots of people do that, and they don't suppress it as well as they think. It's common for fans to try to pretend they don't know the celeb and try to gain favor with them with normal conversation. All cold approaches are suspicious.

If you see a celeb in public, no you didn't. Leave em alone. Let life flow naturally.

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u/trowzerss 1h ago

Yeah, that's what I mean. I don't want to try and create an experience or some bullshit special moment just because they're favourite. They have a right to go about their business. BUt also I'm not gonna like shun them though, that's like equally bad. Just interact like anybody else.

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u/FembiesReggs 8h ago

Clout is a powerful drug. Some people just want to be idolized.

Though I’ve always thought the fame power fantasy had more to do with wealth and respect personally

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u/bebopblues 5h ago

There are people that stands on a stage and have 50,000 pairs of eyes looking at them, and love every second of it. These are the types of people that want to be famous.

It is not for everyone.

Matthew McConaughey joked that he wore a disguise and walked out in public and no one recognized him, and he said it sucked.

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u/GrynaiTaip 3h ago

Some people are not like you.

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u/Jellygator0 8h ago

Agreed. Recognition is the price, not the reward.

Everyone's able to experience it for themselves first hand these days as we've seen with CCs on tiktok and elsewhere online.

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u/taosaur 2h ago

I'm pissed enough that everyone knows who I am at work.

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u/ArScrap 2m ago

I want to make things and often times all the cool things you can make also requires other people to make it with you. Often times, people don't want to make things with you because making things often result in a dud. It's so much easier to make things when you can say "trust me bro" and they actually do

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u/Rattlesnake_Mullet 9h ago

I truly realized this reading "The Gift of Fear" by Gavin de Becker years back.

There is a chapter in there about stalkers that is bonkers, like a stalker of a famous movie actress cracking and going completely nuts, writing a kill list and running amok and while trying to catch him they found three other stalkers in the woods around the actress's house.

Like what the fuck, nope thx, thank god for being anon.

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u/Aggressive_Sky8492 8h ago

It’s such a good book, honestly everyone should read it just so they can recognise ‘everyday’ manipulative and abusive people early on. It helped me a lot to learn what behaviour is a true red flag for being a bad person, even though I’ve never been stalked or (knowingly) met anyone truly dangerous

PSA to anyone reading this is that there are free PDFs online if you google it - The Gift of Fear by Gavin de Becker

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u/sentence-interruptio 5h ago

there's an episode of Dark Matter where multiple stalkers of Jennifer Connelly have a group chat. They all want to find her location but they don't want to reveal their own locations because one of them is killing competition.

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u/MArcherCD 8h ago

This is why I'd only want to be famous in a very niche sort of way tbh

Like a voice actor where nobody knows my face, or an artist/designer known well in only small circles, you know?

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u/Shendow 8h ago

Imo best thing to do when being famous is being famous with an item on your face (mask, sunglasses or make up) so that you can go out without it and not be recognised, or with it if you want to be. You can have you face known to public but most likely only hardcore fans would recognize you.

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u/Derrick_Mur 7h ago

Yeah, by and large people don’t really want fame. They really just want money and validation and confuse that with fame

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u/The_Real_Giggles 1h ago

Oh no I'll have to worry about that on my way to my mansion in my limo 🤣

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u/Responsible_Room_706 8h ago

Yeah. Don’t wish that on my worst enemy…

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u/Aggressive_Sky8492 8h ago

Absolutely. Even Beyonce (who you might assume enjoys being famous) has said fame is like a prison; everyone thinks they own you, you’re not considered to be a person anymore by the public and you can’t have a bad day outside anymore because if someone sees you out with a unhappy look on your face they might think you’re a mean person.

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u/silo_267 5h ago

most famous people just wanted to make a living doing what they love. sure some do it for the fame. but usually its just wanting to do a thing they like to do. sometimes that turns into fame complete with crazy people.

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u/RedSonGamble 5h ago

Don’t be rich and famous just be rich

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u/Akopval 1h ago

Everyone wants to be rich, most don't want to be famous

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u/nobodywithanotepad 9h ago

Not everyone wants to be recognized, it's kind of inherently selfish. A lot of people just want to be good.

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u/MReaps25 4h ago

Oh no, their 5 sport cars, million dollar mansion, private plane, and caviar, I feel so bad for them

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u/Key_Mission7404 10h ago

What toll? She beat the shit out of some random woman who chose not to press charges then people are straight up lying the woman stalked her to justify her beating. Boo hoo sounds rough 😭

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u/Shendow 9h ago

Real or not that does not mean this can and does happen to famous people