Stars, They're Just Like Us!

When I lived in Queens another lifetime ago, I commuted in and out of Manhattan every day.  My office was right in Times Square and I worked at a really cool company.  (Where I was bored, lonely, and made a pittance of a salary but that's another story for another time.) Still, I loved working in Manhattan and stepping outside of the office to get a coffee in the morning and feeling the energy of the whole city pounding along the pavement.  Friends would often ask about celebrity sightings.  Had I spotted anyone famous on my walk into work? What about on the subway? How about someone just sitting around drinking a coffee? Aren't you supposed to see famous people all the time in New York, they'd ask.  No, I'd say.  Not today.  Naturally, I kept my eyes peeled but in the year I called New York home I spotted exactly one celebrity. And that celebrity was Paris Hilton; which felt like a total and complete gyp.

Now, here in my New York Life part two, my celebrity sightings have increased exponentially.  The first month I was here, I went down to the West Village with a friend for brunch. After, she and I were crossing the street headed to a bookstore, when out of the corner of my eye I caught sight of someone famous.  An actor. I recognized him immediately from the movie The Queen, but could not place his name for most of the afternoon until finally, once I was back home it clicked.  Michael Sheen.  My very first famous person sighting; spotted just walking along the streets of New York. Just like they say you do.

In December, a good friend of mine came down to visit for a weekend.  She and I walked all over the city, soaking in the Christmas decorations, sights, and sounds.  At one point during the afternoon we popped into The Morgan Library to take a look at the original copy of Charles Dickens's A Christmas Carol, displayed for the holidays, and to use the restroom.  Down in the basement of the museum, I left the restroom ahead of my friend and was waiting for her on couches near the elevators.  Amy walked out of the bathroom and plopped down beside me. "That woman over there? She looks a lot like Chelsea Clinton.  Like if she's not Chelsea Clinton then Chelsea has a twin she doesn't know about."

Intrigued I walked over toward the bathrooms again and pretended to take a sip of water from the nearby fountains. Sure enough, it was Chelsea Clinton. No question. She was with her daughter and her husband, attempting to get into a snow globe making workshop for children.  They were told the room was full but that they could come in an hour for the next session.  She was polite, explained the delay to her daughter, and then whoosh - took the elevators upstairs with her little family.  Turns out even Chelsea has to wait to get into arts and crafts workshops on the weekends!

Earlier this month, my high school friends came to visit me for the weekend.  We decided to try our hand with half-price theater tickets at the TKTS booth for day-of performances and settled on seeing Beautiful: The Carole King Musical.  I didn't really know what to expect (turns out it's a surprisingly great show) and my friends and I were having a lovely time watching the performances.  Before the last number, the actress who had been playing Carole King walked off the stage as she surely does every night.  Then, in her place, instead of the actress coming back on to sing the final number, Beautiful, came CAROLE KING herself! I'm quite sure my jaw dropped and my friends and I all immediately turned to one another to confirm that we were, in fact, seeing THE Carole King.  Unbeknownst to us, it was the five year anniversary of the show's Broadway debut and Carole King had decided to surprise the audience with her appearance.  It was incredible.

(When I recounted the story to my Dad the following afternoon he listened attentively and then said, "Kel.  I hate to ask this, but who is Carole King?")

Yesterday morning I left my apartment around my usual AM departure time.  My commute to the subway is a quick one, only a few blocks until I can jump on the closest stop.  As I stood on the curb waiting for a light to change and give me the walk sign, a man biked past me, only inches away.  Do you know who that man was?  Jerry Seinfeld.  Yep. JERRY SEINFELD bicycled past me on a cold Tuesday morning like it was just any other cold Tuesday morning.  For the record, he looks exactly like he does on television. It also turns out, that his multi-million dollar garage where he houses all of his Porsches? It's on my street.  A block or so from my house.  Right next to the yoga studio I've been attending.  So you know, Jerry is my neighbor and all now.

Of course, I love spotting these celebrities and famous faces while I'm out and about.  I don't get too starstruck but I am a bit of a theater/film/singer geek so I always think it's cool to see someone I've also seen on my television, on the big screen, or heard through my earbuds, just out and about living their life.  There's something oddly pleasant about eyeing someone famous just going about their day to day.  I mean, stars really are just like us.  Sort of.