Oftentimes, celebrities' interactions with their fans are really sweet. I've had a few meaningful encounters with my favorite celebs that I know I'll never forget. However, in these moments, respect is a two-way street, and fans need to remember to treat their faves as human beings.
Here are 21 heartbreaking and horrifying experiences celebs had with fans:
1. Dolly Parton told the Windy City Times, "Years ago, when I first started being a big star, I had fans that were fanatical. It was when 'Jolene' was a big hit. We came home one day, and there was a baby in a box at our gate with a note in it. The note said, 'My name is Jolene. My momma has left me here, and she wants you to have me.' Of course, we all freaked out!"
She added, "We immediately called Human Services and took care of the baby until they got there. We never did know or hear anything about it. I knew nothing else. What do you do in a situation like that? There are some loony people in this world! Can you imagine yourself in that situation? It wasn't like it was a kitten or a puppy dog. It was a baby named Jolene!"
2. During a speech at the 2018 Women's March, Natalie Portman spoke about the "sexual terrorism" she faced after starring in Léon: The Professional at 13, which led her to build "a reputation for basically being prudish, conservative, nerdy, serious, in an attempt to feel that [her] body was safe and that [her] voice would be listened to." She said, "I excitedly opened my first fan mail to read a rape fantasy that a man had written me. A countdown was started on my local radio show to my 18th birthday, euphemistically the date that I would be legal to sleep with. Movie reviewers talked about my budding breasts. I understood very quickly, even as a 13-year-old, that if I were to express myself sexually, I would feel unsafe, and that men would feel entitled to discuss and objectify my body to my great discomfort."
3. Lauren Jauregui was outed when Fifth Harmony fans found pictures of her with her girlfriend in a private family album, and Perez Hilton got ahold of them. On Red Table Talk: The Estefans, she said, "I'd been dating the girlfriend that I had at the time for probably a year at that point, but we had fallen in love when I was 15. I was at my uncle's wedding in New Orleans, and my aunt very innocently posted the photos from the photo booth onto her Facebook page. It was a link for the family to be able to click on, and my fans are just a little wild, and they found the picture where my girlfriend and I — we were drunk — so we were kissing. [Perez Hilton] definitely outed me."
She continued, "I wasn't ready because I'm also Latina. There was that whole looming thing of, 'What is my community going to feel about me? Are they even going to accept me?' I know that my family obviously accepted me. But was that something that I was willing to deal with on a public scale? I felt like my own process was violated."
4. In 2019, Ethan and Grayson Dolan announced the passing of their father. Fans of the Dolan Twins YouTube channel began sharing (fake) details of the funeral, posting about attending, and using hashtags like #SeanDolanFuneral and #SeanDolanMeetupParty. Some of their fans reportedly blamed the situation on K-pop fans who were allegedly trolling, but regardless of who was behind it, the Dolans were pushed to publicly ask for privacy.
Grayson tweeted, "We want this ceremony to be an opportunity for the people who had a close connection with my Dad to say goodbye and pay their respects. We appreciate all of our fans so so much. Please respect My father Sean, Ethan, my family, and me send your love through social media only! ... Your kind posts about my Dad have been heartwarming. Thank you all. Again, please do not show up to his wake, funeral, or any of his services." Likewise, Ethan tweeted, "If you are a fan of Grayson and I we love you and appreciate you so much. The best way you could support us during this tough time is to NOT show up at our fathers wake or funeral. thank you guys and please please please respect my wish."
5. Boy Meets World actor Danielle Fishel was catfished by an adult man posing as a little girl. On an episode of Pod Meets World, she said, "When we first started getting fan mail, I also read them all and responded to them all. I got a letter in '93 from a young girl, and she included pictures of herself in it, and she was in gymnastics. ... She wrote me this handwritten letter that she was a fan, and I wrote her back, and she sent me another letter, and we started this correspondence back and forth. I felt very close to her, and one of the things she talked about regularly was that both of her parents died when she was young, and she lived with her older brother."
The "girl" sent Danielle pictures of a "good-looking guy" who was "several years older," claiming it was her brother. Another letter included the fan's phone number. The actor continued, "My mom is participating in me writing back. She's reading all these letters as well, and she's aware of what I'm writing, and she's reading what this girl is writing to me, and my mom is like, '[It seems like] you would be friends.' So I call her, and I get her voicemail, but it's not her. It's her brother's voicemail because it's his house. They live in an apartment together, but her name isn't anywhere on the voicemail. The way it all came out is because I kept calling her, and I left my phone number, and she wouldn't call me back. Then we got a letter from her brother saying that she had died, and my mom woke up in the middle of the night and was like, 'She never existed, it's always been him!'"
6. After a fan posted a video sneaking into her Here Lies Love Broadway dressing room, Lea Salonga stopped meeting guests in her dressing room for security reasons. In since-deleted tweets, she said, "The money you pay for a theatre/concert ticket does not mean all-access. You pay for that performer's art, and that's where it stops. I gotta say, the folks at the stage door have been so incredibly kind, which only makes us (well, me) enthusiastic to say hello and spend the time to talk to them. I have boundaries. Do not cross them. Thank you."
7. John Travolta told People, "I lived in Santa Barbara about 30 years ago, and someone snuck into my house. I opened the closet, and there she was. It did scare me, but it turned out to be an innocent person. She was a girl who probably wanted to meet me and didn't know how to do it."
8. Chappell Roan has had multiple scary encounters with fans, such as when they figured out her flight information and tried to make the airport into a meet-and-greet. One man got so angry that she wouldn't sign an autograph that airport police had to be called. She later saw him amongst the paparazzi in LA. She told Rolling Stone, "I got home and dropped to my knees. I have a hard time crying now because of my meds, but I sobbed and was screaming."
9. Another time, a fan was at the same bar where Chappell Roan was celebrating her friend's birthday. Grabbing her, the fan kissed her. The same night, her father's phone number was leaked on the internet, and a fan called him. It prompted her to post a TikTok calling out harassment from fans. In another video, she said, "I don't care that abuse and harassment, stalking, whatever, is a normal thing to do to people who are famous, or a little famous. I don't care that this crazy type of behavior comes along with the job. ... That doesn't make it okay, that doesn't make it normal. I don't want whatever the fuck you think you're supposed to be entitled to whenever you see a celebrity..."
10. During a 2025 concert in Miami, Billie Eilish was walking by the barricade, interacting with her front-row fans, when one of them aggressively pulled her over the barrier. Her security, camera person, and other fans helped her get back on her feet, and as she walked away, she glared at her attacker. In a statement, the Miami PD said, "The person was ejected from the Kaseya Center." However, no criminal charges were filed.
11. While Ariana Grande, Cynthia Erivo, and Michelle Yeoh were walking the red carpet at the Wicked: For Good Singapore premiere, an onlooker rushed from the crowd and straight toward Ariana. Cynthia kindly helped get him away from her, then she and Michelle sweetly comforted Ariana. The attacker was later identified as "Pyjama Man," a prolific troll who previously rushed Katy Perry onstage. He was reportedly jailed for nine days on public nuisance charges, deported to Australia, and "barred from re-entering Singapore."
Cynthia told NBC News, "I just wanted to make sure my friend was safe. I'm sure he didn't mean us harm, but I just, you never know with those things, and I wanted to make sure that she was OK." Sadly, rather than seeing the moment for what it was — Cynthia being there for her friend, who's openly discussed dealing with PTSD — some internet users turned the moment into memes depicting her as "masculine." As the Root's Shanelle Genai wrote, "At the core of all these insults lies one thing: misogynoir and anti-Blackness."
12. While performing in São Paulo in 2013, Beyoncé knelt to serenade the crowd with "Irreplaceable" when a male fan grabbed her and pulled her off the stage. Her security reacted quickly, getting her safely back onto the stage. Beyoncé handled the situation with extreme grace, telling the crowd, "It's alright, it's alright." Then, after completing the song, she sought out the fan who pulled her off the stage. She said, "Let me speak to the gentleman. He just got excited. It's alright." Kneeling, she shook his hand and told him, "Thank you, I love you, too."
13. In a 2020 Instagram story post, Justin Bieber called out people who congregated outside his home, writing, "How do you convince yourself it's not completely inappropriate and disrespectful to wait outside my home to gawk, stare and take pictures as I walk into my apartment. This is not a hotel. It's my home. [sic]"
He also addressed fans waiting outside his apartment building face-to-face. In a fan-captured TikTok that was uploaded in 2021, he said, "I hear you, I hear you. But this is my home. You know what I mean? This is where I live. And I don't appreciate you guys being here. You know when you come home at the end of the night, and you want to relax? This is my space to do that. So I would appreciate it if you guys could leave."
14. In 2017, Taylor Swift was a bridesmaid in her childhood best friend Abigail Anderson's wedding. Rather than respect the privacy of the event (and the fact that this day was not about Taylor), fans crowded outside the venue to catch a glimpse of the singer. Security shielded Taylor from the crowd with drapes and an umbrella. Some fans reportedly booed her and chanted, "Very disappointing, not cool."
15. Similarly, when Taylor Swift attended her friends Jack Antonoff and Margaret Qualley's Jersey Shore wedding in 2023, massive crowds of fans gathered outside a restaurant where the newlyweds were holding a dinner. The fans reportedly chanted Taylor's name and tried to film her. Reportedly appearing stunned, Taylor politely waved to the onlookers, but as viral videos of the crowds spread, criticism for the gathered fans poured in. They were called out for disrespecting Taylor's privacy and for intruding on Jack and Margaret's big day.
Many people brought up Taylor's reaction to the crowds gathered outside her home in her Netflix documentary Miss Americana.
16. Da'Vine Joy Randolph told BuzzFeed, "Last year, when we were on the press tour for Dolemite Is My Name, there was one group of people that always seemed to be where I was, whether it was a restaurant, at a hotel, or even doing press at 30 Rock. They just always knew my comings and goings. I was like, 'Who's leaking this?' So that was a little like, 'Oh, I don't do well with stalkers.'"
17. Dax Shepard told MTV, "This woman was convinced that I was the father of her kid, and I'd never, ever met her. She marches in the restaurant. Restaurant's full, and she goes, 'Ahem. Are you gonna deny that he's yours?' And I go, 'What?' She goes, 'Are you willing to take a paternity test or not?' And I go, 'What?' She goes, 'He's your son!' And that was a very surreal experience."
18. When Fifth Harmony was on tour in Mexico in 2016, a crowd of fans greeted them at the Monterrey airport. One fan yanked Ally Brooke while attempting to hug her, holding on and pulling her with them as security tried to separate them.
In response, Ally tweeted, "Hi my loves, Just to let you know, I am okay after the airport incident. Please be careful and gentle so nobody gets hurt. That was scary. Thank you! Monterrey, I couldn't be happier to be here! It's been a dream of mine since I was little. My favorite singer Selena Quintanilla had many beautiful performances here. And now I get to perform in this city! I am beyond honored & proud."
19. In 2022, Jay Ellis was physically assaulted by a disgruntled Insecure viewer. He tweeted, "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."
20. During the height of One Direction's fame, some Directioners hacked into the security cameras at airports and hotels where the band was. They watched the boys as if it were a live stream of animals at the zoo.
21. And finally, in 2016, a Harry Styles fan allegedly hacked into his mom's iCloud account, stole pictures of the singer vacationing with Kendall Jenner, and leaked them under the Twitter username @haarrystyles. The photos spread across the fandom under the trending topic "Anne's iCloud," though many fans objected to the invasion of privacy and urged people to stop sharing the pictures. The original account was suspended, but the leaker made a new one. Harry's reps didn't respond to the situation, but his mom deleted her Twitter account. His older sister, Gemma, tweeted, "Please note: my mum is not back on Twitter, any new accounts are fake. To those making them - has her life not been violated enough for you?"
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