While promoting her new show The GC’s Big Night Out, one of our all-time favourite huns, Gemma Collins (she of TOWIE fame) revealed she was on the receiving end of some celeb-on-celeb crime the last time she was in LA.
The platinum-haired bombshell made the ultimate faux pas in an unnamed private members club by saying hello to Wolf of Wall Street star, Leonardo DiCaprio. For having the sheer nerve, she paid the ultimate price and was swiftly ejected from said club, triggering the latest crisis in transatlantic relations. Clearly Leo didn’t wish to forge his own ‘special relationship’ with the perma-tanned reality TV star.
While we eagerly await further details and (fingers crossed) footage of two very different worlds colliding, anyone familiar with Collins’ dulcet tones can imagine the scene perfectly: the unblinking eye contact, the overly-friendly greeting paired with wild gesticulation, and all of it no doubt punctuated with a squawked ‘LEO, BABE’, ‘HUNNAY’, or perhaps a Queenly ‘DARLING!’
One thing we do know, because Gemma herself has told us, is that her first thought on being ushered outside was: "You do realise I am famous as well?" Hmm, seems not.
But God love Gemma Collins. She was just doing what, given a few bolstering tequilas and half a chance, we’d all attempt: trying to meet one of our heroes.
The thing is, in a world ruled by Instagram and TikTok, where digital superstardom is just a few well-shot/humiliating clips away, we’re all within reach of our 15 minutes.
In the 2021 documentary Fake Famous, the makers make the astonishing claim that there are 40 million Instagram users who each have a following of over a million on the platform, which means that, by a few incremental degrees of separation, you likely know someone who’s hit the (short-term) big-time. Where this number comes from definitely requires further scrutiny, but you can’t deny the essence of the trend. When’s the last time we got through the day without hearing of some viral sensation or another?
Fame isn’t as clear-cut as it once was; there are now rungs. Who hasn’t squinted over the top of their copy of the Evening Standard at a familiar face, trying to place them without being caught? Are they an almost-forgotten acquaintance; did you meet them at that party last week? They stare back, waiting for the penny to drop - and that’s when you realise. It’s the beauty blogger whose reels you’ve become addicted to watching late into the night, causing them to appear in your dreams as if by osmosis. Awks. Nothing for it but to get off a few stops early and tread water in your personal ocean of embarrassment.
I’ve been on the receiving end too, from well-meaning friends of friends who know about every second of my weekend - because I logged it all on my Instagram Stories. It’s a funny feeling meeting a stranger who knows minute details of your life. You almost forget that you’re the one supplying the information in the first place. But would I summon bouncers to evict them for having the sheer brass neck to utter a greeting? Unless it was an ex, probably not.
So good on Gemma, for daring to reach for the stars. This anecdote will do nothing to diminish her stock, in the UK at least - if anything, it’ll propel her fame machine further forward. Though, I have to concede, probably never to Titanic levels.
