Fans love movie stars for their natural charisma, iconic performances,
and stunning good looks. But movie stars don't always love them back — just ask the acting
legend who once told a fan he'd make him eat his phone. Curious? Keep watching to find out more.
Christian Bale's movie career launched when he was just a teen,
thanks to such choice gigs as Empire of the Sun and Newsies, but it wasn't until 2005
that the actor would receive the role of a lifetime — and gain a huge fanbase, to boot.
Bale was cast as Bruce Wayne and Batman in director Christopher Nolan's Batman Begins. He
later reprised the role in two more films: 2008's The Dark Knight, and 2012's The Dark Knight Rises.
In 2020, Bale was voted by fans as the actor who gave the best performance of Batman in a
poll by RadioTimes. According to the outlet, he earned over 40 percent of the tallies.
Although it's clear that fans loved seeing Bale fight crime in Gotham City,
rumor has it he isn't always friendly back. In 2012, Bale's former publicist
and assistant Harrison Cheung released a juicy biography titled Christian Bale:
The Inside Story of the Darkest Batman. In his book, Cheung claimed that, when Bale received
a letter from a fan, he told Cheung that the fan needed to be "eliminated," adding:
"A screwdriver thrust [through] the eyeball into the brain prevents any screaming.
Let me know how it goes."
Cheung also alleged that Bale had no problem with upsetting strangers,
stating that he would give lectures to young fans about being rude and
intrusive until they cried. After reporting on these allegations,
HuffPost reached out to Bale's team for comment — but apparently never heard back.
Celebrities and paparazzi don't always mix well. In the past,
big name stars have grabbed cameras out of a pap's hands, flipped them off, and even
tried to attack them. Some stars, however, go even further, confronting and insulting
ordinary fans who take photos of them without their permission. Take Sean Penn, for example.
According to TMZ, in 2013, a fan spotted Penn at the St. Regis hotel in San Francisco
and tried to take a photo of the star. This didn't go over well. A witness claimed that
Penn grabbed the phone out of the man's hand and threw it to the ground and yelled:
"I'll make you eat the phone [...] Get the f--- out of here!"
In 2020, Penn opened up about his temper after Howard Stern asked him to clarify
his 2009 Oscars acceptance speech,
in which he claimed he makes it hard for people to appreciate him. Penn told Stern:
"I sometimes I think I have a great love affair with humanity but not to good about humans."
Personal boundaries are no laughing matter,
but neither is summoning a legion of ruthless internet trolls to do your bidding. In 2016,
Amy Schumer called out a fan on Instagram after he frightened her while visiting Greenville,
South Carolina. She posted a photo of him on her social media page and wrote:
"Put a camera in my face. I asked him to stop and he said 'No,
it's America and we paid for you,' this was in front of his daughter.'"
Schumer also noted that she would no longer be taking photos with her fans as a result of
this incident. The fan later told TMZ that her post led to people making threats against him
and his family. He shared some of the comments that Schumer's post had inspired, including
"Shoot him in the face" and "If we see him we will jump him for you." He also claimed that Schumer
ran back towards him after their encounter, took the photo of him, and allegedly said:
"Good, I have four million followers that's going
to bash you and show what a d—--bag you really are."
Schumer later posted on her Instagram:
"I am grateful to the people who like my work and support me
but not the ones who think that behavior is ok."
She also took to Twitter to clarify her statement about taking photos with fans,
claiming that she will only do so with what she called "nice people."
Cameron Diaz rose to fame after starring alongside Jim Carrey in 1994's The Mask
and became a household name thanks to a number of leading roles throughout the '90s and early 2000s.
And while Diaz has doubtless acquired a great number of fans over the years,
rumor has it the star isn't keen on meeting them.
In 2013, Autograph Magazine included Diaz on their list of the worst celebrities when
it comes to signing autographs. Evidently, this had been a thing for years even then.
The editor of that same outlet told the Chicago Tribune in 2006 that Diaz is,
in his words, a "persistently a terrible signer." He went on to claim:
"Instead of just turning down a person's autograph request,
she'll lecture them about how dumb autographs are."
The ups and downs of stardom are no joke, of course, and in 2018,
Diaz shared with Entertainment Weekly that she had finally retired from acting. In a 2020 Goop video,
she told Gwyneth Paltrow that she felt "peace" after she stepped away from her career.
"I got a peace in my soul, you know? Because I finally was taking care of myself."
Thanks to the world of fan conventions, people can shell out money to meet celebrities,
take photographs, and get memorabilia signed. However,
fans of Gwyneth Paltrow had some unpleasant things to say after a Goop wellness summit found the star
barely connecting with her fans — fans who had paid around $6,000 to hang out with her.
According to Page Six, attendees were charged a huge sum to attend a 2019 "In Goop Health" event
in London, where they felt that Paltrow did the bare minimum to interact with them. Soon after,
one fan even claimed that the star was, in his words, a "pretentious extortionist." The event was
to feature Paltrow hosting "fireside chats" and working out with celebrity trainer Tracy Anderson,
but fans felt that it wasn't enough, adding that the star had security around her at all times.
Paltrow also ruffled feathers with fans in 2014 when she implied to E! that balancing
motherhood and an acting career is more difficult than balancing motherhood and
a regular job. It's probably fair to say that this remark was not received well.
One commenter for the New York Post said:
"Last time I checked, a movie wraps up,
while I look forward to decades worth of routines and hard work. I have it so easy!"
Paltrow later addressed the backlash on Goop,
maintaining that her statement was taken out of context.
Chris Pratt went from being funnyman Andy Dwyer in NBC's Parks and Recreation to a leading Hollywood
star in Guardians of the Galaxy and Jurassic World. In the years since, Pratt has become one
busy actor — but while he may adore his fans, he has one minor demand whenever they approach him.
In an interview with Cigar Aficionado in 2017,
Pratt revealed that he isn't into snapping selfies with fans because time is precious. He said:
"I've always been a pretty deferential, go-with-the-flow guy,
but now I have to be economical with my time. If I go out and want to do normal things,
I have to be comfortable disappointing people. So I just don't take pictures with people. Because
that's not about enjoying the moment; it's about stealing the moment to brag about later."
When he does get asked for a photo, Pratt said he would rather ask his fans if they would
settle for a handshake. Alas, he claimed, people usually take the picture anyway.
While not one to pose for a photo, Pratt did spark controversy when he began offering
autographed photos for a whopping $350. The actor shared a link on his Instagram account that
went to a site selling Pratt's John Hancock on merchandise from his most popular films. However,
fans were shocked at the price tag, complaining at the time that it was way too much money to ask.
Privacy is hard to come by if you're an A-list star like Jennifer Lawrence,
but she herself has made it clear that she will do whatever it takes
to maintain that privacy — even if it means letting fans down.
During an interview with Adam Sandler for Variety's "Actors on Actors" segment,
Lawrence, who gained a huge fanbase after starring in the Hunger Games series,
shared that she isn't exactly nice to people when she's out and about.
"Once I enter a public place, I become incredibly rude. I turn into a huge a–hole."
Lawrence shared, adding that this is her way of "defending" herself,
and noted that she'll usually say no to a fan if they ask for a selfie. This isn't the first time
Lawrence has talked about avoiding her fans, however. She once told the Daily Telegraph:
"I think that people [strangers] think that we are already friends because I am famous
and they feel like they already know me — but I don't know them. I have to protect my bubble,
like, 'I have a weird job — don't let this be a reality.'"
Chevy Chase has been famously difficult to work with for many years, and a 2012 article
published by Gawker, titled "A History of Chevy Chase's Horrific Behavior" sure didn't help his
reputation. The piece offered a roundup of his former colleagues' accounts of working with him
on various shows, painting a grim picture of his stints on Saturday Night Live and Community.
It also sounds like Chase isn't particularly approachable when it comes to meeting people
who look up to him. Actor Rob Huebel told Seth Meyers on Late Night that the actor and
comedian once slapped him across the face for interrupting him. The two apparently met when
Chase was a guest performer in Huebel's improv group's show back in the 2000s.
Huebel then approached Chase to tell him he's a big fan… and then this happened:
"And Chevy just hauled off and slapped me across the face — so hard — I mean, it was like…"
Chase evidently made a joke about not butting into his conversation,
as Huebel later told New York Magazine:
"He wasn't trying to be mean; he was trying to be funny. It
was a bummer only because I was such a huge fan."
When New York Magazine asked Chase himself about the incident, he said:
"It's a faint memory, but I know it was done in good humor."
If there's one Hollywood star you should never approach for a photo or an autograph,
it's William Shatner. In 2018, the famed Star Trek actor took to Twitter to address an
autograph policy that rubbed some of his fans the wrong way. According to The Hollywood Reporter,
fans called Shatner "rude" when he tweeted that
he wouldn't sign autographs unless he was attending a convention. He wrote:
"If I'm out and & about with family or waiting for a plane & I do for one;
an instant line [of] 50 forms. So if I say no to #1 or #21 it's the same — I'm a jerk. So to save
time the answer is no. There's a time and place for everything & conventions are that place."
Shatner continued:
"I'm supposed to care about the people who sneak up behind me to have someone grab a photo,
who interrupt my private times enjoying my grandchildren, who bother me in the restrooms
& who even interrupt my calling my wife at the airport in order to request a photo or autograph?"
Shatner has long been known for his complicated
relationship with his Trekkie fans. In a 1986 sketch for Saturday Night Live,
Shatner poked fun at them while pretending to be at a convention. In the sketch, Shatner said:
"I've spoken to many of you, and some of you have traveled,
y'know, hundreds of miles to be here, I'd just like to say... get a life, will you, people?"
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