Somebody asked about ‘surprising connections between global superstars and UK-only celebrities’ – 23 highly unlikely links

As civilians, as Liz Hurley memorably labelled non-famous people, we always imagine there’s a strict hierarchy when it comes to celebrity. You can’t imagine Madonna hanging out with Michael McIntyre, for example.

But it turns out that the pecking order of fame isn’t as strict and straightforward as we might imagine.

Over on the AskUk subreddit, user andotherthingsareok posted this…

What are the surprising connections between global superstars and UK-only celebrities?

On Graham Norton, the huge globally successful stars sit with some of our household names and must be thinking “Who the hell is this person?!” Sometimes it’s half the entertainment value, like when they had June Brown (Dot Cotton) on the sofa with Lady Gaga.

But have you ever heard of any surprising connections you’ve heard of which you just wouldn’t expect? Those moments of “Wait – Robert De Niro goes on holiday every year with Ant & Dec?!” kind of thing.

And though that particular pairing seems to be tragically untrue, lots of people chipped in with other unlikely showbiz links, like these…

1.

‘Alison Hammond’s dad was Muhammad Ali’s bodyguard whenever he was in Birmingham, she’s named after him.’
–spacecoyote555

2.

‘She’s also apparently friends with Harrison Ford and has stayed with him when she visited LA.’
–Old-Helicopter1889

3.

‘Gordon Brown teamed up with Shakira for an education initiative and allegedly became friends. I’m not sure you’ll see him on the Colombian beaches any time soon though.’
–spinynorman1846

4.

‘Olivia Coleman is old mates with Paul Rudd.

Olivia is definitely more of a superstar now (Oscar winner), but back in the early 2000s she was on British TV like Holby City while Paul was in Hollywood films like Anchorman.’
–NewCrashingRobot

5.

‘Ice-T was good friends with John Challis aka Boycie!!!! Mind blown.’
–paulyhopey

6.

‘Horror writer Clive Barker (Hellraiser, Candyman etc) went to school and is mates with Les Dennis from Family Fortunes.’
–PotentialInfinite55

7.

‘Tara Reid, the 00s It Girl most well known for the American pie films and the Sharknado franchise is really good friends with Jedward. They met on Celeb Big Brother and apparently are still close to this day, they even spent lockdown together in LA.’
–Crazyalexi

8.

‘Hollywood star Zendaya’s father in law used to write jokes for Bob Monkhouse and Des O’connor.’
–Questingcloset

9.

‘Sharleen Spiteri from Texas and Thierry Henry are supposedly really good friends which always struck me as an incredibly random pairing.’
–Streathamite

10.

‘Apparently Rob Brydon got that cameo in the Barbie movie because Margot Robbie is a big Gavin and Stacey fan.’
–Worth-Department1893

11.

‘I was surprised to see Meryl Streep celebrating Ginger Spice’s birthday on social media earlier this month.’
–hdhxuxufxufufiffif

12.

‘Selina Caddell who plays Mrs Tishell in Doc Martin is great friends with Sigourney Weaver.’
–insideno4b