In today’s world with social media and celebrity gossip blogs, it’s easy to know everything about your favorite movie star or music artist. But there are still some lesser known connections between famous people that will surprise you.
One location that is common to several celebrities is Manhattan Plaza, an apartment building in New York that offers affordable housing to performing artists. Located in an area called Hells’ Kitchen, Manhattan Plaza is where Timothee Chalamet and Alicia Keys grew up. Other celebrity residents over the years include Patrick Dempsey from Grey’s Anatomy and Donald Faison from Clueless. Actor Samuel L. Jackson even worked there as a bodyguard.
Nearby in the Bronx, actress Kerry Washington grew up in the same neighborhood as Jennifer Lopez. During the day she attended an elite private school on NYC’s Upper East Side. One of her classmates was Gwyneth Paltrow. But going to school with very affluent students wasn’t always a good thing. Washington said the emphasis on being thin had a negative impact on her. She said, “These are stereotypes, but the way that their moms and the women in that world looked was so different from the women that I grew up with.”
There were wedding bells in two well-known families recently. Frances Bean Cobain and Riley Hawk were married in September 2023. If those names don’t sound familiar, take a look at their family tree. Frances is the daughter of Kurt Cobain, who was the lead singer of the band Nirvana before dying tragically in 1994. Her mom is musician Courtney Love who sang in a band called Hole. But Riley Hawk is someone special, too. His dad is Tony Hawk, the skateboarding legend also known as Birdman. To make it even crazier their wedding was officiated by Michael Stipe, the lead singer of another 1990s band called R.E.M.
Speaking of weddings there’s an unbelievable fact involving weddings and Meghan Markle, who became the Duchess of Sussex when she married Prince Harry of the British royal family. It turns out that Meghan did the calligraphy handwriting on all of musician Robin Thicke’s wedding invitations. This was before Megan met Harry and even before she worked as an actress. Her calligraphy business was just a way to “make ends meet” as a young adult.
An even stranger celebrity friendship is the one between singer Elton John and rapper Eminem. The two stars got to know each other when Elton did a surprise solo during one of Eminem’s performances at the 2001 Grammy Awards. Elton John went on to become Eminem’s Alcoholics Anonymous sponsor, calling the rapper every day to encourage him to stay sober.
One of the most unlikely connections between famous people involves an actress known for her 1990’s rom-coms and a political leader who changed the world. The actress is Julia Roberts who starred in movies like My Best Friend’s Wedding and Pretty Woman. She is rich and famous now but when she was born her parents didn’t have enough money to pay the hospital bill. So who paid for it? No other than Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. He wanted to help out Julia Roberts’ parents because they ran a performing arts school and had welcomed his children to participate even when other schools had rejected them based on their race.
Seeing all these celebrity connections might make you wonder if you might be linked to someone famous. There is even a website to find out if Elvis Presley is your third cousin. Chances are you might be related to someone special. In the world of celebrities, it’s a small world after all.
