11 Celebrities Who Apologized After Being Called Out For Rude Encounters

"I apologize for my behavior and for any pain which I have caused."

Not all celebrities have the best reputation when it comes to interacting with fans, journalists or even their co-stars. Unfortunately, over the course of their careers, a few stars have gotten a bad rap for being straight up rude to the people around them. And while there are a handful of celebs who never realize the error of their ways, many of these stars end up issuing apologies to the people they’ve wronged. Thankfully, most of the time these apologies are well received -- and everyone involved are able to smooth things out.

Find out why these stars had to issue an apology…

1. Anne Hathaway

Journalist Kjersti Flaa recently resurfaced an old interview with Anne Hathaway during which the actress had some lackluster answers to her interview questions. When Kjersti suggested they sing together, Anne straight up turned her down -- and looking back, Kjersti admits the interview continued to go downhill and felt that Anne was being “dismissive” towards her.

After the clips were shared on social media, Anne ended up reaching out to Kjersti to apologize for the rude interaction, sharing that she was going through a lot at the time. The pair agreed to keep the exact details of her email private.

“Yesterday, I did receive an email. It was from Anne Hathaway’s publicist, and he forwarded a message to me from Anne Hathaway,” she shared in another YouTube video. “I have to say, I was pretty shocked. I had not expected her to reach out to me at all. … She sent me a long email explaining to me what she was going through right then when she did this interview, and she apologized for giving me an awful interview, basically.”

2. Ariana Grande

When Cassandra Peterson, AKA Elvira, was recently asked about her rudest celebrity encounter, she confessed she had a bad experience with Ariana Grande. Elvira says Ariana requested 20 tickets to her show at Knott’s Scary Farm and asked if all her family and friends could meet her. When Elvira asked to take a photo with Ariana, she allegedly turned her down, saying “Nah, I don’t really do that.” She then left before Elvira’s performance.

When Elvira shared the story on Instagram, Ariana chimed in to respond, sharing she was “so disheartened to see this” and apologizing for the encounter.

“i actually don’t even remember getting the chance to meet you because i had an anxiety attack and to my memory, left before the rest of my family (this was around 7 years ago and at the time i was really not great with being in public crowds or loud places) ... but if i’m misremembering this moment, i sincerely apologize for offending you so,” she wrote.

She continued, “thank you for being so nice to my mom, she told me how lovely you were (she might have different feelings about that now but i’ll talk to her… clearly, we all have our days!) sending love always. ♡ you’ll always be our queen of halloween!”

3. Candace Cameron Bure

In 2022, JoJo Siwa claimed that Candace Cameron Bure was the rudest celebrity she had ever met. While there were quite a few moments of back and forth between the women, JoJo finally explained that the negative experience happened when she was a little girl and Candace snubbed her when she wanted to take a photo at a Fuller House premiere red carpet.

“I think it just was an inconvenient time for her, and little 11-year-old me was just so pumped up and so excited, but that doesn’t mean she’s the worst human ever,” JoJo explained. “It just, you know, it was a rough experience for me.”

Candace ended up reaching out to JoJo and they had a 10-minute conversation on the phone during which Candace apologized.

“I said, ‘JoJo, I’m so sorry’…I kind of broke your 11-year-old heart. I didn’t take a photo with you. I feel crummy. JoJo, I’m so sorry. I said, ‘Please know, especially as a mom, it breaks my heart that you feel that way. And I’m sorry to your mom too that I did that to her daughter,’” Candace said in a video.

4. Lea Michele

Lea Michele was once accused by a former Glee co-star of being incredibly rude on set. Samantha Ware decided to speak out after she took issue with Lea sharing support of the Black Lives Matter movement, especially because she felt that Lea had made “traumatic microaggressions” against her and made her life a “living hell” on the show’s set.

“Remember when you made my first television gig a living hell?!?! Cause I’ll never forget,” Ware tweeted in all caps. “I believe you told everyone that if you had the opportunity you would ‘s--t in my wig!’ amongst other traumatic microaggressions that made me question a career in Hollywood.”

Upon learning of the tweet, Lea issued a lengthy apology, saying she was sorry for her behavior and “any pain” which she caused. She wrote that it had made her realize that she needed to “take the time to listen and learn about other people’s perspectives and any role we have played or anything we can do to help address the injustices that they face.” She noted that she didn’t recall the wig incident but was sorry for what she had done and promised to be better in the future.

“While I don’t remember ever making this specific statement and I have never judged others by their background or color of their skin, that’s not really the point. What matters is that I clearly acted in ways which hurt other people,” Lea wrote.

She continued, “Whether it was my privileged position and perspective that caused me to be perceived as insensitive or inappropriate at times or whether it was just my immaturity and me just being unnecessarily difficult, I apologize for my behavior and for any pain which I have caused. We all can grow and change and I have definitely used these past several months to reflect my own shortcomings.”

5. Danielle Fishel

Danielle Fishel was also accused by a former co-star of being rude when they worked on set together. Trina McGee shared on X (formerly Twitter) that she felt she had been treated unfairly by many of her Boy Meets World castmates, including Danielle whom she says was cold to her when she guest starred on Girl Meets World.

After making the posts, Danielle reached out to Trina privately to discuss things and then shared a public apology.

“I owed @realtrinamcgee an apology for being rude, cold, & distant when she guest-starred on GMW (her tweet regarding warm hellos being met with cold blank stares was about me). Trina and I spoke over a month ago and she gracefully accepted my apology,” Danielle shared on X.

In a later interview, Trina confirmed that Danielle had called her to apologize and shared that Danielle explained that she was “going through a lot at the time on a personal level.” She noted that their relationship was “decent” and she was “not trying to hang around and have a grudge against the girl.”

6. James Corden

In 2022, James Corden was banned from prestigious New York restaurant Balthazar following several incidents at the restaurant. Owner Keith McNally took to Instagram to call out the late night host in a scathing post accusing him of being the “most abusive customer to my Balthazar servers since the restaurant opened 25 years ago.” He detailed two recent occasions including a moment when James screamed at a server over an incorrect order.

Following the post, Keith says James called him and “apologized profusely.” Despite the ban, Keith said he believed in second chances and would allow James to return to the restaurant in the future.

7. Hailey Bieber

Back in 2020, a former New York City restaurant hostess named Julia Carolan started a series on TikTok ranking all the celebrities she had met. She shared that she had assisted Hailey Bieber on several occasions but she had been rude every time.

“This is gonna be controversial. I've met [Hailey] a handful of times and she was not nice. I really want to like her but I give her, like, a 3.5 out of 10. Sorry,” Julia shared in the video.

In response, Hailey commented on the video, apologizing and writing, “Just came across this video, and wanted to say so sorry if I’ve ever given you bad vibes or a bad attitude. That’s not ever my intention! Hate hearing that was your experience with me but glad u called me out so I can do better!! Hopefully we meet again so I can apologize in person.”

8. Andrew Garfield

Andrew Garfield was once accused of being rude by a food delivery driver. In a now-deleted thread on X, the driver wrote that Andrew was “rude af” and had gotten “agitated” when he asked to see his ID, per the service’s alcohol policy.

The actor later explained that he felt that he hadn’t been rude but thought something was “fishy” because he hadn’t ordered any alcohol. Regardless of the miscommunication, Andrew apologized for anything that upset the man.

“I think he called me rude, which I definitely wasn’t. I did ask to do social distancing, but I obviously upset the man. I didn’t mean to, and I apologize for anything that may have been misconstrued as being rude -- I don't like upsetting people,” he said on Happy Sad Confused podcast.

He added, “It just became this whole thing. I think he got in trouble. I don’t know, whatever. But wherever you are, sir, I knew what you were up to! You were sneaky, and you gave me a good challenge that night."

9. Kathy Hilton

Kathy Hilton was caught on camera during a rude interaction with Mariska Hargitay. During the People's Choice Awards, Kathy took to the stage with the The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills cast to present the award for Best Drama TV Star. But during Mariska’s acceptance speech, Kathy completely ignored her and actually put on lipstick.

When Kathy was called out by social media users, she issued an apology during an interview with Extra, saying, “I feel terrible. I would never do anything to be rude intentionally, and I'm really sorry.”

She continued, “I actually thought I was going to sneeze, and you don’t want to hear me sneeze; it’s the loudest sneeze. I was looking for a tissue, I didn’t have a tissue or a hanky, so I got nervous and just put some lipstick on, and it was during her speech so I thought the camera isn’t going to be focused on me...I adore and respect Mariska very much. I already reached out to her, DMed her. I want to get her address. I feel terrible.”

10. Tony Danza

TikToker Rye Myers once accused Tony Danza of being the “rudest celebrity” he’d ever interviewed. He even shared a clip from his interaction with Tony on the red carpet at the opening night of New York, New York on Broadway. Not only did Tony tell Rye to “relax” because he thought he was too excited, he also said Rye needed to come up with better interview questions.

Tony faced a lot of backlash in the comment section and later, Rye shared that Tony had “called me to apologize and squash the beef. It was great to hear from him and certainly much appreciated.”

11. Jack Whitehall

In 2019, Jack Whitehall was guest hosting The Graham Norton Show when he came face-to-face with a studio audience member he had previously met. The guest explained that last time they encountered each other, she had told a story about living in France while sitting in the show’s infamous red chair -- and Jack had a rude response.

“I told a story that I thought was really good about when I was living in France and something happened with my daughter. However, a certain guest on the sofa that night really did not like my story and he was rather rude. He actually said, ‘Is that the best story she could come up with? Who does she bloody think she is?’” the woman explained on the show.

Jack quickly realized she was referring to him and revealed that he had sent a note to apologize to her -- but once again said he was “so sorry!”