Associate Showbusiness Editor Tom Bryant, a celebrity journalist for the Mirror, has met countless celebrities over the course of his 20 years of experience. He has partyed with the biggest A-listers from the Oscars to the Baftas before joining them backstage for a quiet conversation. In this video, he reveals who was the nicest behind closed doors.
After 20 years of covering the showbusiness beat at the Mirror, there is one long-standing rule that generally stacks up. Namely, the bigger the star, the nicer they usually are. I’ve lost count of the amount of painful dealings I’ve had with those plucked from reality television, and their representatives.
Despite this, some genuine A-listers have surprised me with their level of grit. Here are my Top Five in no particular order, from random acts of kindness to heartfelt gestures.
Dolly Parton – the Queen of Country who never forgets a name
The Queen of Country never forgets names. Or the names of your family members. In fact, when you meet her she always remembers some random thing from the last time you spoke. I’ve Interviewed Dolly twice on her home-turf in Nashville, as well as in London, and she is always scintillating company.
Even if one interview began at her manager’s office at 6 a.m., which is horrible. She hollered “Where’s my Tom,” and scurried into the view before disappearing. The hospitality is unmatched every time I visit Nashville. She once invited me to her sizable merchandise warehouse, where we could stack up our trolleys and get as much free stuff as we wanted.
Mick Jagger
I was slightly apprehensive ahead of meeting the legendary Stones frontman, back in 2016, when I was invited to join the band on tour in Mexico City. Not only were interviews with Mick relatively rare – and I probably wouldn’t get this opportunity again – but I’d heard that he could be a bit aloof. But any fears were swiftly allayed after just moments in his company.
He was everything you could have wished for as he racked me with stories all the way from self-deprecating to very dry humor. But besides the interview, he left a lasting impression. Mick and the band were staying in the same hotel, and I was oblivious to Mick’s demand that I don’t get there on my own.
Instead, he insisted that I travel with his friends and family as we loaded onto a private bus, complete with our own police escort, which delayed our time to the Foro Sol stadium. Mick’s VIP treatment didn’t end there, as he also made sure my family and I were watching the show by the sound deck before inviting me to the band’s after-show bash, which started early.
Olivia Newton-John
When it came to laying on the hospitality, there was no-one quite like Olivia, who passed away in 2022. I was lucky enough to visit her beautiful Californian ranch, which was an hour’s drive north of Santa Barbara, in 2019. I’ll never forget her opening the door with a large glass of wine ready to go. She’d kindly agreed to speak to me as part of a Mirror campaign to plant more trees, as it was a cause she was passionate about.
She took great pride in giving me a personal tour of her gorgeous garden and how miraculously she had recovered from cancer, where she had a broken back. I and her publicist Steve spent hours chatting up her wine cabinet while she rested after the interview was finished, and we stayed outside until late at night. If only this was the case with all celebrity interviews!
Rihannathoughtful, intelligent, but, mainly, hilarious
I’ve met Rihanna twice over the years….way back in 2007 when she was in Glasgow after a UK show, and then a few years later in LA. On both occasions, she was thoughtful, intelligent, but, mainly, hilarious. She certainly needed a sense of humour given the circumstances of our first chat in Scotland. It was about 1am when I sat down to interview her after being ushered back to her dressing room after her performance.
There was no entourage, no PR handlers: it was just her, me and the smallest sofa in the world to conduct our chat on. That and the half-eaten sandwich and dozens of drink cans scattered on the floor. Our knees were practically touching as I started firing off questions….which Rihanna found hysterical. “I’m getting to know you very well here,” she laughed.
A couple of years later I was lucky enough to fly to the States for our second chat. Ostensibly, I was there to discuss some charity work. But our meeting came shortly after terrible pictures emerged of her having been beaten up by boyfriend Chris Brown. Am sure she wasn’t relishing the prospect of being asked about it. But – ever the professional – she answered my questions, before deftly moving the conversation onto happier subjects. Before long, she was cracking jokes and joking how this time around, the circumstances around the interview were a little less intimate.
Bon Jovi is Jon Bon Jovi.
I’ve met JBJ several times over the years, both in New York and London, and he never fails to disappoint. Not just from a journalistic perspective, but as an all-round nice human being too. You get the impression that he is just delighted to still be doing what he’s doing after all these years. Media duties must get a bit tiresome – especially after four decades in the business – but he is always awash with great stories, told with chutzpah.
Source: Mirror
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