Fun Fridays Feature: Remembering Some of the Celebrity Hotties I've Met

Last night I was fortunate to have been invited to a preview screening of "The Legend of Hercules" starring Kellan Lutz before it released widespread in theaters here in America. The movie was...eh, okay, but I might have drooled over Kellan's frequently bare chest and silently reminisced more about the time I met him rather than paying attention to the movie itself. When I got home, I logged onto Facebook and skimmed through the posts for a fellow author's release party on Facebook. Kellan's hot picture was posted there, along with lots of other hotties--some of whom I've had the pleasure of meeting on occasion. It sometimes takes a lot of restraint to keep from posting Yeah, he hugged me or Yeah, I touched him or Yeah, he smells really good up close because that would make me seem like either a sex fiend or a crazy person or an attention seeker. Possibly all three. And I don't like to gloat. Much. But I will now. Heaven help you all if I ever meet Henry Cavill because I will never shut up about it. Ever. Sigh. If only...

Anyway. In honor of Kellan's new movie, and because I haven't done a Fun Friday post in a while, I thought I'd share the details on some of my, er, encounters with famous hotties.

Kellan Lutz
I met Kellan in July 2009 when he was in Atlanta for a Twilight convention. Yes, I attended a Twilight convention.  With my niece. Confession: I wasn't all that interested in Kellan at the time. I mean, I liked him okay as Emmett, but I didn't find him all that attractive. Neither did my niece. We were more interested in the other guests on the lineup. Then Kellan came out and did a Q&A with fans. Whoa, mama. He was way hotter in person than he'd been in Twilight. I mean HOT. The more he talked, the more I began to dig him. He's big into animal rescue and shared how he'd rescued his only dog at the time. Awwww. The niece and I immediately went and bought tickets to get his autograph....and waited forever to meet him because everyone else had been sucked into the Kellan vortex too.

There's something about Kellan that only comes across when you meet him, I think. The man oozes charisma. I think it's the way he looks at you. He has the most amazing eyes, and he's smart enough to look into your eyes when he greets you, making you feel like you're the center of his universe for those few seconds of connection. He rendered both me and my niece into blabbering imbeciles simply by looking at us, smiling, and going above and beyond to try to engage us in brief conversation. We walked away, and my niece--who has never been all that affected by hot male celebrities--was blushing and said, "Wow!" It was awesome. Kellan is a really nice guy. And way hotter in person. Trust me on this.

Ian Somerhalder
I've been a big Ian fan since he was on "Lost," but I didn't develop a serious thing for him until he started playing Damon on "The Vampire Diaries." Who didn't? When he came to Dragoncon a couple of years ago, I immediately bought tickets for a photo opp and autograph session with the man. I didn't care how much it cost. I was psyched! Then the big day came, and honestly, Ian showed up late (he got held up filming, I was told), and he turned out to be a lot shorter than I was expecting--awkward for a woman who's 6'2"-- but when it was my turn to snap a picture with him, he aimed his gorgeous blue eyes right at me, said in that smooth voice of his, "What's up, Superwoman?" and held his arms out wide, prompting me to fling myself into his arms and squeeze the poor man hug him. Then he smiled at me, thanked me for waiting, and all was forgiven. It was a very brief encounter, but one I'll never forget. Thanks, Ian.

Joe Manganiello

Me and Joe, 2012

Oh, Joe. Sigh. Another of my Dragoncon conquests, I've actually met Joe twice on two separate occasions. The first time, I got his autograph and chatted with him. On that occasion, he started singing "Angie" by The Rolling Stones to me, asked if I got that a lot, and then promised never to do it again. The next year, I decided to do a photo opp with him for the simple fact I'm freakishly tall and it's darn hard to find a guy taller than me. Joe is a lot taller than me. This convinces me we're meant to be together. I just have to convince him of that. 

Anyway. The photo opp. When I went up to Joe to take my picture he said, "Hey, I remember you!" squeezed me to his side--the man smelt really good, too. His cologne was...yummy--and when I went to move away, he held onto me until I looked at him, then he smiled and said, "Hey, thanks for coming and seeing me again." Another all-too-short encounter, but one I will never forget. 

Jensen Ackles
 Considering how crazy I've always been about Jensen, I wish I had a better story to share, but sadly, it's more of a non encounter than an encounter, and it happened a long, long time ago. Jensen was on "Days of Our Lives" at the time, and he was in my hometown for a charity event. I actually was supposed to interview him for the newspaper, but he got here late due to filming that ran over and messed up his schedule. So I didn't get the one-on-one interview I'd been hoping for. I did get to meet him, very briefly, but he hadn't slept in 24 hours and was tired and probably a little bit cranky. Even so, he did sign a picture for me and let me take his picture, and he was nice about it. I know lots of people who went to the event to see him, and all these years later, they still gripe about how rude "Eric" was that day. Jensen wasn't rude to me, but I know he had a rough day and might not have lived up to everyone's expectations. Celebrities are people, too, you know. It didn't turn me off him at all, obviously, and I live in hope I'll get to meet him again someday.

So there's four of my hottie encounters. I could talk about the time Patrick Dempsey came into the deli where I worked and I made a complete fool of myself, or I could talk about how I kept hugging Dean Cain the time I met him. Or maybe the time I went to a press junket for "The Hunger Games" and talked to Liam Hemsworth, or how John Barrowman grabbed my behind, or that time I interviewed Blake Shelton. But I think I'll save those for later.