I have been fortunate to meet a lot of famous people. Some for work and others in public places. I have written about many of these including Gary Oldman, Burt Lancaster, Dennis Hopper, Charlton Heston, Jack Palance, Joe Biden, Bill and Hillary Clinton, BB King, Gary Lewis, and many more. I have also spoken online to some including Max Gail, Fess Parker, Hugh Hefner and others.
I have also written about a trait of mine to keep some conversations private, and they have trusted me to do so including Yoko Ono and Ginger Lynn Allen. They have trusted me with their lives, and I am glad to call them my friends.
One of these people was someone who had a lot of mistrust for anyone who they didn't know. In 2024, I was desperate for money to survive. I was writing a lot of celebrities to see if any would contribute to me and my Go Fund Me page. One of these people was a man who had been in the spotlight for all of his life. His mother and father were very famous. I didn't know this man, nor anyone close to him, but I thought I would give it a shot. I found his email address and wrote him a letter about how much I admired his mother, who had tragically died years before. He wrote back to me, and I could tell he was hesitant to even do that. He gave me his phone number and said that he would rather talk via text than on email.
At first, I didn't know that he was who he said he was. I had been burned before by impostors. My trick is to ask an obscure question that only the recipient would know. He answered it correctly. One of his conditions to our chats was not to reveal his identity to anyone. He feared that somebody could get hold of his words and use them against him. I assured him that I would be discreet. He also asked not to share his phone number with anyone and that my phone contact would only be listed as "Prince Charming". We had a good laugh over that designation. So, we would chat once or twice a week about our lives.
I think one reason why we hit it off was that we both had lived in the spotlight growing up, although his childhood was much different than mine. We both were expected to behave in a certain way, and we both rebelled later on. He told me that his public persona with his family was much different than his private one. We talked about his family and his life away from his extended family. In one of our chats, he asked me if I would like to have a job working for his father. I was flattered but explained that I was over 70 years old and didn't have a passport. He told me that he could arrange for me to get a diplomatic passport. He was very gracious, but I couldn't just up and move to another country like that.
During our last chats together, he was telling me his thinking about moving back to his country of birth, if his wife and children were up to the move. I told him that I thought it would be good in the long wrong. No one should hold a grudge, and it is better to mend fences than to harbor dislike for people. When I saw the news that he had decided to move back, I felt good. My friend may have gotten a lot of bad press over the years, but he is a good man who cares about people who don't have a life as good as his. That is a lesson that his mother taught him. Thanks, Prince Charming, for being a good listener, and I would like to think I was for you, too.
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