TL;DR version: NYC Early 2000s, in a store, had a conversation with a stranger that they started. Person looked familiar. Had no idea who it was until my friend come by and said it was Jennifer Love Hewitt. Probably 15 years later was visiting the city again, getting breakfast with my wife and she sat at the table next to us. Remembered the meeting..not necessarily me at all, but the meeting.
Long version
Was in NYC back in the early 2000s...was in a store near Rockefeller Center looking at some dress clothes (it may have been Structure or Banana Republic). Holding up a shirt with a pair of pants to look at them together, I hear this voice say "I think it looks good together" and I turned around, expecting to see a store rep/salesperson.
Instead I see this short, striking dark haired girl smiling and she is almost apologetic as she said she was passing by and saw me holding it up and wanted to let me know. I muttered something like "Well, thank you. I think I'll get it" and by the time it came fully out, my mind was already thinking ahead and I then said..."You look really familiar, but I'm not from here so I have no idea where I would know you from".
She just busted out laughing and my dumb@ss was like "What? Did I say something wrong?" and almost at this exact same time, my buddy comes from a difference section of the store and goes "Oh, hi!" to her. She is still laughing, says hello to him and my buddy asks for a picture. She obliges. I'm still freaking clueless and confused. I said to him and her "Oh, maybe that's why I recognize you? Maybe I met you once before!"
My buddy says "Dude, it's Jennifer Love Hewitt, the actress.". I'm just like "Oooooh, okay. Now it makes sense why you look familiar."
I'm telling you it was both cringe-worthy and funny. She was absolutely wonderful. Got a chance to talk with her for probably 10 minutes just about various stuff. As we were all leaving, she said to us "Thank you guys for a random, normal conversation. It was nice."
...Flash to around 2017, wife and I were visiting NYC to see shows, play tourist, etc. We are at a diner near the hotel, waiting for breakfast, when this lady comes in and sits at the table next to us. My wife whispered to me "I think that's Jennifer Love Hewitt". I'm telling you I am oblivious to celebrities and wouldn't recognize very many of them, at all.
Sure enough, a couple of other people recognized her (odd as this was a diner not in the tourist parts at all) and asked for a photo....she obliged.
As she was finishing up her meal, I said to her "Excuse me, your Jennifer Love Hewitt, right?"and she said "Yes". I told her how I had met her probably 15 years ago here in the city. I began the story of how i was looking at clothes and she was walking by and complimented them and out of nowheree, she goes "Ohmygod! Yes! I remember! You had no idea who I was and your friend had to tell you. He was Asian, right?" and she was so excited. I told her "Yup, that was it" I introduced my wife. She asked if I was still friends with my buddy and I said "Well, yes, I pretty much talk to him every day and he was the best man at my wedding".
I asked her if she would mind if I texted him that I ran into her. She started laughing and said excitedly "We can just call him and surprise him!! Does he have FaceTime?" I told her "No, he doesn't have an Apple phone, but we could try to get him on a Google Video call?" She says to the owner of the restaurant "Can we use your back room to call a friend?" He obliges. We call him and I said "Dude, someone wants to speak with you". She gets on, and it takes my buddy a good 10 seconds to recognize who it is. She is just laughing hysterically. My wife is laughing.
Anyways, we all probably chat for like 15 more minutes, she give my wife and I both a huge hug and says "That was awesome. Thank you". She asked if she could write about what happened on social media (without using our names) and both the wife and I said sure. I got a message from her husband later in day and he was hilarious. Saying how she came back and told him all about it in this excited voice like a little kid on Christmas morning.