Orlando Bloom - News & Appearances #28 - So caught up we cant keep track of the thread!

ChrisM · 08-15-2013, 08:51 PM

Quote:

Fame: it's an elusive quality
BY:KATE LEGGE From: The Australian August 12, 2013 12:00AM

I WAS was sitting across from one of Hollywood's hottest stars and I didn't know it.

He'd been introduced without much fuss by our host who presumed a face this famous doesn't need a drum roll. The restaurant was noisy and I'm a little deaf so I thought he was called "Arlie". Only when other diners began craning their necks and circling our table with their iPhone cameras did I cotton on. The moment he ducked out for a cigarette I leaned across to the host's wife and asked "What does Arlie do?" "Orlie" she corrected me "is an actor". Frowning, I tried to place him on the screen. "Orlando Bloom," she explained, "The Hobbit, Troy, Lord of the Rings, Black Hawk Down." I shrank into my seat and let out a silent howl at a gaffe that tops a very competitive field of faux pas I've committed over the years.

My sons disowned me in disbelief, but it wasn't until I visited the local hairdressing salon that I realised the full scale of my ignorance. "Orlando Bloom," they shrieked, dropping hair tongs and blow driers on the linoleum as they ran for their well-thumbed copies of the latest glossy magazines. "Here, look!" they cooed over full-page pictures of my dining companion. More glamorous in a tuxedo than a hoodie and jeans, he stood astride the red carpet with his wife, model Miranda Kerr, in a couture gown. Body language experts picked apart the signs of tenderness between them in the midst of rumours their marriage was rocky. I didn't disclose that this very same star had kissed my hand. But I did set them right on his relationship. At the time we met, it was rock solid. Soon I was name-dropping shamelessly, editing the story conveniently to skate over my ignorance.

Fame is intoxicating. Those who have it wish at times they didn't, while those who never provoke the flush of recognition warm themselves at the flame of another's shrine. I'm in the latter category. Autograph hunters, screaming mobs and the fawning waiter who sweeps you through to the best table in the house have not been my due. The only time anyone points at me is when I've got a crumb of cake stuck to my chin. I have a sneaking sense of what it might be like to be noticed since I am often mistaken for a household name. When strangers confuse me with writer Kathy Lette and congratulate me on her latest book, I thank them for the compliment to spare any embarrassment. Kate Legge, Kathy Lette, the muddle is understandable. We are both brunettes, with big teeth, and we write for a living. But I could safely bet she has never been asked if she's me. Occasionally callers ring asking to speak to my husband, Geoffrey Robertson, the human rights lawyer who is married to Kathy Lette, and I tell them he's busy arguing a case in Brussels or Geneva.

My husband is Greg Hywood. He is not in Orlando Bloom's sphere of super stardom, but he has made the top 10 of a list nominating the 50 most influential people in the Australian media. Recently we attended a swish dinner with hundreds of guests, including the then prime minister, Julia Gillard. At the table where we were seated I couldn't spot my name tag. Then I noticed one for Liz Hywood and assumed correctly this was me. Here was a new low on the social ladder. At the end of the night, I pocketed the printed card in case I ever get tickets on myself and need a stark reminder of who I am.

As for Orlando Bloom, I can reveal that he is genuinely interested in those around him and so low key it's hardly surprising that idiots like Liz Hywood don't twig to his 24-carat celebrity glow. We talked about marriage and the art of staying together for 30 years. That's when he kissed my hand and told my husband he is the luckiest man alive. Now that I know who he is, I'm his No 1 fan.

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