Celebrity Friendships No One Understands
As avid consumers of everything celebrity, we all love it when a friendship blossoms between two famous people. Most of the time these BFF pairings seem like pretty obvious ones (seeing Kendall Jenner and Gigi Hadid squad-goaling it up together isn't going to raise any eyebrows, for example), but every now and again a celebrity friendship forms that leaves us totally speechless, one that seems so unlikely that it just can't be real. In the case of the following odd couples, their friendship is as real as it gets, and we have the photographic evidence to prove it. These are the celeb friendships that no one understands.
Ed Sheeran and Courteney Cox
Ed Sheeran and Friends star Courteney Cox's unlikely friendship came to light back in 2013 when the redheaded singer posted a picture to his Instagram feed cozying up to the actress, captioning the post with a plea for his fans to help Cox land her first People's Choice Award. "My friend Courteney is nominated for a People's Choice Award for favourite cable tv actress," the "Shape of You" singer wrote. "She's never won one before and she lets me live in her beach house, so how's about we all vote for her and win her the damn thang eh? Safe."
Sheeran spent several months living in Cox's Malibu property rent free while he worked on fresh material for his chart topping 2014 album "Multiply", though he explained to Bizarre (via The Sun) that he pulled his weight in other ways. "There was no rent but I made the bed and cups of tea and things like that. If you're staying at your friend's house, you should treat it like your own. Well, actually, that's a lie—because I don't make my own bed at home."
Snoop Dogg and Martha Stewart
One of the most bizarre friendships in show business, Snoop Dogg and Martha Stewart have been buds for the best part of a decade now, striking up a relationship back in 2008 when the rapper appeared on Stewart's show Martha to help her out with some mashed potatoes. The pair became close in the years that followed, even appearing on an episode of ABC's $100,000 Pyramid reboot together in 2016. Their inexplicable chemistry didn't go unnoticed by VH1, who decided to bring the two together for their very own cooking show Martha and Snoop's Potluck Dinner Party, a "great family show, that's wholesome, full of entertainment, great cooking, and good music," according to Snoop.
While the Doggystyle rapper might feel a little out of his element in the kitchen, the special guests he has on the show make him feel right at home, with Whiz Khalifa, Ice Cube and 50 Cent all making appearances. And speaking of Fiddy...
50 Cent and Bette Midler
Curtis '50 Cent' Jackson might not be as popular as he once was, though he still has plenty of friends in high places, they just aren't the ones you might expect. The musician-turned-actor got to know Bette Midler when she "called and nagged him" into putting his name to a new garden she was setting up in Queens as part of her New York Restoration Project. Jackson agreed and the pair soon became good friends, which the Hocus Pocus actress made no secret of during a spring picnic event at the park. "He's one of the newest members of our tribe," Midler told the NY Daily News. "He's really made my life worth living. [50] has been with me through thick and thin."
As far as a potential musical collaboration with Midler goes, 50 is totally down. "Me and Bette would be really hot," the rapper said. "But I'd need to make something new for her. For the right song, we'd definitely get together."
Ron Howard and Jamie Foxx
Ron Howard and Jamie Foxx got to know each other during Barack Obama's first presidential campaign, and it was while celebrating his victory in 2009 that the actor/singer convinced the former Happy Days star to join him and his other famous friends for a music video shoot. "We were at the inauguration," Howard exclusively revealed to EW, "and there was this tent full of showbiz people and their families. Jamie came over and said, 'Hey, I'm shooting a video in L.A., will you come by?' I was picturing a sort of 'We Are The World' thing. So I showed up, and Jamie said, 'It's this party scene, and you're going to drive up with Jake Gyllenhaal and Forest Whitaker and me. The only thing is that you've got to wear your party face.'"
After being yelled at by the director for smiling too much, Howard managed to film his scenes and the rest is history, and while the experience didn't exactly awaken the clubber in him (he remains "the opposite of a big pimpin' kind of dude") it did kick-start one of the most unlikely friendships in show business. The pair reunited three years later for Howard's Project Imagination, a contest in which the public would enter photographs they thought would inspire up-and-coming directors, Foxx being one of them. When interviewed about the project, the Django Unchained star said that it was "just two old friends getting back together."
Russell Brand and Helen Mirren
Dame Helen Mirren and fellow Essex-born actor Russell Brand first met one another in Hawaii back in 2009 during the filming of Julie Taymor's Shakespeare remake The Tempest, a movie described as "arse-achingly dull and clangingly misjudged" by Film 4. Despite the negative reviews their first collaboration received, they were brought back together (Brand hand-picked Mirren for the role) for another remake the following year, a new take on Dudley Moore classic Arthur. Speaking to press in Australia, the comedian-turned-film star explained how he struck up a friendship with the Oscar winner.
"It's an unconsummated love affair," Brand said (via Daily Mail). "An erotic, intellectual tangle of emotions between a Dame and a vagabond. She is an incredible personality, very beautiful; ordinary when she needs to be, remarkable when required." Mirren admitted to being equally as smitten with her younger colleague, telling US Weekly that they are "really close friends—I wear the safety pin that he gave me around my neck all the time!"
Clay Aiken and Tyra Banks
It's no secret that the world of reality TV stars is a small one, but even so this friendship seems pretty out of the blue. American Idol winner Clay Aiken and America's Next Top Model host Tyra Banks have been BFFs for more than ten years now, and even Aiken himself isn't really sure why they got on so well. "I love her to death," the singer told People. "For some reason we just clicked when we first met, and we try to stay in touch and see each other whenever we're in town. She's such a real person, and I think that's something people didn't know about her until her talk show. She doesn't try to be something she's not. She'll be as nerdy as she needs to be, or whatever she needs to be. I think that's why people are attracted to her, and I think that's why we became friends."
The pair have attended events together and go out of their way to promote each other, both personally and professionally. Banks set up a fundraising page for Aiken when he decided to try his hand at politics: "Help my friend, Clay Aiken, as he tries to use his voice to improve the lives of many," she wrote. While the page only managed to make $40 of its $10,000 aim, Aiken was named the Democratic candidate for North Carolina's 2nd congressional district, but was ultimately defeated by Republican Renee Ellmers.
Harry Styles and Zach Braff
Zach Braff's career has hit something of plateau over the last decade or so, with the former Scrubs star unable to follow up on the success of his award winning 2004 directorial debut Garden State. Ten years later he was back behind the camera with Wish I Was Here, a movie that was criticized for treading the same ground as his first film, though one person who loved the flick was Harry Styles. The One Direction star flew out to Utah to attend the premiere of the kickstarter-funded picture as a guest of Braff, whose movie proved so heart-wrenching that it reduced Styles to tears.
"No matter where I go now, people bring up Harry Styles," Braff revealed on Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen. "I was leaving 30 Rock today and people were like 'say hi to Harry for me!' I just met Harry through mutual friends and he's a super nice guy, he was cool enough to come to Sundance and see our movie. And then he Tweeted out that he cried during the movie, because the movie is emotional, and then it went viral... it was the best present we ever had."
The pair took their chance to bro down after the premiere, heading to pop-up club The Grey Goose Blue Door where Styles happily chatted to Anne Hathaway. It wasn't their first man date, however—Braff had previously Tweeted a picture of him and his "BFF" enjoying a candlelit dinner in New York.
John Mayer and Andy Cohen
Speaking of Andy Cohen, the presenter once referred to himself as a "gold-star gay," so you'd be forgiven for thinking that a bromance with ladies man John Mayer was a made up story, but the two really are good friends. The Watch What Happens Live host has spent time at Mayer's Montana home and even has his own nickname for the singer songwriter—the Electric Cowboy. "He's great. I love him," Cohen told Daily Dish. "We're buddies and we bond over the Grateful Dead and he's just a great guy."
While Mayer is yet to reveal his nickname for Cohen, he did spill the details on what it is like going out on the town with him. "When you walk in a gay club with Andy Cohen, he is the Beyonce of that whole [room]," Mayer said while a guest on Cohen's show. "It is unbelievable. I've seen celebrity, and I've seen pull, and I've seen clout, but you have not seen anything like Andy Cohen walking in. Just a shooting gallery."
Eminem and Elton John
When Eminem first announced that he was going to be performing with Elton John at the 2001 Grammy Awards, Slim Shady haters called it nothing more than a stunt designed to take the heat off the rapper after he came under fire for using homophobic lyrics, though the truth is that he had no idea that John was gay. "Of course, I heard of Elton John," the musician and occasional actor told MTV a few years after their live duet. "I didn't know he was gay. I didn't know anything about his personal life. I didn't really care. But being that he was gay and he had my back, I think it made a statement in itself saying that he understood where I was coming from."
The pair have become close friends in the years since and John even proved to be a rock for Mathers during the height of his drug problems, as he revealed to Rolling Stone a decade after their now iconic performance. "I love him," the Rocket Man singer said. "I don't see much of Marshall, but we speak a lot. He's really worked very hard at [sobriety], and it's changed him so much... When David and I had our civil partnership, he sent us a present. In a case, on velvet cushions, were two diamond c*** rings. So there's a homophobe for you."
Gwyneth Paltrow and Beyonce
Name dropping is just one of the many reasons that Gwyneth Paltrow became so hated in Hollywood, and she has a couple of friends in particular that she never seems to shut up about. The blonde actress met Beyonce back in the early '00s and the pair became close after getting drunk backstage at a Jay Z concert in 2006. She has been a close confidant of the couple ever since, attending their New York wedding with her then-husband Chris Martin and accompanying Beyonce to the 53rd Grammy Awards.
"Jay is like a big-brother figure to me," she told Daily Mail. "He has a very calming and mature energy. He is an amazing force in our life—the kids call him Uncle Jay and Beyoncé, Auntie B... She is gorgeous, very feminine, very clever in that she knows how to be powerful and yet demure." Queen B has been equally complimentary about Paltrow, telling Harper's Bazaar (via Digital Spy) that she "pushes her boundaries all the time. You go to her house and she makes you feel like you never want to go home. She is what I strive to be one day."
Snoop Dogg and David Beckham
Another name you wouldn't expect to see while scrolling through Snoop Dogg's contact list is that of soccer star David Beckham, who has bizarrely been good buds with the rapper for over a decade now. When Becks was transferred from Spanish club Real Madrid to LA Galaxy back in 2007, the Brit wasted no time in settling in to the celebrity lifestyle, and one of his first TV appearances came on Snoop's now canceled reality show Snoop Dogg's Father Hood. Beckham was drafted in to show Snoop's kids how to play soccer, and while it became clear that none of them would be getting snapped up by the Galaxy any time soon, the result was that "D-Beck" (as Snoop calls him) became one of the family.
"He's a great father, a great husband and a great friend," Snoop told BBC Radio (via NME). "I love our friendship and some people in life just come together for some odd reason. Me and him came together on one night and we just became friends and we've just been friends ever since." They became so close that Snoop even started relying on the soccer icon for advice on his music. "Since I moved to LA, we've become friends, funnily enough," Beckham confirmed in a AP interview. "His last album, he called me about 10 days before it came out and he said 'I've just finished the album just this minute, why don't you drive down to the studio and come in and listen to it?'"