Seven star names and shames worst celeb interviews
<p>A former Channel Seven showbiz reporter has named and shamed the worst celebrities he's interviewed. </p>
<p>Nelson Aspen, 61, who as an entertainment correspondent for Sunrise for two decades opened up on his worst celebrity encounters fellow showbiz reporter Kjersti Flaa on her <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pJ7xEdVa25s" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><em>YouTube show</em></a>. </p>
<p>Flaa who is known for revealing her own "nightmare" celebrity encounter with Blake Lively, prompted Aspen to share his own experience with the <em>Gossip Girl </em>actress. </p>
<p>Aspen said that his first interview with Lively in 2016 was “fun and playful” and he was "gobsmacked" by her beauty. But he had a very different experience just two years later when he interviewed her and Anna Kendrick for <em>A Simple Favor</em>. </p>
<p>“I’m figuring, ‘Oh this is going to be fun.’ I’d interviewed Anna before and she’s fine, but Blake? She’s going to be be a hoot, I can’t wait,” Aspen recalled. </p>
<p>“They were paired together, and I think that may have had something to do with it. She [Lively] could’ve been having a bad day, maybe they didn’t get along, maybe it was competition, maybe it was two egos trapped in the same room, maybe Blake is just better one-on-one … I don’t know, but she answered every question with a question, combatively.</p>
<p>“It was not pleasant, and Anna sort of did the same. It’s like she was like, ‘OK this is girl power, we’re going to be team up on the journalist.’</p>
<p>“And in your interview with Blake, I recognised it, this is a trait, obviously a recurring one,” he told Flaa.</p>
<p>“Thanks to you, everybody’s warned.”</p>
<p>He then revealed that one of his most uncomfortable chats was with Oscar-winning actor Robert De Niro, and prior to his interview, a publicist warned him that De Niro "won't look you in the eyes". </p>
<p>That was exactly what happened when he interviewed the actor. </p>
<p>“The camera that was on me was off to a weird angle so that Robert never had to look me in the face,” Aspen recalled. </p>
<p>“He looked off camera, but when we cut it together it looked as if he was looking at me.</p>
<p>“They went to so much trouble to avoid him having to look at the journalist.”</p>
<p>Another A-lister he interviewed was Marvel star Paul Rudd, considered to be one of the nicest guys in Hollywood, but Aspen said it wasn't always the case. </p>
<p>“He’s usually very sweet, but it was his birthday, and that’s when everybody was talking about ‘ageless Paul Rudd’,” Aspen said.</p>
<p>“They [publicists] said, ‘Don’t ask him about his youthful appearance, and don’t say Happy Birthday.’ I was like, ‘You’ve got to be kidding me.’</p>
<p>“Yes it was coming from the publicist, but he must have said, ‘I don’t want to talk about my birthday’.”</p>
<p>"I can’t remember exactly how it went down, but whatever it was they were very sensitive about it, and it was very uncomfortable and awkward, and nobody says that about Paul Rudd.</p>
<p>“But it happens, they’re people too.”</p>
<p>However, his interviews weren't all bad, with Hugh Jackman known as one of the kindest stars in Hollywood. </p>
<p>“I’ve interviewed him a thousand times. He’s the best,” Aspen said.</p>
<p>Meryl Streep and Julie Andrews were also among Aspen’s favourites.</p>
<p><em>Image: Youtube</em></p>
