Have you ever sat next to a celebrity on a plane?

Any eldergays sit next to coked up Elle McPherson in her 80s/90s heyday? Apparently she was a real cunt on planes.

Yes.

Katherine Helmond

She was very nice, very modest, and interesting to talk to.

R1 I didn’t but I know plenty of Qantas cabin crew who tried to serve her. She was famous for insisting on only speaking French to crew (she was briefly married to a French photographer so picked up some of the lingo). Unfortunately her French was so bad that nobody could understand her so she’d have to switch to English to order her “chicken or beef?”.

And not just a Qantas thing - she was part of the Sydney 2000 Olympics closing ceremony and tried the same thing on until people just blanked her in rehearsals rather than deal with her nonsense.

Hopefully she’s evolved a little since then.

Which reminds me (nothing to do with flying but it does involve Elle being a cunt). A journalist for an English paper - possibly the Guardian - did a profile of her as she was shilling for something.

Massively shady article - my fave line was a quote from Elle: “”Nothing in this house is for decoration” as she adjusted a tightly packed bowl of peonies”.

Along with Elle’s shopping advice: “If you find something that you like, buy it in three colours”.

I once sat on a plane next to Joan Kennedy’s tennis instructor and he had some nice juicy stories.

Thanks r3 and r4. Apparently one of Murdoch's UK papers hacked her phone way back when, so they never publish anything bad about her since she settled.

Australia has so few celebrities, that she's treated like a superstar here and shamelessly flaunts her shitty products as stories about her true nature are buried. She initially blamed an adviser for leaking stories about her to the tabloids, but her phone was later revealed to have been hacked. When her adviser sued Murdoch's papers for how Elle had treated her, Elle declined to testify on the poor woman's behalf, leaving the papers' lawyers to tear her to shreds.

A despicable creature said to have leathery skin if seen in the flesh.