'I cover pop culture everyday for work. These are the 8 moments I'll never stop thinking about.'

My favourite celebrity stories are always the ones that are a little... kooky.

Kooky, or derpy, or embarrassing. Bonus points for messy.

Because while I am a firm believer that pop culture is essentially a mirror of society, that can tell us a lot about the world we live in because it reflects back our values, priorities and beliefs, I also just believe it's... ridiculous, a lot of the time.

As an entertainment writer, I spend my days talking about all the facets of pop culture - from how it shows stark inequalities, to the glorification of some pretty shitty things. That's all super important to talk about.

But my favourite moments are always the stupid shit that goes on. Usually, they're low stakes dramas or moments where the celebrity veneer comes down and we see these people act like... well, the rest of us.

Here are some of my favourite moments that have stuck with me - and made me laugh - over the years.

A Low Vera.

happy 20 years to the infamous julia roberts "a low vera" t-shirt

(march 22, 2002) pic.twitter.com/Wmyg6KGBR7

— popculturediedin2009 (@pcd2009) March 23, 2022

I enjoy chaotic celebrity relationship drama - who doesn't? - and this one is yet to be topped.

In 2000, Julia Roberts met cinematographer Danny Moder on the set of The Mexican. Both were in relationships at the time, but they got together and Moder initiated a divorce from his wife, makeup artist Vera Steimberg.

To cut a long story short, Steimberg kind of dragged her heels on the divorce, and by March 2002 Roberts was clearly... very impatient.

So impatient that she made a DIY t-shirt, that said "A Low Vera" (I wonder how long she thought about that pun), and wore it out in public. Considering the fact that Roberts was one of the most famous, most photographed movie stars in the world... well, she made sure Steimberg and the entire world got the message.

It seemed to work too: Steimberg and Moder finalised their divorce three months later, and he married Roberts a month later.

SO MESSY.

The wickedly talented Adele Dazeem.

Many, many gaffes have happened on the Oscars stage. I mean, they literally announced the wrong Best Picture winner in 2017 - sorry, La La Land. 

But it was this moment that has me in stitches every time I think about it.

It was 2014, and John Travolta was introducing Tony winning Broadway star (and literal Disney queen) Idina Menzel to stage, but he had... a little bit of trouble with the teleprompter.

Shout out to Adele Dazeem, killed it pic.twitter.com/Ag60athxSs

— Isaac (@WorldofIsaac) February 10, 2020

It was glorious before we even got to the main mistake.

"Please welcome to WIckEDdly talented," Travolta began, with such florish! The weird emphasis on 'wickedly' brings me more joy than it should!

Then he launches into 'Adele Dazeem', with absolutely zero confidence which makes sense because that is absolutely not her name.

It reminds me so much of my dad mumbling the names of my longtime friends, who he should definitely know but cannot for the life of him ever remember. 

Travolta later explained that he f***ed up because Oscars staff had changed her name on the teleprompter to phonetic spelling, which threw him off.

Menzel was initially really gutted by the gaffe, but came to love it.

"It was the greatest thing that ever happened to me," she told James Corden during a 2021 Carpool Karaoke episode.

[John has] written so many nice apologetic e-mails, sent flowers, he’s so kind, and to make up for it he would fly wherever at this point. And I always just say, 'No worries, because it was the best thing that ever happened to me!'"

Justin Bieber not knowing what German was.

This narrowly beats out 'Justin Bieber says Anne Frank would've been a Belieber' and 'Justin Bieber comments "Well not the last greatest living performer" on an Instagram tribute calling Prince "the last of the greatest living performers"' as my personal favourite Biebs moment.

Perhaps it's because I watched it live. It's burnt into my memory, and everyday I am grateful for that.

It was 2010, and I was a 17-year-old in New Zealand. Each afternoon, I'd rush home from school to watch C4, the music channel where I'd text in requests for videos and dance along to a song about getting 'slizard' and feeling fly like a made-up private jet model from the comfort of my parents living room.

On one particular day, teen sensation Justin Bieber was in the country for a promotional tour, and he appeared on the channel for an interview.

Which is when... it happened. 

Host Drew Neemia asked Biebs: "'Bieber' is German for 'basketball', true or false?" It was a weird question, sure, but not as weird as the response.

Bieber said he didn't know what that word meant, to which Neemia blamed his Kiwi accent (relatable) and showed him the index card so he can see the word 'German' in written form.

"We don't say that in America," he replies. "I like basketball if that's what you're asking me!"

It's just SO funny. He's Canadian! He later had to clarify in a statement that he did know what German meant! He thought Neemia said Jewman?!

It's like a sitcom episode and it will never not make me laugh to think about.

The Beyonce/Jay-Z/Solange elevator footage.

Bey and Jay... before. Image: Getty.

If I had the chance to find out the truth behind just one Hollywood secret, I would 100 per cent choose what happened in this damn elevator.

The year was 2014. The month was May. The event was a Met Gala afterparty. And the gossip, well, the gossip was Solange Knowles giving Jay-Z a full-blown smack down in an elevator as Beyonce watched on. 

THERE IS NOTHING I WANT TO KNOW MORE IN THIS LIFE THAN WHY THIS HAPPENED.

Bey addressed it in 'Flawless': "Of course sometimes shit go down / when it's a billion dollars on an elevator," she sings, which only makes me want to know more. 

And Jay took responsibility in 'Kill Jay-Z': "You egged Solange on / Knowin' all along / All you had to say you was wrong / But you gotta do better, boy, you owe it to Blue / You had no father, you had the armour / But you got a daughter, gotta get softer."

Which again... just makes me want to know more.

Tom Cruise jumping on Oprah's couch.

Tom Cruise declaring his love for Katie Holmes to Oprah Winfrey. Image: The Oprah Winfrey Show.

There is a lot we could discuss re: Tom Cruise. A lot of it is... bad. I acknowledge that.

But I also want to ignore pretty much all of it right now, and simply talk about the time he jumped on Oprah's couch.

In 2005, Cruise was booked on the talk show to promote his upcoming movie, Steven Spielberg's War of the Worlds. If he spoke about the film, no one remembers it.

The interview quickly unravelled, with Cruise going off-script to gush over being in love with his new girlfriend, Katie Holmes. Then, in a moment that has gone down in pop culture history, Cruise jumped onto Oprah's couch, arms in the air.

The couch jump gets all the airtime, but he also leaped around the set and fell rapturously down to one knee a number of times. 

My favourite part is actually Oprah's reaction. She's so confused. Possibly even concerned.

When she says "you're gone!" I lose it, because you can see she's really searching for the words to describe what's happening and that's all she could come up with.

More celebrities jumping on couches, please.

Harry Styles 'spitting' on Chris Pine.

An instant classic.

It was only in September 2022 that the idea of Harry Styles, biggest male popstar in the world, spitting on Chris Pine, Hollywood's mid-tier Chris, seemed like something that could've happened.

It all went down at the Venice Film Festival, when the Don't Worry Darling co-stars greeted each other at the film's screening. 

Footage appeared to show Styles spitting in Pine's lap, as Pine stopped clapping and looked down. 

someone needs to begin a full fledged investigation into what happened on that don’t worry darling set… wdym harry styles spitting on chris pine on NATIONAL TELEVISION? pic.twitter.com/jpow9JT8pk

— ceo of kory (@korysverse) September 6, 2022

It wasn't true. But it felt like it could be, ya know? 

Such was the madness of the Don't Worry Darling film drama, which occupied us all year and gave us other moments such as 'Florence Pugh arriving in Venice with an Aperol in hand', Harry Styles saying he 'liked the movie because it feels like a movie' and Chris Pine... disassociating.

It was a rollercoaster. And I really like rollercoasters.

Demi Lovato shamelessly flirting with Henry Cavill.

Remember the early days of Instagram, where you could literally see everything the people you followed liked and commented on?

Those were dangerous times.

And they lead to us, the general public, having access to celebrity flirting IN REAL TIME.

Image: Instagram.

Firstly, the thirst trap shared in the middle of the following and likes is something to behold. But Demi had STRATEGY. The liking of Henry's Brazilian jujitsu pics was POINTED, because Demi had recently shared a photo of their shared interest.

Truly a masterclass of IG games, and it played off, because look what happened next:

Image: Instagram.

This is a deeply inspirational tale of shooting your shot.

The messiness of Pussycat Doll performances.

The worst part of this is that I must admit to regularly thinking about 00s girl group The Pussycat Dolls. But hear me out.

If you know anything about PCD, you'll know that Nicole Scherzinger was put out there as the lead/the only one who really mattered, while the rest of the group were mostly there to play back-up.

I mean, that was probably annoying, right? 

Well... I think yes, based on a couple of live performances where fellow member Melody Thornton went completely rogue and upstaged a very confused, very annoyed Nicole.

Watch:

The overdramatic OOOHhhhS and AhhHhsSS. The complete domination of the stage. Nicole's FACE. The way Melody pushes to the front for the final pose, and Nicole has to slot in beside her.

It's so messy. What I would give to have been a fly on the wall backstage after this, because surely there would have been a fight.

The Pussycat Dolls announced a brief reunion in 2019, with Melody becoming the Posh of the group and sitting it out. 

It was a good call, because the reunion tour was cancelled in January 2022, after years of postponements due to the pandemic. And in that time, in a real twist of events, Melody won Australia's The Masked Singer. 

I knew it was her from the first performance, because of how often I watch her annoy Nicole with extra riffs in performance vids on YouTube.

Okay, so those are mine, What are the pop culture moments you always think about? Let us know in a comment.

Feature image: Supplied/Getty.

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