What Stars Were Like In School (Your Stories - Part 3)

As you all know by now: a couple weeks ago, I compiled a list of responses from a Reddit thread that asked former teachers and classmates of celebrities to #spill on what our favorite stars were like as students. Then I asked you guys to send me your own juicy stories of celebrity school years and have been sharing them bit by bit since. Now it's that time for round 3 so grab a snack and let's get started!


Claude Amick

"I went to secondary school with Claude Amick in Croydon. She was boyish, really blonde and she didnt have a specific set of friends. Def did not fit in. She was just sort of there when she was there, bit invisible so you didn't know if she was in class or not. She had one friend who everybody called lesbians with her or called her one but not her friend and another one who most every one said had a wooden leg and they all got in to trouble when we were doing cross country for walking and we had to stay behind after school until they had finished. Basically, that is what I remember. She was soo boyish that no one would of thought she would become a fashion face. It's odd but I guess that this is a lesson to pay attention to the weirdos in school."

"Apparently my mum taught Claude Amick but my story is about her dad, who had sex with the librarian at parents' evening. The librarian was having an affair with the headmaster at the time. She said he was handsome and she couldn't blame her, lol. I didn't think these things happened outside of East Enders."

"FINALLY something I can comment on! I had fights with British singer Claude Amick in basically every class from primary to high school. It is a long story. I will try to summarise it bc no one wants to hear about 2 kids fighting. She hit me a lot. I was a shit back then so I don't think that I can blame her, I guess you could say I was a bit of a "bully." (I did it to fit in - LONGER story) You have to be cruel to be kind but she was an easy target and her friends were so weird so it was easy. One of the times she punched me straight in the face when I stole her friend's scrunchie. Another time she jumped me from behind like a cat to punch and punch me until I was on the ground, she was basically psycho. I guess neither of us learned our lessons bc once school had finished I tripped up her friend when we went to get our gcse results and she pushed me against the wall with a stanley knife. I learned my lesson then and now these days I don't like to be mean. If I can help it."

Declan McAlarney

"Growing up my mam put me in drama classes at the Gaiety in Dublin, mainly to give me something to do I think because I was terrible and always like tree #2 but anyway, the important part of these stories is one of the other students was Declan Mcalarney. We were never super close but we were friends in that together all the time in the same activities kind of way that everyone pals around when they’re 8. He was always a pretty good actor but really quiet outside of it so never thought he'd really follow through with it - I distinctly remember photos in my parent's house and he was like the typical dork look everyone has at 10-13: glasses, braces, bad hair, short, the works which probably didn't help. Though his mam used to have all the good treats though when his little sister and brother would come. He made it into the youth theatre company and I was only a young performer (because I was terrible) so we mainly kept in touch because he dated one of my best friends who was also in yt for awhile, because she got her in when he apparently ditched the kid look and was like the youth class heartthrob when he showed up in his Belvedere College uniform and gained a whole lot of height - everyone wanted to be his 'scene partner' if you know what I mean. You can be in the programme until 19 but most of us left earlier to go to uni so we mainly lost touch then, except for mutual friends' weddings. And he kind of became a famous actor or something."

"So my partner went to secondary with a load of people, because they're all 'old belvederians' or some nonsense because they went to some fancy jesuit all boys' school. Most of them are athletes in rugby union but one of them is that actor chap Declan McAlarney. And apparently he is the biggest diva ever. My partner was in charge of setting up their class reunion last year for their 15th anniversary and wanted to do something on facebook for head count or something, not sure. Most people were fine with it but Declan absolutely refused to have facebook like a huge diva and people could only get in touch via email or phone, but apparently he was working elsewhere at the time and took ages to get back to anyone. You would think anyone who claimed they wanted to come would have done more to actually do so. I don't even remember if he eventually showed up, I'll have to ask my partner."

Elizabeth Alton

"My brother was at Oxford with Elizabeth Alton, they overlapped in a few classes even though she's a couple of years older than him since apparently she took a really long time to complete her degree because of acting jobs. He said she was basically the Hermione of every class they had together, really precocious, but that there were a lot of rumours going around that she was bribing the faculty to let her keep on with the course even though she was like never there. Well, he literally said, 'I wouldn't be surprised if casting couch stuff came out about her one day, that's how she was at school.' So maybe bribery is the wrong term..."

"Mum started teaching at Marlborough when Kate Middleton and Elizabeth Alton were in sixth form, so they didn't overlap long but she said they were both really good students, very athletic, and very friendly!"

"I started at Wadham at Oxford the same year as Elizabeth Alton, and to be honest it really surprises me that she got her degree and that she's not got a terrible reputation in her business because she was absolutely rude to everyone from the start and seemed to care a hell of a lot more about her family name and prestige and all that than about the course or even about the acting gigs she was taking on the side. We met during orientation and she was so snooty and reminded everyone that she didn't really want to be there, she'd rather be acting, and to start at fucking OXFORD and remind everyone that it was basically your second choice? So pretentious. Some of us worked really fucking hard to get there, were the first in our family to go to a university like that, and she acted like it was nothing. Also, if anyone accidentally only used the first half of her fucking ridiculous double-barreled surname she'd always correct them, make them apologize. And I was not surprised AT ALL when her hacked emails came out and showed how loathsome toward other women she is, but of course she never got any real long-term flack for it because once an over-privileged bitch, always an over-privileged bitch. Such an ingrate. At least she sort of disappeared in my life after the first few months, since she was apparently always taking breaks to work."

Gabriela Baena

"My younger sister went to middle school with Gabriela Baena and says she was really picky about food. Like for awhile she would only eat things that were green and when she found carrots in her lunch one day, she cried! She was like eleven? By the next year her parents divorced and her mom moved them to the city, where she probably moved on a diet of cigarettes, champagne and coke."

"Gabriela Baena partied with my college roommate when they were in high school. She said Gabi was big on taking shots, snorting coke and making out with pretty much anyone willing. She even said that during a game of spin the bottle, Gabi and her stepbrother kissed! After she dropped that bomb, we ended up arguing about whether or not that's okay. FTR, I'm of the opinion that it's NOT!"

"Fruitgate is not the first time Gabriela Baena attacked someone with food!!! I know a girl that went to high school with her and she said Gabi nailed some girl in the face with a chicken sandwich after the girl talked shit about Gabi's then-bf, some older uber douche rich boy. My friend said Gabi only got a week of detention because her parents paid big bucks to the school, not only for that but just in general to keep their not so book smart daughter enrolled. Apparently they still pay a lot and even want the auditorium renamed in her honor."

"Gabriela Baena worked with my former vocal coach before she got signed, when she was 15/16, after she was on Broadway. He said she has one of the best voices but totally threw shade about the way she barely enunciates now. I asked if the diva stuff was true and he said she had a the typical attitude of NY/NJ teenager but she was never late and worked hard. If only that were still true."

Gwen Ainsworth

"I went to school with Gwen Ainsworth for a few years. No one really bothered her. She always carried herself like someone twice her age and mostly conversed with the school librarian and a few older students. She was very active in school physical activities. I remember after one of the Harry Potter movies a few people made signs welcoming her back. It was always weird seeing her around because she was normal like everyone else but there was a certain vibe about her that you wouldn't know what to say to her if you were brought on in that sort of situation. It was like she was approachable, but she was so intimidating in a way, you didn't want to make a fool of yourself."

Helen Blackburn (Blackbird)

"I went to school with the musician Helen Blackburn. Moody, unpleasant, always getting into trouble for one thing or another, smoking and sneaking off site etc. Used to brag that she had a flat in London that she could stay in whenever she wanted but no one ever wanted to go with her. Also rumour has it her family were excommunicated by her paternal grandparents, the moneyed side, who didn't approve of daddy Blackburn marrying a "foreigner." (Her mother is Greek.)"

"Helen Blackburn was in my class in year 5. She stayed by herself playing Animals of Farthing Wood calling herself Vixen usually but she literally followed me everywhere during break times so me and my friends eventually let her into our Busted club because she's autistic and we felt bad for her (even though there were 3 boys in the band and 4 of us and we had our own "boyfriend" from them). We had a sleepover once and she cried after we told ghost stories and her dad had to pick her up early."

"Not a school thing, but I have a strange first kiss story that involves a semi-celebrity. My family had a holiday home in Dartmoor where we spent the summers and there was a boy about the same age as me who lived down the lane, this Peter Pan type who liked to climb trees. I had a huge crush on him and one year we started playing together, long story short our games started to involve a lot of kissing and when I went back home to Bristol I wrote a long love letter to "Harry" that makes me cringe to think about. In response Harry came clean and confessed that he was actually Helen (Blackburn, the singer Blackbird.) I still don't know whether she actively tried to pass as male or I just made the assumption and she was too embarrassed to correct me but it was mortifying when I found out the truth. At the time I took it as a really mean joke but in hindsight I think she was/is just a massive lez.

TLDR: pre-teen Blackbird pretended to be a boy in order to kiss me, a girl."

Isaiah Kingman (King)

"My sister went to high school with King (Isaiah Kingman). Him and his friends used to find these abandoned houses and throw the craziest parties that always got shut down, and for some reason Isaiah would always pass out in the bath tub. She also said that he used to have these huge screaming matches with his girlfriend all over campus cause she hated that he "hung out" with other girls. But he dropped out after sophomore year and she didn't hear about him again until he became famous."

"My mom taught Isaiah Kingman in high school and said that he barely ever came to class, only on days with tests, but he passed her class because he somehow aced every test even though he wasn’t there for any of the lessons. But also he always stenched of weed."

"An old co-worker of mine used to hook up with Isaiah Kingman when we were all in high school. They met at the movie theater we worked at and hooked up over summer. They partied a lot, she always bragged about all the shit he got her to do for the first time (weed, molly, coke, etc). We weren't from the same area though and she later found out he had a girlfriend and that's why he wouldn't take her around scarborough. That and probably the fact that a white prissy bitch couldn't handle shit over there. At one point she was going around saying that he knocked her up but I don't know what ever happened with that."

Josef Quentin

"I used to go to school with Josef Quentin, the comedian. He was a total dick. Kind of an awkward nerd for the most part before his youtube channel started to take off, but once he started attention he began an egomaniac. Acted like he was better than everyone else, treated everyone like he was royalty or something."

"My ex-girlfriend's cousin hooked up with Josef Quentin when they were both sophomores in high school. She got drunk one night at a party and told a group of us about the experience. She said he was super small and really awkward. Didn't know what he was doing. Finished really fast. He tried to call her a few times after the fact but she wasn't into it, she'd started dating someone else. She said he was really quiet. His youtube channel was starting to take off that was the only reason she paid attention to him, but she said he didn't like to talk about the channel at all, acted like a totally regular kid. My ex totally vouches for this, too."

Llewell Polley

"My cousin went to Wesminster School in London with Llewell Polley who was called Jimmy by everyone at the time. They weren't really close friends but from what he remembers, he used to be part of this group of boys who were known for throwing pranks and breaking the rules they could. My cousin never saw of course but there was a big rumor that Llewell and another students got in big trouble for bringing girls into the dorms one night (it was a boarding school) and the only reason Llewell was not expelled was because of who his father was. Other than a few incidents with the staff and teachers, he was basically your typical teenage boy with a few more privileges."

"My old neighbor was a secretary at the school Llewell Polley attended back when he was a teen. He was a polite boy and flirted with her and the staff when he wanted a way out from some trouble at school. Take this with a grain of salt (love her but at times I doubt her memory) but she remembers a rumors about him and the school nurse at the time, they apparently got caught by some student while "getting it on". She also says he was very funny and taught her some japanese."

"A co-worker of mine told me that his wife went to uni with Llewell Polley in London. He used to go out with a friend of hers and was always high or drunk and trying to be funny but she thought he was obnoxious and was happy when her friend stopped dating him."

Sami Suliman

"I went to design school at the same time as Sami Suliman, and I always heard that she wasn't planning on finishing the course, that she had needed a reason to go to London in order to meet someone rich and bypass all the hard work the rest of us were going to do. I never saw her hang out with any other students, and someone told me she wouldn't stop badgering our professors about an internship on a film set. It's a personal theory that she wanted to meet an actor but got stuck with a director."

"Sami Suliman was in the same grade as my sister but I really only remember her at age fifteen or sixteen, right before she started school in London. She was really quiet in school but was part of this little group of girls who had similar backgrounds, or were the children of recent immigrants. You'd see them at the beach a lot but they never went in the water (don't blame them, the big sand and freezing water puts people right off). At the end of the year, one of my sister's friends tried to ask Sami out but got famously rejected, even though they had to have been sixteen, she said she didn't date. I remember some of the girls in her group had boyfriends, so it wasn't just a cultural thing. At the same time, there were plenty of ignorant people down our way who'd say stuff to them, so maybe she didn't think he was being serious. 'Foreigner' could be said like a dirty word and you knew Sami wasn't from here because her parents weren't around."

Satchel Compton

"I attended the same film class at NYU with Satchel Compton. He was pretty full of himself and pretentious when it came to film knowledge and wouldn't allow anyone else to be right and was known to get into arguments until he proved the other person wrong. He was not really liked by the students but the majority of the teachers used to love him."

"My sister was in the same graduating class as Satchel Compton and according to her he was one of those students that were popular while trying to fly under the radar. He didn't have that many friends and was very awkward whenever he was interacting with someone but he was part of a lot of after school clubs and sports team and he was apparently a very skinny looking and tall blonde kid that was hard to miss in the crowd."

"A friend of mine goes to the same Synagogue as the Levins. They're the kind of people who believe they are better than everyone else. He tried to talk to Satchel after a service once but the guy basically told him off in that rich people polite way. He never saw him again after that."

"My aunt used to teach Satchel Compton History in High School. She told me he used to be very quiet and shy, keeping to himself most of the time but was also a very smart student who was among the best at the school and he was one of the favorites from the faculty members. Apparently teachers loved to have him among their students lol."

Tyler Davidson

"My uncle coached Tyler Davidson in high school in football. He was the QB and apparently pretty good - my uncle said there were some big colleges that showed interest in him (i.e. Alabama and Ohio State) but Tyler quit the team about mid-season. He did say Tyler was popular and a "nice kid". He still comes back to the school every now and then, I know some girls who took a pic with him last year at homecoming."

"My friend’s sister went out with Tyler Davidson. She said he was a bit of a manwhore in high school and did a lot of flirting and making out with other girls, the acting went to his head early I guess. She won't go into detail about what happened but she still talks about what an ass he was back then."

Hope you guys enjoyed part 3! Remember that if you ever become famous, these kind of stories will be shared about you too... so make sure they're juicy!

Did you go to school with a celebrity? Share your story!

[Posted September 12th, 2016 at 9:15 PM]
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