Jamie Lee is one of the kindest people I’ve ever met
HOLLYWOOD icon Jamie Lee Curtis, during her chat with Ryan Tubridy on The Late Late Show last Friday, commented that ‘the Irish are the nicest people I’ve ever met’.
She added: ‘From the moment I step off the plane, from the baggage handler to the driver, to the people!’
I can attest she herself is one of the nicest and kindest people I ever met on my travels.
Back in 2003, during the gala night to mark the finale of the Special Olympics in Croke Park, my wife Maeve and I spotted her walking along one of the corridors with her then 16-year-old daughter Annie.
Maeve, knowing I was a big fan of Jamie Lee, stopped her and asked her if she would stand in for a photo with me. Ms Curtis immediately and graciously agreed.
Maeve started to look in her bag for our camera. (It was before the days of camera phones.) Alas, we then remembered that our teenage children had taken our camera to try to get photos of some of the pop groups and celebrities performing at the event. So it looked as if our photo opportunity was thwarted. Quick as a flash, Jamie Lee said she’d use her camera instead.
While she was looking for it, I said she could email the photo to us. As she pulled out her camera, she said that wouldn’t be possible. It turned out to be a disposable camera she had bought earlier in Dublin.
Anyway, we posed for the photo and gave her our address for posting. To be honest, I doubted we’d ever see that photo.
Lo and behold, about a fortnight later, I opened our post only to find the photo of the two of us, together with a lovely handwritten note from Jamie Lee herself.
It is framed and hanging on my wall with the photos of all the international figures, mostly political, whom I’ve met during my career.
Certainly, Jamie Lee showed by her interaction with us that she also falls into the category of ‘one of the nicest people in the world’.