It makes sense that many celebrities choose to socialize with other celebrities—by virtue of working in the entertainment industry, their fellow stars are their neighbors, coworkers, and peers. And most of the time, these friendships just make sense. Of course Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, and Lisa Kudrow remained lifelong BFFs after Friends—they worked together for a decade! But then, there are those famous pairings that we never saw coming. These surprising celebrity friendships seem even more special for being so unexpected.
So read on for 16 unlikely celebrity BROTPs and how they came to be. These stories serve as even more proof that Hollywood is much smaller than we give it credit for.
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The announcement that Martha Stewart and Snoop Dogg were collaborating on a cooking show called Martha & Snoop's Potluck Dinner Party may have come as a surprise to some, but it didn't come out of nowhere. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the rapper and the lifestyle entrepreneur actually met for the first time in 2008, when Snoop was a guest on Stewart's talk show, and then their paths crossed again at the roast of Justin Bieber on Comedy Central in 2015. A year later, their own show premiered, and they remain close to this day.
Harry Styles covered Lizzo's song, "Juice," in a 2019 radio performance, to her evident delight. And just a month later, they came together to perform it at a Super Bowl concert in Miami. In March 2021, they finally got to see each other again at the Grammys (and of course, a seriously adorable photoshoot was involved).
On the surface, it would seem that Ed Sheeran, a 30-year-old British musician, and Courteney Cox, a 57-year-old American actor, wouldn't have much in common, but they're actually very good friends. As Sheeran told James Corden, he was introduced to Cox by a friend who invited him to a party at her house, and he ended up crashing there that night.
"She was like, "Anytime you want to stay, let me know," he said. "And then literally every single time I've been back to Los Angeles since then, I've stayed there."
Kris Jenner is not only a busy manager and a mom of six, she also spends a good bit of her free time hanging out and drinking wine with Academy Award-winner Jennifer Lawrence. Jenner told Steve Harvey it all started when she invited Lawrence over for a girls' night, though things did get a little out of hand.
"She had some time off and I invited her over for dinner. We started having a few cocktails and we were having so much fun," she said. "And so you know, as girls do when they all get together, we ended up in my closet looking at clothes and some stuff and she started trying some stuff on."
While we're on the subject of unexpected Kardashian BFFs…Kourtney Kardashian has gotten close with 20-year-old TikTok star Addison Rae. And according to Rae, it sounds like they have YouTuber David Dobrik to thank for their friendship (along with Kardashian's son, Mason).
"I met them through a friend," she said on The Tom Ward Show. "I met Kourtney through a friend—through David. We had surprised Mason, because Mason liked my videos on TikTok. Then I kind of just stuck around and we got really close."
Helen Mirren and comedian Russell Brand met on the set of their 2009 movie, The Tempest, and forged a friendship that would last well past the end of filming. In an interview with BBC a couple of years later, Mirren gushed about her co-star.
"The thing about him is he likes women, and not a lot of men do. That's why women like him. He's genuinely interested in us. Women melt in his presence," she said.
When Lea Michele needed support most, Kate Hudson—who she first met on the set of Glee—was there for her. After Michele's then-boyfriend, Cory Monteith, died in 2013, Hudson let her stay in her house to escape reporters until the media frenzy died down.
"I called her and said, 'I don't know where I'm going to go because my house is swarmed with reporters,'" Michele told Elle. "She was like, 'Oh, you're going to stay at my house.' Like it was nothing. She let my family stay there, and any of my friends. She made sure that in the refrigerator were my favorite juices. I'll never really be able to thank her, truly, for what she did for me."
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Not only are legendary actor Meryl Streep and rapper 50 Cent friends, they also have the most adorable meet-cute. As 50 Cent explained to Jimmy Kimmel, he was seated next to Streep at a 2014 basketball game—her first ever—and he took on the duty of explaining the game to her. So sweet!
In 2017, a friendship bloomed between singer Katy Perry and astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson when the singer appeared on his talk show, StarTalk, where they discussed everything from aliens to space travel. Perry had plenty of questions to ask Tyson about science, math, and the universe, and though they did disagree on some points, they had more in common than they may have thought.
Kim Kardashian and tennis champ Serena Williams first crossed paths back when Kardashian was working as an assistant to various celebrities. They remained friends after their work relationship ended, and Kardashian has nothing but positive things to say about her pal and former boss.
"I remember a dinner in San Francisco before a DNC fund-raiser. Serena sang, [Barack] Obama sang, Kanye [West] sang. It was legendary," she told Vogue in 2017. "She gives herself those moments—it's how she recharges. Serena's the girl you can call and say anything to. She'll never judge you, and she's never too busy for you. Oh, and she can keep any secret."
Though their styles of music are obviously very different, Eminem and Elton John have had no issue finding common ground. They first met when they performed at the Grammys together in 2001, and Eminem has even credited John for helping him kick substances.
"When I first wanted to get sober, I called [Elton] and spoke to him about it," Eminem told the Detroit Metro Times. "He's somebody who's in the business and can identify and relate to the lifestyle and how hectic things can be. He understands … the pressure and any other reasons that you want to come up with for doing drugs."
Despite the age difference between 52-year-old Jennifer Aniston and 29-year-old Selena Gomez, the actors have a special friendship. They initially met because they share a manager, Aleen Keshishian.
"She's just like a little cherub that I feel like I wanna take care of," Aniston told E! News of Gomez. "She's been extremely supportive and wonderful."
John Travolta and Pitbull (Mr. Worldwide, himself—real name Armando Pérez) have been close for a long time—so close, in fact, that Travolta has danced in music videos and on stage with his buddy and even gave a speech about him during Pitbull's Hollywood handprint ceremony.
"I once told Armando I wanted to be friends with him for the rest of my life and forever," he said in his speech, according to People. "Little did I know we would be immortalized together at the Chinese Theatre."
Who wouldn't want to be BFFs with screen icon Betty White? Jennifer Love Hewitt is one of the lucky ones who gets to call White a friend, and they likely first met when they filmed The Lost Valentine together in 2011. In a February 2021 appearance on The Drew Barrymore Show, Hewitt revealed that she and White like to get together for "pizza and vodka nights."
"Pizza and vodka's her favorite," Hewitt said. "She also loves hot dogs, and she cheats at Scrabble, horribly. But she's Betty White, so you just let her win!"
Though Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen like to live their lives out of the spotlight as much as possible, one thing we do know about them is that they're both close with actor Jonah Hill. They've been spotted together out in New York, and Ashley even spent Easter with Hill in 2018.
"Solar Power" singer Lorde and Larry David's daughter, Cazzie David, became friends when they "met on the internet," as they told Interview magazine. They met in person for the first time after Lorde performed at the VMAs, though she did have the flu at the time.
"The worst. Beyond the worst flu ever. But you still liked me and now I feel like I'm a part of your family. We spend our summers together," Lorde said to David.
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