Hannah Gadsby's "was not excited, I was terrified" when celebrities like Jennifer Aniston, John Stamos and Jodie Foster wanted to meet her

Vanity Fair

In an excerpt from Gadsby's upcoming memoir Ten Steps to Nanette, Gadsby recalls becoming a sensation in Hollywood following the release of her groundbreaking Netflix special Nanette in 2018. "After Jennifer Aniston told me how excited she was to meet me, I told her that I was also very excited to meet her," writes Gadsby. "I was being polite, of course, I was not excited, I was terrified. I am autistic, I don’t know how to navigate small talk with my best friend, ... so the prospect of conversing with one of the most enduringly beloved famous people there is was not at all relaxing. What level of admiration does she expect from riffraff? Should I inform her that I had not seen Friends? I needn’t have worried, because apparently Jennifer Aniston just wanted to let me know that she had not seen my show. Touché. It might have been an insult, but somehow Jennifer Aniston managed to make it sound like enthusiastic approval. It was shocking nonetheless, and I forgot myself and replied more bluntly than appropriate: 'Why are you telling me this?'"