They say you should never meet your heroes and Amanda Keller learned that the hard way when she sat down to interview Barry Manilow.
Keller told news.com.au that she’d pined after the ‘Mandy’ singer in her youth and was beyond excited to meet him in person – so much so she temporarily lost her mind.
“I had an out of body experience,” Keller recalled. “It was terrible. I’ve got my head in my hands as I tell you this story.”
The Living Room host said she set up the chat with Manilow when she was in Las Vegas many years ago with an old high school girlfriend and decided to bring her friend along to meet the singer and watch their interview from the sidelines.
“We were talking about fans going out of their way for him and I said, ‘what’s the weirdest thing a fan has given you?’ But then I said, ‘apart from herpes’. My friend looked at me like I’d gone insane and Barry looked at me with a face of disgust. I thought, ‘What’s happened?’ I’ve loved this man since I was 16 and I’ve just said the word herpes’.
Keller said she “still has nightmares” about it and joked that it felt like “the devil spoke” and took over her body causing her to make the embarrassing blunder.
There’s no word on whether Manilow remembers their awkward chat – although after being asked if he had herpes, it’s unlikely he forgot! – and the singer has had other things on his mind lately having recently been released from hospital.
The ‘Copacabana’ singer was admitted last week with bronchial infection and was forced to cancel his weekend show at the Westgate Casino in Las Vegas. The 75-year-old said he was devastated he had to pull out.
“I can’t believe this is happening,” he said in a statement. “Our new show is ready, we’re all ready, and we were all looking forward to tonight.”
Despite reaching an age when most people are settling into retirement, Manilow is still going strong and regularly performs in front of thousands of adoring fans.
Last year the singer came out as gay after years of hiding his sexuality for fear he would disappoint his fans. He told People magazine met his partner Gary Kief in 1978, and said he knew he was ‘the one’ almost instantly.
“I was one of the lucky ones,” he said. “I was pretty lonely before that.”
Manilow was previously married to his high school sweetheart Susan Deixler from 1964 to 1966. She has since told the Daily Mail that she is happy for him and wishes him well.
“I’m glad that he’s found love and happiness,” she said.
Are you a fan of Barry Manilow? Who was your teenage celebrity crush?