"Stars are just like us," as the saying goes—they pump their own gas, they buy their own groceries and their kids even fart in front of royalty.
At least that's what happened to actor Sam Neill when he watched the iconic film Jurassic Park, in which he plays Dr. Alan Grant, with the late Princess Diana while his son had a bit of a flatulence issue.
The story came out during a recent roundtable The New York Times' Kyle Buchanan held with the film's stars. While there were many tales that came out of the meet-up, none were quite so memorable as the one about Neill's son blowing Lady Di out of the room.
Read the story below.
I did a roundtable with the original JURASSIC PARK trio of Sam Neill, Laura Dern, and Jeff Goldblum! Topics include Neill’s crush on Goldblum, gay people dressing as JURASSIC characters for Halloween, and this: https://t.co/igvklUYKmy pic.twitter.com/kcUYrYL9bm
— Kyle Buchanan (@kylebuchanan) June 8, 2022
@kylebuchanan/Twitter
As Neill told Buchanan, the incident happened at the film's big gala premiere in London, no less. As he put it:
"The last time I watched [Jurassic Park] in its totality was sitting beside Princess Di at Leicester Square at the London opening."
"On the other side of me was my son Tim—he was 11 and completely swept away by it, but about the time the T-Rex turns up, Tim started to fart."
"And the draft was drifting across me to royalty!"
"I spent the whole film in a muck sweat, thinking, 'Princess Di is being exposed to the horrors of a little boy’s fart, but she’s going to think it’s me. I am going to be subliminally blamed for my son’s crimes, and I don’t think she’ll talk to me afterwards'."
Thankfully, Princess Di's aristocratic bearing prevented her from indicating anything was untoward.
Neill said:
"But she was well brought up and never mentioned it."
Phew!
Though costar Jeff Goldblum isn't quite so gracious. He insinuated that it was actually Neill passing gas in the Princess's direction.
After Neill finished his story, Goldblum quipped:
"I’ve heard him tell that a couple of times, and it’s just amazing the lengths that he will go to still blame the boy."
On Twitter, people absolutely loved this behind-the-scenes glimpse into royalty and flatulence.
This is incredible, not least for the revelation that Jeff Goldblum can spontaneously generate Big Chill-level one-liners on his own. https://t.co/nWeR95ejcR
— Phillip Maciak (@pjmaciak) June 8, 2022
this is the greatest interview story i've ever seen good gravy https://t.co/W6qhIs9XLP
— wig-wag 📽 (@wigwagmag) June 8, 2022
This is the only celebrity anecdote that has ever mattered. https://t.co/2vMlQaWh7X
— Justin Brookhart (@justinbrookhart) June 8, 2022
Dream blunt rotation: Sam Neill, Laura Dern, Jeff Goldblum https://t.co/e95hNzhz0O
— Emily Gaudette (@emilygmonster) June 8, 2022
This piece is perfection. https://t.co/Vdf7GIwT8h
— Jess (@JeskEyre) June 8, 2022
This is all I need from Jurassic Park or World right now https://t.co/o5Jj8zohN1
— fernyxferny (@Fernysattic) June 8, 2022
This excerpt 😂😂😂 https://t.co/FwfI5uApU5
— Tiffany Aching (@WeatherwaxVimes) June 8, 2022
SCREAMING https://t.co/JlcKAieBNp
— zac (@_cheesedip) June 8, 2022
haaaaaaahahahaa https://t.co/yIFFGFHUzn
— Ewing (@Ewingweb) June 8, 2022
https://t.co/kav9zwQnhN pic.twitter.com/3Pr7biaC2S
— RoobyDee (@RoobyDee) June 8, 2022
Whenever you feel embarrassed just remember that at least you've never farted in front of Princess Diana.