This content was created by Katie McManus. This content was uploaded by Katie McManus. This is a YouTube video titled "#greenscreen my embarrassing moment meeting Lee Arenberg #fails #embarrassing #celebrity #encounter" created in July 2025. It features Katie McManus recounting a personal story about an awkward and embarrassing encounter with actor Lee Arenberg in San Francisco, sharing details about her emotional state at the time and the interaction with him and his family.
The most embarrassing moment of my life was when I met Lee Ehrenberg. And if you don't know who that is, it's okay. He's an actor. He was in Pirates of the Caribbean. He was the bald pirate whose friend had the eye that kept falling out. And he was also in Once Upon a Time. He was Grumpy slash Leroy. And for context, it was 2013. I had just gone through a breakup. I was not in a good, like, mental emotional state. And I was also my very first sales job. Okay? So I worked for this video production company and they hired me to basically do a ton of outreach. So, so I was going door to door in San Francisco's north beach, handing out flyers to businesses and basically asking them if they needed any video production services. Anyway, so I'm walking around north beach and I get to City Lights Bookstore, which, if you've ever been to San Francisco, this is an iconic bookstore. If you go on vacation in San Francisco, chances are you've been here. And it was a really bright sunshiny day. And so, you know, when you walk into an indoor space from an outdoor space when it's really bright and your eyes take like a moment to adjust, I will never forget the sensation of walking over the threshold of this business. My eyes adjusting and then immediately just getting tunnel vision because there was Grumpy from Once Upon a Time. And also for context, Once Upon a Time was my favorite show at the time. And it was really the thing that I was relying on to get me through, like, the mental and emotional turmoil of the whole breakup. So bumping into Grumpy or any of the characters from that show was a big deal for me. And I was not cool. I think the exact words I said were, oh, my God, it's you. And then just stood there staring at him. And I will never forget how this man, who is literally mid handing his credit card to the cashier, looks at me like, oh, God, what's about to happen right now? And he's like, hello. And I'm just like, hi. And he asked me what my name was and I said, catherine. Cause I used to go by Catherine. And he's like, oh, you know, trying to be so gracious and kind and, you know, hospitable. He's like, oh, that's my wife's name. And he's like, how do you spell it? And I said, okay. T, H, R, Y, N. And really, really fast, like, sped it out of my mouth. And he's like, oh, cool, this is my wife. And I Turned to her and like a goldfish. I was like, hi, what's your name? Completely forgetting that he had just told me she. She had the exact same name as me. Not only that, she spelled her name the exact same way. They introduced me to their child. And I'm just there, like staring at him, like, completely starstruck. Just embarrassingly starstruck. And he's like, cool, well, you know, take out your phone, let's do this. And I'm like, do what? I'm like, is he gonna give me his number in front of his wife? Like, what is about to happen here? And he's like, a picture? Do you want a picture? And I was like, oh my God, that's such a great idea. And this is back when iPhones didn't have a ton of memory. So I open up my phone and I open up the camera and it gave me and stuff. So I'm like furiously deleting apps and whatever it is that I can get rid of so that I can take this picture with him. And we went outside and his wife took a picture of us together. And he asked me like, what show I know him from. And I said once upon a time. And I. I named the wrong character. Even though I knew he was grumpy slash Leroy. I was just so nervous and like out of my mind. Anyway, it was the most shameful, embarrassing moment of my life. I would not be surprised if they laugh about it to this day. Like this weird, awkward girl that they met in San Francisco. And honestly, I think I'm a little traumatized from that experience because every single time I have met a fam person, like after that, I have been very awkward. Cuz I think in the back of my mind, I am so terrified that it will be equally embarrassing. Here's the picture. So, yeah, this is the most embarrassing moment of my life.
