Audra McDonald calls out an overzealous fan who followed her home after a Broadway show.
The Gilded Age actress, 55, detailed the terrifying encounter in a “PSA” Instagram video on Saturday, Aug. 16. She told Gypsy Local
McDonald said the theatergoer “sniffed around and found me as I was leaving the theater and followed me all the way to where I was staying, entered the building and was uncomfortably close. And then when I finally got some security to help me, their response was, ‘Well, hey, I’ve come all the way…’ and they wanted an autograph and felt like they deserved an autograph.”
“It crosses a big old line. I just want to call it out. It’s a big no. It’s now mixed up with me being safe. It’s not right,” the Tony winner added.
George Clooney, Hugh Jackman and Julia Roberts rank among Broadway’s highest-paid stars of all time. The trio – and stage icons like Patti LuPone, Bernadette Peters, Audra McDonald and Mandy Patinkin – can finance lavish lifestyles based on their Broadway earnings, while many other jobs in stage productions earn modest salaries. The Great White […]
McDonald said that although she sometimes greets fans at the stage door, she has chosen not to run Gypsy to “save energy” so she can “get through the next show and the next show and the next show.”
“Actors, as much as we’d love to greet each of you after the show, sometimes we’re just exhausted and it’s hard. There are a million reasons,” the actress explained.
She continued, “There are many reasons why performers don’t do stage doors. There are shows that I’ve done it for and shows that I haven’t done it for. Some of the reasons are: they’re exhausted, some people are worried about doing stage doors, some people are in a hurry to catch trains so they can get home, some people avoid stage doors for health reasons.”
McDonald concluded his video by asking fans to respect the actors’ boundaries and privacy after theater performances.
“When you see an actor leaving the stage door, if they don’t stop, leave them alone. There’s a reason they’re not stopping, and it has nothing to do with you,” she said. “That’s them protecting their space and their peace. If they stop and wave, take a picture with you or sign a great autograph. Guess, please, follow proper boundaries.”
MacDonald concluded his acclaimed run of Gypsy on Sunday, August 17. The show opened in December and played more than 260 times.
