A Hollywood icon was forced to hide in the loo because of a phobia (Picture: Getty/Metro.co.uk)
The beloved actor Richard E Grant has revealed that he once hid in a toilet at Sandringham because of a quirky phobia.
The 67-year-old actor is a beloved icon best known for his recent work on Saltburn, The Iron Lady, Jackie, and his breakout 80s comedy Withnail and I.
After years of working with various charities including the Prince’s Trust, the actor has become friendly with Royals, specifically with King Charles.
The actor revealed in a recent podcast appearance that once he was invited for dinner with the Royals but was forced to spend 20 minutes in the toilet because of a phobia…of cheese.
His hatred for the dairy product baffled Grace Dent the podcast host of Comfort Eating, who said that surely the actor must encounter cheese all the time.
‘If you were invited to Balmoral for Christmas, and Camilla said “now let’s all go into the drawing room to behold the cheeses,” would you then go?’ Grace asked.
Richard E Grant has revealed he once had to hide in the loos for 20 minutes at a royal household (Picture: Ken McKay/ITV/REX/Shutterstock)
Sandringham is in Norfolk and one of the Royal Family’s many estates (Picture: Getty Images)
‘Well I’ve stayed with them [the Royal Family] in Sandringham, not Balmoral and they don’t go to the drawing room for the cheeses. The cheeses come into the dining room, and I have left the dining room when the cheeses have arrived.’
The Withnail and I star added: ‘It’s very easy, you just have to excuse yourself and go to the loo for 20 minutes.’
‘That’s one of the most radical things I think I’ve ever heard,’ Grace responded to the bizarre anecdote.
The actor has spoken about his hatred for cheese on many occasions, in 2023 while being interviewed on This Morning the actor told Clodagh McKenna that he thought cheese ‘smelled like bum’.
He later said the cheese smelled ‘awful’ and like ‘arse’ on live daytime television.
The actor hates cheese (Picture: Getty Images/iStockphoto)
The actor is currently promoting his new series The Franchise – which is coming out on Sky and also stars the likes of Lolly Adefope, Himesh Patel, Billy Magnussen and Daniel Brühl
The actor sat down to chat with Metro while promoting the series and revealed the 90’s ‘box office bomb’ that was a ‘nightmare’ to film.
‘The most chaotic film that I ever worked on was a disaster called Hudson Hawk with Bruce Willis in 1990 where everything that could possibly go wrong, with the script, the director, the stars, it did,’ he said, reflecting on the film that came out in 1992.
‘And it was a massive box office bomb,’ he added. ‘So that was, in retrospect, amusing. At the time, an absolute nightmare.’
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