WHO’S the best celebrity you’ve ever met?” I get asked that question a lot. As soon as people find out I once worked as an entertainment columnist, covering everything from the Oscars in Los Angeles to the boozy British Soap Awards, they want to know all the gossip.
“Have you met Simon Cowell?” Yep, I was once tasked with gifting him a pair of pants (don’t ask).
“Have you met One Direction?” Yep, Harry Styles and I even had a puppy play-date with some trainee guide dogs.

The Herald: Harry StylesHarry Styles (Image: PA)
“Have you met Ariana Grande?” Yep, she went in for an air-kiss hello, I went to shake hands, panicked and ended up accidentally kissing her armpit (again, don’t ask).
But when it comes to answering the question, ‘who the best celebrity I’ve ever met?’ I don’t have an easy answer. 
Many celebrities are fun, polite and kind – but many are evasive and cold with excessively rude people working for them. So, as glamorous as the job could be, I ultimately grew disillusioned with shuffling around after sozzled celebrities at 5am after-parties.
In 2016, I quit the entertainment industry to retrain to become a speech and drama tutor for children. I also started writing fiction, with some of my published short stories winning prizes. 
My recently published debut book, Attention Seekers, features some stories inspired by my former career.
From a very young age, growing up in Glasgow, I loved drama. I stayed up to watch the Oscars every year and hoped my journalism career would entail in-depth conversation with creative industry icons. Aged 20, in 2010, I left Scotland to work as a general news reporter, covering stories in the south of England.
The glamour was not instantaneous. My first job involved interviewing residents of a quiet cul-de-sac who were being “terrorised” by a dive-bombing crow they’d nick-named Russell. I wanted to be interviewing actual Russell Crowe not avoiding bird-plop from Russell the crow.
After a few years as a general news reporter, I started specialising as an entertainment journalist.
Initially, things were pretty low-rent. I wasn’t thrilled to be in a casino during the day, asking Peter Andre puff questions about his new Foxy Bingo partnership.

But quickly, the assignments and talent went up a notch. I knew things had changed when at an art gallery launch, I was in the loo with Florence Welch holding up her mammoth, floaty dress while she had a wee.
The reality is that many celebrities wanted to be in my column – I was constantly being emailed by their PRs asking if I could write something promoting their latest project.
And I can’t deny, it had its moments. For example, it was a thrill when Calvin Harris invited me to party with his entourage in Spain to promote his friend’s nightclub.
It was exciting when I sipped cocktails with the Spice Girls and my childhood heroine Geri Halliwell reapplied my lipstick. And it was fun when James McAvoy demanded I “stitch up” his X-Men buddy Hugh Jackman and gave me juicy interview questions for the Aussie.
I certainly found myself in some unique situations. There was the time I partied with Leonardo DiCaprio at his tiny BAFTA after-party. At 4am, I was sitting next to DiCaprio, when dozens of trays of food were delivered to his room and, bizarrely, we shared some pasta from the very same plate.
But not all celebrities were so pleased to see me. 

The Herald: Cheryl with Liam PayneCheryl with Liam Payne (Image: PA)
I sometimes got on well with Cheryl Tweedy (she’d often dish out break-up advice), but, once, at a restaurant, her then-boyfriend Liam Payne was not happy to be in the same room as me. Liam glared at my table with an almost comical level of menace, nearly walking backwards into a tray of sushi.
There was, also, of course, the seedy side to the industry. I was a woman in my 20s being sent to places, sometimes abroad, completely on my own. Case in point, at a party, I once overheard two A-listers (one of whom was married) debating about who was going to “hook up” with me. Spoiler: I called them out on their creepy, entitled behaviour and went home alone. 
I had many interactions with the now disgraced Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein. And while I genuinely did not know about his abhorrent behaviour, I did witness his terrifying temper when he lambasted somebody for standing too close to the actress Keira Knightley.
Nowadays, having retrained as a drama teacher, I help young people unlock their creativity. It is much more rewarding to help a shy child exceed their own expectations than it is to help an ex-TOWIE star promote their swimwear line.
As a very anxious person, I found the prospect of trying to ingratiate myself to celebrities incredibly stressful and disingenuous. I often felt I had to mask my worry and pretend to be the biggest attention seeker in the room. So, while stepping away from A-list parties was the right decision for me, there’s no denying my former career influenced the stories in my debut book.The Herald: Carrie FisherCarrie Fisher (Image: BBC)

In Attention Seekers, I explore the complications that befall those lured by the limelight. One story focuses on the daughter of a Harvey Weinstein-type, in horror that her father could be a predatory monster. Another features a washed-up science-fiction actor and another explores the horrific early noughties paparazzi’s upskirting female talent.
But, returning to my opening question … In truth, the “best” celebrity I ever met is deeply personal and relates to my writing. My heroine has always been the late Carrie Fisher, who was an incredible writer. 
In 2014, I was starstruck to be in the same room as her at a London event. She was gracious enough to give me writing advice, in between gossiping about her habit of gifting confidential Star Wars scripts to her pals. “Pay attention,” Fisher told me, “to every little detail.”

Attention Seekers by Emma Brankin is published by Valley Press, £12.99