insanely-smart:

Taffy Brodesser-Akner: I was interviewing him at his home,
and at the end of the evening, he walked me outside, and I waited for an Uber,
and he was doing an impression

Jonathan Small: Yeah.

T: He does good impressions. He was doing an impression of
me, to me.

J: Was he incredibly charming?

T: He was so charming, but also so smart.

J: Yeah.

T: And sooo kind, and so decent. Like, I spent two days, we…
both days we walked 5 miles, and then ended up at his house.

J: Was that his idea?

T: Yeah, he wanted to walk. And he… if you are very, very
famous, if you are even a Marvel superhero, or villain as he is, you can walk
around England, and it’s fine. Like people give you a thumbs up, but nobody
will chase you. And I hugged him good-bye, and he was doing an impression of me
to me, and I was laughing at it. And, a week later, I was in New Jersey,
driving my children home from basketball practice, and I got a call from Katie
Weaver, who is GQ’s best writer (in addition to all the other best writers),
and she screamed. Katie loves tabloids.

J: Yeah.

T: And she loves like a real, like she loves a Bravo series,
she has like a real dedication to these. She could barely speak. She screamed, “You.
Are. A Mystery Brunette.” And I said, “What?” And she just, like, it came out
in gasps, that in the Daily Mail, there were pictures of me, filed under ‘Mystery
Brunette’. Like, Tom Hiddleston says good-bye, after emerging from, like, it
was totally, there were like 10 pictures. And I have to say, it was like the
crazi est thing. And then, like, the New York Post – everyone knew who I was
immediately, because everyone in New York media knows me – the New York Post
called me for comment, and I think I said, “My family and I request privacy
during this hilarious time.”

J: Yeah.

T: And then that then made the rounds, and it was, what
people forget is it was during Inauguration Week, so it was like a miserable
week, and then this crazy, hilarious thing, where this, like, 41-year-old New
Jersey mom is being… it was like…

J: You were the mystery brunette…

T: It was the…

J: Have you ever talked to him about that?

T: Yeah. He called me up. And he said, “I see what’s going
on. I’m so sorry, I would like to apologize to your husband. I meant… I hope
you understand, he understands there’s no disrespect, and I am horrified. And I
can only imagine what you’re going through.” And I said, “Tom. This has been
the best week of my life. Like, we should try to enjoy this more. This is
amazing. Please, do not shut it down, I am really enjoying this.”

J: That’s the best.

[X]