Today in proof that celebrities really are just like the rest of us, Katie Holmes recently shared an story that will make anyone who has ever embarrassingly screwed up at work feel seen.
In an interview on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon on Wednesday, November 27, the actress discussed her current stint on Broadway, where she's starring as Mrs. Webb in the revival of Our Town, and revealed that one performance of the classic play was memorable for all the worst reasons when she forgot one of her lines onstage.
“I was in the middle of a scene and I just…I said the whole line except the last word and I couldn’t, I couldn’t remember it,” she shared, admitting that her attempts to cover the flub didn't go well either. “I made something up, but it didn’t make sense and then I got so red…and I got flustered, so I just said my lines so fast after that and got off stage.”
Holmes said she got some much-needed emotional support from Jim Parsons, who is one of her costars in the production, after the embarrassing moment.
“Jim gave me a hug after,” Holmes explained. “He was like, ‘I’ve never seen anyone say their lines so fast and remove themselves!'”
While Holmes made it clear that no one else in the cast (which also includes Ephraim Sykes, Zoey Deutch, and Richard Thomas) was upset at all by the snafu, she admitted that didn't stop her from caring about it, pointing out, "This is Broadway!”
In addition to the general embarrassment, the moment also reinforced a superstition for the actress, who explained to Jimmy Fallon that she typically goes over all of her lines three times at home before every performance—well, almost every performance, that is. Holmes added that the "one time" she didn't do her usual three run-throughs of the lines at home before a show just happened to be the night she froze and forgot a line on stage.
On the bright side, the Dawson's Creek alum had nothing but wonderful things to say about another of her Broadway rituals: Her pre-show Starbucks run, where she seems to get the small town treatment in New York City.
"They're so lovely," she said of the staff at the Eighth Avenue location she visits before heading to the Barrymore Theatre, where the production is running. "Every time I go in, they know me and I know them, and they wish me a great show."