Seeing Jacqui there sweating away got me to thinking about the weird situations celebrities must find themselves in as they go about their everyday business. I'm not solely talking about the paparazzi, although of course that is a big part of it.

Personally, I couldn't be famous. I'm too much of a slob. I can't think of anything worse than someone taking my picture as I lop up to the dairy on a Sunday morning with mascara smeared under my eyes. I would be the one that ends up on the front of the NW issue of Stars Without Makeup, looking red faced and rough leaving the gym or snapped putting something embarrassing into my supermarket trolley.

Let's face it, we live in New Zealand. We don't anyone of the Britney Spears or Julia Roberts or Nicole Kidman calibre here. Our local celebs (mostly ropey ex-sportsmen and people off Shortland Street) are still noticed and recognized, although I love that Kiwis are far too cool to actually concede that they've recognized anyone out in public. Our papers have to make do with getting in a tizz over famous people who may or may not be holidaying on our shores, as if that validates the lot of us by association.

Even if you twigged that the person in line behind you at the supermarket checkout was on TV, most Kiwis would never actually point and stare or whisper about them, let alone say anything to them. I mean, you might text your mates afterwards (as I shamefully did once after seeing Martin Henderson at a Northland dairy) but that's as far as it goes.

There's not much sympathy lurking round in my genes, but I do feel some slightly for the well known among us. Imagine if people were always watching and observing you, taking mental notes and storing them away for future reference. You couldn't pick your wedgie. People would notice what style of tampon you buy. You'd get stared at the hairdresser and picking up your drycleaning and everyone would try and sneak a peek when you were buying underwear.

Then they'd go tell people that they saw you and tell them that you weren't as pretty in real life, or your skin was poxy, or you seemed up yourself.

I know that most celebrities are naturally good at something (Paris Hilton excluded) and have the confidence and self-assurance which probably sees them becoming used to public scrutiny. Others would have fancy-ass supermarkets and private gyms to use, far away from the gaze of us plebs. And, you have to ask yourself, would you swap your anonymity for the curious gazes of the public for $20 million-plus a year?

You could always hole up in your big mansion, go out on your fancy boat or jet off to the Caribbean to avoid prying eyes, after all.

I normally do the Mum test on celebs to gauge the level of their fame. My Mum, a wise lady, doesn't concern herself with the world of gossip, and so couldn't tell you her Jordan from her Jennifer Aniston. Who she would know are the super-duper stars who have really reached the upper echelons of fame. She could pick you out a Tom Cruise, a Tom Hanks and an OprahWinfrey, but give she wouldn't know a Nicole Richie or a Jessica Simpson if she fell over them.

There's two people I think are equally the most famous I've ever seen in the flesh, based on the Mum test. Ma would know these two. When I was but a young uni student I saw Michael Douglas, pre-Zeta-Jones, dining al fresco at a Vulcan Lane cafe. A few years later when the hubby and I were living in Dublin, we took ourselves out to a fancy restaurant after I got a tax rebate. There we were gutsing down our dinners when James Bond himself, Pierce Brosnan, walked in with a few people and took a table. The Irishman lives in California but he was at home making a movie, the tepid Laws of Attraction, with Julianne Moore.

Staff offered him a private room away from prying eyes, he refused. He was polite and charming to staff and good humoured about the room full of curious eyes pointed his way. And, although I was never a big fan beforehand, he was gorgeous looking in the flesh. Not short, not insecure, not covered in fake tan or strutting round with a large entourage. And after the way he carried himself and his fame in public I've looked at him in a new light ever since.

Have you had a remarkable celebrity sighting, or spotted someone famous that you'd never forget? Is there one celeb in particular you'd die to meet in the flesh? Share it with me below.