Beyoncé Was Once Starstruck by This Iconic Singer
Many of us have had moments when we were starstruck by a well-known celebrity — including Beyoncé!
Yep, that’s right! Bey herself was rendered speechless when she encountered someone famous, and that person just so happened to be iconic superstar Selena Quintanilla.
Beyoncé had a brief encounter with Selena Quintanilla at a Texas mall
Before she was known as the Queen Bey, Beyoncé was just a young girl from Houston, Texas, who had dreams of making big as a singer.
While growing up in the Lone Star State in the 1990s, Beyoncé crossed paths with Selena while at a mall, and the encounter left the pre-fame singer awestruck.
“I did actually meet Selena in The Galleria mall in Houston, but I didn’t say much to Selena because I wasn’t a celebrity and I just saw her and said, ‘Hello’ and kept it moving,” Beyoncé recalled during a 2007 interview with MTV Tr3s.
Though their encounter was brief, it still left a lasting impression on Bey, who looked up to the “Como la Flor” singer at the time.
“Definitely growing up in Texas, I heard her on the radio and I think listening to her album, even though I didn’t know exactly what she was singing, it helped me in the studio with my pronunciation…I think she is a legend and I admire her,” she continued. “And she was so talented, so I’m very happy that even though she didn’t know who I was, I’m still so excited that I got that opportunity.”
Their meeting was featured in Netflix’s Selena: The Series
Though Beyoncé talked about her run-in with Selena a few years back, their encounter was recently reenacted for audiences in Netflix’s Selena: The Series.
In the sixth episode of part two of the series titled “Lo más bello,” which premiered on May 4, Selena is at The Galleria Mall in Houston, Texas, with her sister, Suzette, and their mom, Marcella, when a young and very starstruck Beyoncé sees her.
Though she was taken back by Selena’s presence, Beyoncé — who is with her mother Tina and younger sister Solange — still manages to quietly say “hi” to Selena before the singer walks away.
“Beyoncé Knowles, you better learn not to be afraid of people if you ever wanna be famous, too,” Tina tells Beyoncé, who is mesmerized by the Tejano superstar.
The encounter was such an iconic moment that even Christian Serratos, who plays Selena in the series, was fangirling over it.
“I thought it was so cool, I thought it was so cute,” she recently told Entertainment Tonight. “And I thought, ‘You know, that’s what this story is about, is inspiration, and inspiring young people to follow their dreams, whatever those dreams are.'”
She continued, “I always make jokes…is this going to be my connection to meeting Beyoncé?”
