As a child I hated London with an absolute passion. Let's face it, London is not really a child's place and being stuck there with a shop-crazy parent is probably life damaging! But once you hit the legal drinking age, London beats every other city hands down. Even though I lived there permanently for a couple of years, I still find it fascinating. There's always so much to do - so many pubs - so little brain cells to kill, so many shows - so little money, so many people, so many languages, so many shops - and only one small credit card... but last week I was there with an even more exciting purpose.

Thanks to a series of coincidences including a friend pulling some long strings and threads, a writing colleague getting married on the most opportune day of the year, and that thing I do to earn my daily bread and butter, I found myself at The Brown's Hotel in Mayfair London with an all-access pass to attend the International Press Day 2009 of Disney Studios, ABC, and ESPN Television. There I was with a handful of other journalists from around the world waiting to interview Kate Walsh (Addison from Grey's Anatomy and Private Practice), Tim Daly (Dr. Pete Wilder, also from Private Practice), Jennifer Love Hewitt and Jamie Kennedy (from Ghost Whisperer), Matthew Fox (Jack from Lost), and Kyle Maclachlan (Dr. Trey in Sex and The City and Orson Hodge in Desperate Housewives).

It was clear from the start that compared to the other journalists I was totally out of my league. You see, these guys do this for a living. They go around the world to interview and snap photographs and video clips of celebrities, so they make it their life's mission to know the nitty gritty details about every actor's and actress' life. They knew who Tim Daly was dating, that Kate Walsh had been recently divorced, they thought they knew who was recently out of rehab, where all of them lived, how they lived, the next move in their career, who they slept with, what they ate, when they ate and in some cases if they ever ate at all!

Because I'm undoubtedly Grey's Anatomy's biggest fan, and because she's the tall red head who campaigned relentlessly for Obama during the US elections, I knew quite a bit about Kate Walsh (Addisson). Simply because I'm not blind I also figured out that Jennifer Love Hewitt had lost an unquantifiable amount of weight, and that she was recently dating her co-star Jamie Kennedy. I also knew that Kyle Maclachlan's performance in Twin Peaks was the reason behind my many sleepless nights as a child, and that Tim Daly is Tyme Daly's brother (Lacey in Cagney and Lacey). Apart from the fact that he's drop dead gorgeous, I did not know much about Matthew Fox but surely it's ok to feel lost with Jack from Lost!

Meeting on-screen celebs in person is, for lack of a better term, weird! On the one hand you're excited just because they are famous and everybody is jealous and envious of your opportunity, but on the other hand you think, and feel like you totally know these people, but in reality you absolutely do not, and believe me they don't know you either. Because of this fake feeling of familiarity, there is a fine line that you can easily cross when you meet them. If you do cross it, at best you will get a whack on the head by the celebs' bodyguard, and at worst you'll face police arrest and a court order to stay away!

For instance, when Kate Walsh walked into the room, with her familiar quirk, bouncy walk and signature raised left eyebrow, I had to constantly remind myself that this is NOT Addison Forbes Montgomery. She was not married to Dr. Derek Shepherd, she is not a neo-natal surgeon, she does not know what pre-eclampsia is, I certainly cannot call her Addie, and I surely cannot tell her off for hating my best friend Meredith. So I started off with the obvious - what is it like to have to kiss handsome men and beautiful women to make a living.... but more about this in the next issue of Pink!