15 Celebs Who Dished On What Prom Was Really Like

Attending prom is a core part of any teenager’s high school experience. Getting ready for the big night can take a lot of time and preparation — whether that’s finding a date, hiring the limo or getting glam in a designer gown. And after all that work, prom should be a night to remember…but it doesn’t always live up to the hype. While dancing the night away with all of your classmates can be a great time, even celebrities have mixed feelings about the annual event. For some, it was a fairytale moment and for others, there was a lot left to be desired.

Here’s what these celebs had to say about prom…

1. Selena Gomez

Selena Gomez didn’t get the chance to go to a typical prom since she was homeschooled, but as a teenager she did crash a prom with Demi Lovato. When the pair were in Canada for the premiere of their film Princess Protection Program, they found out there was a prom going on at the same hotel as their after-party.

“I kept hearing dance music, so I peeked into the ballroom and there was a prom going on! I ran upstairs and got Demi. Then we walked into the ballroom onto the dance floor and just started dancing,” she told Seventeen. “After a couple songs, people started to notice we were there. I got scared I was going to get in trouble, but all the students let us dance with them. Even the principal came and started dancing with us!”

2. Christina Aguilera

Christina Aguilera was already a teen popstar when she attended her high school prom in her hometown. Despite being homeschooled while working on her album, Christina headed back to Pennsylvania where a friend had set her up on a blind date.

“I wasn’t going to, because I knew I would be treated a little different but finally I called my friend Marcy and said, ‘Let’s just have fun with this. Set me up with a really cute blind date.’ But then a friend of mine was hurt because he wanted to go with me, so I ended up having two dates for the prom!” Christina told EW at the time.

She added, ”I got along better with the guys than the girls. Only two girls came up to talk to me. Later I found out they were telling their boyfriends, ‘If you talk to her, I’ll kill you.’ It’s always rough with that high school thing.”

3. Shay Mitchell

Shay Mitchell had a longtime boyfriend in high school but right before prom, they broke up. Even though she no longer had a date, she decided to still go to the big event with friends. She decided to do everything on a budget too, only splurging on her shoes. She even had her mom do her hair, which almost went awry but ended up working out in the end.

“My boyfriend and I broke up before prom. I hadn’t met anyone else I really wanted to go with, so I went with my friends. I got a million photos with them!” she told Seventeen. “My dress was about $175 and for accessories, I went through my mom’s closet. I bought nice, crystal shoes — you have to get something that makes you excited. It doesn’t have to be expensive, but I really did feel like a princess putting my shoes on!”

4. Taylor Swift

Taylor Swift didn’t have the opportunity to go to a traditional prom because she was on tour when her high school hosted the big night but she did take part in an MTV show called Once Upon a Prom. Taylor and her BFF Abigail Anderson headed to a high school in Alabama where they got paired up with their own dates.

“It was literally one of the best nights of my life!” Taylor told People shortly afterwards, adding, “I felt so much like I was in high school again — in a good way, without any drama, without anyone being catty. It was the coolest thing!”

5. Dove Cameron

When Dove Cameron was an aspiring actress, she went to prom with a fellow actor named Matt Timmons, who played Woody on the Disney Channel show, Suite Life on Deck. She says Matt invited her to prom by prom-posing with a Starbucks delivery in the middle of one of their classes.

“I went to prom with another Disney kid back before I was even on Disney Channel. Matt Timmons…went to my high school and we met through some mutual friends. He’s like the funniest guy alive!” Dove told Seventeen.

She continued, “I’m obsessed with Starbucks, so he wrote the prom proposal on a Starbucks cup and had someone bring it to me in class like, ‘Starbucks for Dove?’ We ended up going to prom together, and it was really fun. I love Matt; he’s a good dancer. Disney kids find each other.”

6. Lance Bass

Back in high school, Lance Bass was dating Boy Meets World star Danielle Fishel and they ended up going to prom together. Reflecting on the experience, Lance says they didn’t have a good time because the other girls there were “jealous and catty,” treating Danielle poorly.

“It was terrible!” Lance told Cosmo Radio. “We only stayed for 20 minutes.”

7. Brad Pitt

Brad Pitt doubled up on his prom experience. He says that one year, he attended two proms because he was dating a girl who went to another school. Decked out in a white tux with tails, the pair hit up both proms right after each other.

“I went to two proms because I was dating a beautiful young woman from the neighboring high school, so we had to hit one and then hit the other,” Brad told W Magazine.

8. Meryl Streep

Meryl Streep had a wardrobe disaster at her prom. Back when she was just 14, Meryl attended the school dance in a dress her mother had made for her. On the way there, the straps broke and she had no way to fix them. She ended up having to hold the dress up with her arms the entire night.

“I had a pretty little dress that my mother had made me. It had two little spaghetti straps. I walked out to the car and I plopped down in the front seat and both spaghetti straps popped off,” she told People. “I was 14, I had nothing to hold up the dress except my arm. So I kept my arms pinned to my sides for four and a half hours at my prom.”

9. Tiffany Haddish

When Tiffany Haddish was in high school, she went to three different proms. The first time she ended up going with a friend of a friend whom she had never met before. That night, she ended up meeting his entire family.

“The first prom I went to was with a dude I’d never met before. It was my home girl, she was like, ‘Hey, my friend, he really wants to go to prom, but he’s kind of big’ and I was like, ‘I’ll go!’” Tiffany recalled on a Night School special edition DVD. “He had his whole family come to pick me up in a limo and everybody was like, ‘Oh my God, oh my God, you got a pretty girl! You’re going to prom with a pretty girl!’”

10. Taylor Lautner

Taylor Lautner may have graduated from high school early but he still got to go to his prom. He says he took an old friend from school to the event which was hosted at a museum in Los Angeles and it ended up being a really positive experience.

“At my school juniors and seniors both go to the prom. It was fun. I forget where we had it, it was somewhere in L.A. at some art museum. It was really a lot of fun. It was a long night. I think it finished like 12 or 1 in the morning,” he told TeenMag.com.

11. Brandy

Brandy had a unique prom experience because she ended up stepping out for the big night with Kobe Bryant. At the time, the basketball star was a high school senior and about to be drafted into the NBA. After meeting Brandy at the Essence Awards, he had someone ask her to go to prom with him.

“It was so amazing because I wasn’t in regular school at the time and he was. So if he never invited me to his prom, I never would have had the prom experience,” she told TMZ. “It was hectic. I mean, all of the press and media were there but it was so much fun to be around kids my age.”

12. Zoe Kazan

Zoe Kazan had a little bit of trouble making it to her high school prom in Los Angeles. Looking back, she says her school actually created a scavenger hunt to uncover the prom’s location but her limo broke down on the highway in the middle of it all. Thankfully, another friend ended up spotting her date’s red-velvet smoking jacket and pulled over to help.

“So like halfway through this prom hunt, our limo breaks down on the 405. We manage to push it off the freeway into this gas station. We’re standing there waiting and my other childhood best friend drives by, spots the limo, sees my date in his jacket and thinks, ‘Oh, that has to be Max. That must be Max and Zoe — why are they there?’ He pulls off the freeway and drives us to prom in her beat-up Volvo station wagon,” she told Refinery29.

13. Jenna Ushkowitz

Jenna Ushkowitz admits she didn’t have a good time at her high school prom. Part of the problem was the venue, which was supposed to be on the beach but the building ended up having no windows. And while the actual event wasn’t great, she says she did get beautiful photos at Westbury Gardens, where the movie Cruel Intentions took place.

“My prom was awful!” she told Seventeen. “The prom was supposed to have a beach-front view, but there were no windows! It was a big let-down. My advice is to go into prom without super high expectations and you’ll get the most out of it!”

14. Debby Ryan

Debby Ryan fulfilled a promise with a friend when she went to prom. She explained that when they were in middle school, they promised they would go with each other instead of with guys. They ended up having a great time, kicking off their heels in favor of sneakers and taking film photos on the dance floor.

“In 8th grade, my BFF and I pinkie swore we would go to prom together instead of going with boys. We were like, ‘Forget boys! We won’t end up with a guy we go to prom with, but we’ll always be best friends,’” she told Seventeen. “We brought disposable cameras and took tons of photos while we were dancing. It was so fun!”

15. Tyra Banks

Tyra Banks had a bit of a wardrobe malfunction at her prom but it didn’t hinder her experience. Looking back, she says part of the strap on her dress broke but she didn’t even know. Later, she went out to dinner with her date and ended up getting home before midnight.