Some people strive to be famous, but other A-listers are born completely by chance - and we're happy to announce that a star was born last night at the Golden Globes in the best way possible. Meet Kelleth Cuthbert, the girl who photobombed literally every single famous person she possibly could on the red carpet before the 2019 ceremony.
The model, who is based in Los Angeles, was hired as an assistant to hand out Fiji Water to celebrities but ended up going viral on social media when she was caught on camera, time and time again, standing next to people like Idris Elba, Nicole Kidman and Kaley Cuoco. Let's be honest here, you can't teach that kind of photobombing.
The 76th Golden Globes was a pretty amazing event. However, on the day of the ceremony, a new star was born: Kelleth Cuthbert, aka the 'Fiji Water Girl.' In case you've been living under a rock for the last few days, allow me to explain. When pics of the red carpet event hit social media, the general public was left intrigued by the continual appearance of a certain smiling brunette woman, who seemed to be in every photograph. She'd photobomb the celebs by standing behind them while holding a tray of Fiji brand water bottles on a tray.
Needless to say, many people who spotted her were desperate to know who the girl in the blue dress really was. Eventually, it was discovered that the real name of the Fiji Water Girl is Kelleth Cuthbert: a model and commercial actress who just so happened to be at the right place at the right time when the cameras were turned in her general direction. She's now something of a celebrity online and it seems as though she wants others to follow in her footsteps.
In a recent interview with Glamour magazine, Kelleth shared her top four photobombing tips with the world. In the video, Cuthbert advises viewers that: "You just want to creep over, always make eye contact, keep it sultry. It's all about the looks, the sultry looks. The Blue Steel! If you're holding something, you want to keep it visible. Keep the shoulders kind of cheated to camera. You just have to look pleasant toward the camera. You know: give them some eyes." Last but not least, she says that a good photobomber should: "Have a little bit of room, you know? A little room to pose, bust out the moves. A little over-the-shoulder."
In another interview discussing her newfound viral fame, Cuthbert stated: "There are tons of photographers everywhere. It doesn’t matter where you stand, you’re in the crossfire of every shot. You’ve gotta have good face, at least, if you’re gonna be hovering in the background frequently. The photographers have to take so many shots, so rapidly. Obviously, your face doesn’t look perfectly pleasant in all of them, so they captured lots of expressions [where I’m] naturally making weird faces. I loved the Jim Carrey one. I love his work. I grew up watching his movies and thought it was a funny thing to find myself in the background of."
Even Fiji Water made fun of the meme on social media, tweeting: "We’re so glad everyone is talking about our water! *senses ominous presence* She’s right behind us, isn’t she? [sic]." So, if you want to become a viral celebrity yourself, then my advice is to get yourself a job handing out hors-d'oeuvres at the awards show of your choice, and take Kelleth's advice to heart. If you wanna make it in showbiz, you gotta learn from the master, right?
This year's Golden Globes were pretty fantastic, and it was so exciting to see so many of our favourite celebrities gathered together in one place. But a new star was inadvertently born at the prestigious red carpet event: Kelleth Cuthbert, also known colloquially as the 'Fiji Water Girl.' When pictures of the awards show made it to social media, many people were intrigued by the inexplicable appearance of an attractive brunette, who seemed to be photobombing various celebs by lurking behind them, holding a tray of Fiji water bottles.
Suffice to say, everyone was desperate to find out just who the mysterious brunette was. Eventually, Cuthbert was identified as the woman in question. It turned out that she was a model and commercial actress who just so happened to be at the right place at the right time when the cameras were turned in her general direction. At first, she was just an everyday internet meme, but now it seems as though her Golden Globes cameos have given her career a big boost.
According to a report from network CBS, Cuthbert is due to make an appearance in an upcoming episode of the popular long-running soap opera The Bold and The Beautiful, in an episode scheduled to air on February 6. Cuthbert herself confirmed this, after she posted a picture of herself alongside the soap’s cast this week. She captioned the pic: "Thank you to the lovely folks of @boldandbeautifulcbs for having me yesterday!" In case you're wondering, she wasn't photobombing the actors this time, but was actually front-and-centre for a change.
In a recent interview with Glamour magazine, Kelleth shared her top four photobombing tips with the world. She advises viewers of the video that that: "You just want to creep over, always make eye contact, keep it sultry. It's all about the looks, the sultry looks. The Blue Steel! If you're holding something, you want to keep it visible. Keep the shoulders kind of cheated to camera. You just have to look pleasant toward the camera. You know: give them some eyes." Lastly, she states that a good photobomber should: "Have a little bit of room, you know? A little room to pose, bust out the moves. A little over-the-shoulder."
In another interview discussing her newfound viral fame, Cuthbert stated: "There are tons of photographers everywhere. It doesn’t matter where you stand, you’re in the crossfire of every shot. You’ve gotta have good face, at least, if you’re gonna be hovering in the background frequently. The photographers have to take so many shots, so rapidly. Obviously, your face doesn’t look perfectly pleasant in all of them, so they captured lots of expressions [where I’m] naturally making weird faces. I loved the Jim Carrey one. I love his work. I grew up watching his movies and thought it was a funny thing to find myself in the background of."
Personally, I'm glad that Kelleth is going on to do great things. I'm sure she'll be landing many more plumb roles in the future.
It's fair to say that the 76th Golden Globe awards were pretty spectacular, attended by all manner of famous people. However, on the day of the ceremony, a new star was born in the most unlikely of circumstances: the so-called 'Fiji Water Girl.'
In case you've been missing the buzz around this enigmatic person, then allow me to illuminate you. When pictures of the red carpet event hit social media yesterday, a number of social media users were intrigued by the constant appearance of a beautiful brunette woman, who seemed to be in every photograph. She would usually photobomb the celebs by standing behind them, smirking slightly, holding a tray of Fiji brand water bottles on a tray.
It was a bit like having April Ludgate show up to mug for the camera, and needless to say, many people who spotted her were desperate to know who the girl in the blue dress really was. Eventually, it was discovered that the real name of the Fiji Water Girl is Kelleth Cuthbert. Kelleth is apparently a model and commercial actress who just so happened to be at the right place at the right time when the paparazzi started snapping their pics. Now she's opened up for the first time about what she was feeling when she accidentally went viral.
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In a recent interview with PEOPLE magazine, Cuthbert stated: "There’s tons of photographers everywhere. It doesn’t matter where you stand, you’re in the crossfire of every shot. You’ve gotta have good face, at least, if you’re gonna be hovering in the background frequently. The photographers have to take so many shots, so rapidly. Obviously, your face doesn’t look perfectly pleasant in all of them, so they captured lots of expressions [where I’m] naturally making weird faces. I loved the Jim Carrey one. I love his work. I grew up watching his movies and thought it was a funny thing to find myself in the background of."
She added: "I had absolutely no idea what was happening because I obviously didn’t have my phone on me,” she told PEOPLE of the social media craze happening while she worked. I felt very cut off from everything. I didn’t find out until the last stragglers of the red carpet were heading into the awards ceremony, and all these people walking by started shoving their phones in my face and showing me that I was trending on Twitter, but I didn’t understand the magnitude of it till later. Nothing quite so interesting has ever happened. Nothing has garnered so much attention as this before."
Apart from Jim Carrey, other celebrities that Cuthbert ended up photobombing included Judy Greer, Idris Elba, Eric Lange, Tony Shalhoub, Richard Madden, Kaley Cuoco, and numerous others. Even Fiji Water made fun of the meme on social media, tweeting: "We’re so glad everyone is talking about our water! *senses ominous presence* She’s right behind us, isn’t she? [sic]."
Hey, I suppose any publicity is good publicity. I'm sure that her newfound viral fame will give Kelleth's career a big boost.
The 2019 Golden Globes were pretty amazing this year, and everyone enjoyed the experience of watching their favourite celebrities gathered together in one place to get some recognition for all their hard work over the last year.
However, nobody ever suspected that a new star would be born at the prestigious red carpet event. But someone special managed to become famous on that day: none other than Kelleth Cuthbert, perhaps best-known as the 'Fiji Water Girl'.
When pictures of the glitzy awards show emerged on social media, many people were interested in the identity of the brunette who appeared to be sabotaging celebs by photobombing them. She always stood behind, holding a tray of Fiji water bottles, smiling to herself.
Soon enough, Cuthbert was identified as the woman in question. She's a model and commercial actress who just so happened to be at the right place at the right time when the cameras were turned to her, and she's been doing well out of her newfound viral fame, even ending up with a cushy role in a popular soap opera as a result of her Golden Globes cameo.
However, this week it has emerged that Cuthbert is reportedly suing the parent company of Fiji Water over the alleged misuse of her likeness.
Kelleth, (real name is Kelly Steinbach) has reportedly initiated legal action against the Fiji Water and its parent company, The Wonderful Company, for allegedly creating a marketing campaign around her, using cardboard cutouts of her image in certain parts of America. Despite alleged failed last-minute negotiations with her agent, Fiji Water went ahead with its campaign.
In court documents, Cuthbert claims that the company is guilty of "the unauthorised use of (Fiji Water Girl's) photograph, likeness and identity." The same documents also allege that Fiji Water attempted to bribe her with "gifts" in a ploy to get her to sign her rights away, and "pressured [her] into video recording a fake signing of a fake document to simulate [her] signing on as a Fiji Water Ambassador."
However, Fiji Water appears to be dismissive of Cuthbert's claims, and issued a statement in which they called the lawsuit: "frivolous and entirely without merit."
They added: "After the Golden Globes social media moment, we negotiated a generous agreement with Ms Cuthbert that she blatantly violated. We are confident that we will prevail in Court. Throughout our history, we have had a sterling reputation working with talent."
Only time will tell who emerges as the wronged party in court.
The Golden Globes took place over the weekend, and, of all the famous faces invited, there was only one person who stole the show: the Fiji Water Girl.
While everyone else was showing off on the red carpet in their designer dresses and polished smiles, the Fiji Water Girl was there hanging around like Amy Poehler's character in Mean Girls - lurking in the background - looking as if she might be about to offer someone some snacks or a condom. Obviously, this made her a viral sensation.
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Kelleth Cuthbert, to give her her proper name, was the subject of countless memes in the days following the awards ceremony, with even Fiji Water themselves joking about her on Twitter.
However, at least one person wasn't impressed with her photobombing antics.
Jamie Lee Curtis, the star of the original Halloween films, spoke out on Twitter about the Fiji Water Girl after Cuthbert was caught in the background of several photos with her.
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"So, I specifically moved away from the blatant Fiji & Moet promotions," she wrote on the social media platform. "I knew there was a photographer poised & I moved as I didn’t want to be doing advertising for either. The sponsors of events need to get permission from people before they try 2 take their picture with them."
And yet, she still appeared in at least one picture with Cuthbert:
Basically, Curtis' beef with Cuthbert is that she didn't sign up to advertise anybody else's products, which is fair enough.
Cuthbert, meanwhile, insists that her comical appearances in everyone's pictures were entirely unintentional.
"There are tons of photographers everywhere. It doesn’t matter where you stand, you’re in the crossfire of every shot," she said. "Obviously, your face doesn’t look perfectly pleasant in all of them, so they captured lots of expressions [where I’m] naturally making weird faces. I loved the Jim Carrey one. I love his work. I grew up watching his movies and thought it was a funny thing to find myself in the background of."
What's more, she said, she had no idea that she was a viral sensation until later on because she had no way of checking her phone.
"I felt very cut off from everything. I didn’t find out until the last stragglers of the red carpet were heading into the awards ceremony, and all these people walking by started shoving their phones in my face and showing me that I was trending on Twitter, but I didn’t understand the magnitude of it till later. Nothing quite so interesting has ever happened. Nothing has garnered so much attention as this before."
Ultimately, Cuthbert was paid to promote Fiji Water, and she did a spectacular job of it. Curtis was there to promote herself, and she also managed to turn a lot of heads. So what if Cuthbert got in a few of her shots? Curtis probably got a decent night out of it (and possibly a ham sandwich from Melissa McCarthy), so it seems like there was no harm done.
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