Claire Danes Proves No One Can Keep Their Cool Around Beyoncé

We’re not going to make harsh judgements about fame levels here, but the facts are that Claire Danes was winning her first Golden Globe back in 1994 when Beyoncé was still a member of a group named Girl’s Thyme. While certainly Beyoncé has risen to her own private level of renown since then, you’d think if anyone could hold their cool around Beyoncé it might be someone like Danes.

She’s played a CIA agent on Homeland for the past nine years, after all.

Still, while promoting her program’s final season last night on The Tonight Show, the three-time Emmy winner admitted that even she suddenly gets socially awkward when having an impromptu run in with Beyoncé at a fashion gala.

When Fallon asked about Homeland‘s famous fans (which include the Obamas), Danes declared with noticeable glee that the “most amazing fan” was Bey-onccccc-ey.

She then recounted how she was at “this fashion awards thing” (likely the 2016 CFDA awards, which both attended) when they were both waiting back stage “in this little area.”

“I got really stupid. Like my brain just stopped working,” said Danes. “So I was talking, I was saying words, and she said words back, and she said that she was a fan, I remember that distinctly.”

“She said she had just finished her tour, and I said, ‘Wow, oh wow, you must be exhausted,'” Danes continued. “You gonna take a little break? She said, ‘Yeah, yeah, yeah, we’re going to take a little vacation.’ I was like, ‘Really, where are you gonna go?’ and she said, ‘Yeah, no, we’re thinking about it.'”

“I was like ‘Oh my God, you can’t ask Beyoncé where she’s going on vacation,” recalled Danes while burying her face in her hands.

“You were a disaster,” concluded Fallon.

Of course, this should dispel the myth that every celebrity is magically on the same VIP newsletter or part of some nefarious illuminati. They can’t even act cool around each other. Not even backstage at the CFDA Awards.