TV Actress Falls in Love with a Homeless Man, Making Everyone's Jaws Drop — Story of the Day

A movie star found herself on a date with a homeless man when she took a vacation to Europe, and their meeting ended up changing the poor man's life.

Samantha had just clocked 39 and she was in what she liked to call a crisis of identity. She lived in New York and was an actress famously known for her great performances in TV movies.

Samantha had all the success she could ever ask for, but deep down, underneath all the glamour and luxury her celebrity status could afford her, she was lonely.

She got into showbiz at a pretty young age. Her parents were also actors and they made sure she followed the same path because according to her father, "It's where the money is."

Samantha had the talent for it but she longed to be able to have genuine relationships with real people. Those who often surrounded her were mostly sycophants with their own private, often malicious, agendas.

They either wanted to benefit from her or use her as a stepping stone for their own success. She had learned at an early age to keep all of them at arm's length, but that left her feeling distanced all the time.

As she approached 40, Samantha started thinking deeply about her life and things she wanted to do to improve it. To that end, she decided to travel to Paris to spend her vacation there.

She owned a beautiful mansion in a quiet neighborhood where she enjoyed staying whenever she wanted to escape people and the buzz of the city. Her days in Paris were filled with peace and comfort, if a little annoying, because everywhere Samantha looked there was a couple cuddling.

"They don't call it the city of love for nothing," one native food vendor told her after she complained about how much love was in the air.

"You best buy a face mask if you're trying to avoid the love bug," the man suggested.

"She may need to get her own air while she's at it because the atmosphere is full of it," the vendor's wife butt in before walking over to her husband and planting a solid kiss on his bearded mouth.

Samantha left them feeling unhappy. In truth, she also wanted someone to love her for herself. However, that was proving difficult with all her wealth. Men who were not seduced by it were repulsed by it. "Just my luck," Samantha always told herself.

One day, she went to the park close to her house to watch the sunset. It was one of her pastimes, and it brought her a lot of joy.

When she got there, she sat on a bench that gave her a view of the area the sunset would be most visible from. While she waited, she ate a crispy baguette and watched couples in love walk around.

She got carried away daydreaming about having a real lover but she was shocked back to awareness by a hobo approaching her. He smelled terrible, and his clothing was tattered.

He looked malnourished, and his face looked obsolete, covered as it was with dirty facial hair. Many thoughts fluttered through Samantha's mind as the man made a beeline for her.

He's going to ask for an autograph, Samantha thought. No, that's ridiculous, he probably wants to rob me blind...No that can't be right either. He wouldn't do it in broad daylight in such a public place.

When the man reached her, he asked her what time it was in French, but she responded by gesturing that she did not speak the language.

Imagine her shock when the homeless man switched fluently to English. He noticed her mouth hanging open, made a joke about it, and just like that, the ice was broken.

For the first few minutes of their conversation, Samantha remained wary of talking to the hobo, but after some time, she relaxed, and they truly had a genuine conversation — something Samantha had been dying to have for months.

She laughed out loud when she thought of how weird it was that the only person who was willing to listen to her was a smelly man who did not recognize her celebrity status.

"What?" he asked, his eyes crinkling at the corners as he responded to her happy vibe.

Samantha had noticed along the line that the hobo — who introduced himself as Jude — had defining facial features. He had high cheekbones and beautiful blue eyes that mesmerized her with their intensity.

When she was set to leave, he begged to meet her again at the same spot in three days, but she just waved the request away. She had no plans of meeting him again, however, she could not forget his eyes and the intelligence in his gaze.

Three days after their first meeting, she decided to walk past the bench where they met, and to her surprise, he was already there waiting with a bouquet of fresh-picked roses in hand.

They talked into the evening, their topics ranging from light-hearted ones to intimate ones, like how he ended up on the streets. "I came here when I was very young. It is quite a long story and I'd rather not bore you with it," Jude told Samantha.

"Come on, I want to know," she insisted, totally oblivious to the weird stares people were giving them.

She and the homeless man made a stark contrast; where she had on clean and costly clothing, he was dressed in tattered dirty rags. Nobody moved close to them but they watched uneasily, expecting her to scream at any moment that the hobo had molested her or stolen her things — neither happened.

Meanwhile, their conversation went on. After her pestering, Jude eventually caved in and told her about how his family moved to Europe to start a company when he was 10. They did, and it became a success, but his father was betrayed by his associates, and they lost everything except their lives.

His father never recovered from the betrayal, and his mother never forgave him for that. Eventually, they both passed on due to heart attack, leaving him nothing. He was thrown on the street where he lived as a teenager and now as an adult.

"Why did you decide to remain on the streets?" Samantha asked him. "Don't you have family back in the states?"

"I've just never thought of that," he told her. "And life here is predictable. Thinking of being something else other than this scares me."

His words saddened Samantha, who had taken a liking to him. "I hope you change your mind," she told him as they parted that day. "There is so much you could be." She left him her phone number and returned to the states the following day.

Months later, when Samantha turned 40, she received a call from an unknown number. It was Jude. He congratulated her on the joyful occasion and asked her permission to meet. He had traveled from Paris to New York to meet his extended family and to see her.

Samantha didn't think twice about agreeing to meet him. And when they finally saw each other, she was surprised to see him looking very different from their last encounter. He had cleaned up nicely — his beard was gone, and he'd gotten into some nice clothes that accentuated his eye color.

He told her how her words during their last date had lived in him, saying it made him get a job and work hard to make something of himself after realizing that his parents would never be able to help him with it.

Samantha was touched by his efforts, and she promised to help him with her means. She had also fallen in love with him and was glad that she had finally found her own Mr. Right. They got married a year later, and they adopted children they raised together.

What did we learn from this story?

• Take responsibility for yourself. After his parents died, Jude fell into a lazy lifestyle on the streets, and with no prompts from people, he remained in that cycle until he reached adulthood. It wasn't until he met Samantha that he realized that he needed to take responsibility and do better for himself.
• Risks make life worth living. Nothing would have happened between Samantha and Jude had she not gone back for that second date. There was the risk that Jude could have had malicious plans for her or even worse, but she chose to show up anyway. Her bravery and faith were rewarded because she finally found that one person she could trust.

Share this story with your friends. It might brighten their day and inspire them.

If you enjoyed this story, you might like this one about a homeless man who offered his last $7 to a rich woman because she was in need.

This account is inspired by our reader’s story and written by a professional writer. Any resemblance to actual names or locations is purely coincidental. All images are for illustration purposes only. Share your story with us; maybe it will change someone’s life. If you would like to share your story, please send it to info@amomama.com.