Prince William Once Spilled The Beans On Princess Diana's Celeb Crush (Right To His Face!)
For as much as she was admired by people the world over, including celebrities, Diana, Princess of Wales was also infatuated with certain stars herself. Throughout the beloved royal's reign, she met and mingled with dozens of Hollywood A-listers, from David Bowie to Grace Kelly, but none of them caught her eye quite like Kevin Costner. Diana and the actor were introduced by her sister-in-law, Sarah Ferguson, the Duchess of York, after the "Yellowstone" star pitched to bring Diana in on the sequel to his 1992 blockbuster "The Bodyguard" (famously starring Costner opposite iconic singer Whitney Houston). "Yeah, we were gonna do it," he confirmed during a June 2024 appearance on "The Howard Stern Show." Unfortunately, Diana died around a year later in a tragic car accident in Paris.
Notably it was just after the script for the sequel was finished. Diana was supposed to play one of his love interests, but suddenly, as Costner gravely intoned, "She was gone." The project would have been a dream come true for Princess Di, marking her first foray into acting and with none other than Costner by her side. As it turns out, the princess had the biggest crush on the "Waterworld" star. Prince William, Diana's eldest son, spilled the scalding-hot tea during a private meeting with Costner over a decade after her death. "He wanted to meet me, and we sat. I sat across from him. He looked at me and he said, 'My mom fancied you,'" Costner recalled, adding, "It was the sweetest, gentlest thing."
Kevin Costner spoke very fondly of Princess Diana
While chatting with Howard Stern, Kevin Costner also revealed how enthusiastic Princess Diana was about acting in "The Bodyguard" sequel. "I said, 'Look, I'm gonna do "Bodyguard 2" and I think I can build this around you. Would you be interested?'" Costner remembered asking the princess. "She said yes," he recalled. "She goes, 'My life's about to change.'" They planned to include a kissing scene which the beloved royal, despite being nervous, also happily consented to. But after Diana passed away in August 1997, at the age of just 36, Costner decided not to push through with the project. He believed only Diana would be right for the role, similar to how he felt about Whitney Houston and the first movie, telling Stern emphatically: "I could not replace [her]."
Costner — who recently made headlines after splitting from his wife of 19 years, Christine Baumgartner, in February 2024 — also had kind words to say about Diana's eldest son, Prince William. "I very much respect him," Costner remarked of the future King of England in a sit-down interview with People. The actor refused to discuss the details of their private meeting, noting only that he would never forget what was said or how he was treated by William. "It was a very sweet thing," Costner stated. "I've had such fond memories of who he was, how I was approached, and what we talked about."
Princess Di also had a crush on George Michael
Turns out, Kevin Costner isn't the only man Princess Diana openly had the hots for. Author James Gavin, who penned the 2022 biography "George Michael: A Life," claimed that the Princess of Wales was also besotted with the singer during his heyday as one-half of Wham! "Princess Diana had a thing for pop stars," Gavin explained to Fox News Digital while promoting his book. "She was infatuated with pop stars and she got to know many of them." This part, at least, is true: Two of the late princess' closest friends were Sir Elton John and Liza Minelli. She was also believed to have been good pals with Michael himself and fellow queer icon Freddie Mercury. "But George Michael was shy about that," Gavin pointed out, adding, "There was no denying that she developed a crush on him."
However, while it's clear that he looked up to Diana, the pop star made sure to keep his distance from the princess so as to not give her the wrong idea. "And he was also uncomfortable," Gavin disclosed of the late singer, who came out as gay in 1998 during a televised interview, noting, "He was uneasy about the fact that he felt she had the hots for him." Still, they remained friends until Diana's untimely death, which greatly affected Michael whom Gavin asserted was completely devastated. Sadly, the singer himself died on Christmas Day in 2016 from natural causes at just 56.