From the ages of eight to 12, TikToker Savannah Phillips (@thatsavchick) lived in the Bellagio Hotel in West Hollywood. The bar and restaurant lounge was like her living room, and the rooftop pool was her playground. When she was bored, she would ride the elevators up and down so she could meet new people.
Growing up, her babysitter was none other than the rapper Chingy. He rose to fame in the early 2000s and topped the charts with his hit single, “Right Thurr.”
He and his crew always stayed at the hotel whenever they came to town. They loved the seventh floor, which was where Savannah, her mom, and her sister lived.
Savannah and her family were in room 727, and Chingy was directly across the hall. Savannah was around 10 years old at the time, while her sister was 21.
“They loved seeing a family in this hotel,” said Savannah. “People kind of gravitated toward us because they just wanted to know what our story was. Like, why is there a mom and two daughters living in a hotel?”
Chingy and his friends always had their doors wide open. One day, Savannah was watching VH1 when his music video popped up on her TV.
She ran across the hall and told Chingy that he was on her TV. She would always go over to his room to eat chicken fingers and play video games.
Savannah and her family got so close to Chingy that her mom would just leave her with him while she ran errands. Chingy actually invited them to the filming of one of his music videos. Savannah stayed in the green room and ate snacks the whole time.
“Looking back now, I realize how crazy this story sounds, but at the time, it just felt completely normal,” she said.
“So, whenever people ask me a fun, random fact about myself, I usually tell them that Chingy kind of was my babysitter as a kid.”
In the comments section, many TikTok users shared stories of their own childhood encounters with celebrities.
“We met Chingy at the W hotel in NYC. We were all staying there, and he was so nice and friendly. We didn’t play video games, though,” commented one user.
“I grew up with Johnny Knoxville, and he used to be so nice to me as a kid and feed me Mac and cheese with his daughter,” wrote another.
“Chris Evans used to babysit my mom because his music coach was my granddad,” stated a third.
“My fun fact was that I ate Mac and cheese at MC Hammer’s house when I was a kid. He lives in my hometown and was involved in our baseball and tee ball stuff,” added someone else.
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By Emily Chan
Emily Chan is a writer who covers lifestyle and news content. She graduated from Michigan State University with a degree in... More about Emily Chan
