The woman who masturbated twice during Tom Hiddleston’s Broadway show in 2019
Star power is a hell of a thing, and the casting directors of Marvel movies have never struck gold harder than they did with Tom Hiddleston.
Sure, the entire project was built around casting Robert Downey Jr as Tony Stark, and stars have been made in the form of Tom Holland, Chris Hemsworth and Charlie Cox. However, each of them had at least cameo appearances in major Hollywood pictures before Marvel came a-knockin’. In terms of outright discoveries, Hiddleston was a true bolt from the blue that we don’t seem to get anymore.
At the time of his casting as Loki, he was a jobbing theatre actor with a couple of credits in British film and TV to his name. A talented one, to be clear. One that people were making big plans for across the 2000s. However, not only could no-one could have predicted just how well he’d settle into Hollywood superstardom, no one could have predicted that he’d become the generational sex symbol that he was for nearly a decade.
Especially when the first Thor movie seems keen to give Hemsworth’s pecs as much screen time as Natalie Portman. Or Hiddleston himself, for that matter.
Yet still, Hiddleston’s charm, charisma and cheekbones, combined with Loki’s devious trickery and commanding presence, made him a breakout star that a lot of people found themselves lusting over for years to come. For proof of this, just look at the sheer, ear-shattering screams that greet his appearance in costume and in character at the 2013 San Diego Comic Con, all to introduce a trailer for Thor: The Dark World, one of the most dull movies in the entire MCU.
Or perhaps, for a real sign of Hiddleston’s hold over a generation of pop culture nerds, you should look not at anything he did in a Marvel setting, or really, anything he did at all. In 2019, he starred in a production of Harold Pinter’s classic infidelity drama Betrayal, one which premiered in London but transferred to Broadway within months. One fateful night got so steamy that a particular audience reaction was written about on the All That Chat message board.
The poster said that a fellow theatregoer, a few seats down from then on their row, a well-dressed young woman in their thirties, was enjoying the performance on a much… deeper level than most. It read, “My companion could feel a rhythmic banging against his armrest, punctuated by occasional low moans and giggles… [It] got faster and faster until there was one slightly louder ‘Ha’, and she resumed her normal seat position, put her head back and closed her eyes.”
Whoever this woman was, she must have had stamina for days because this wasn’t the only time this happened either. The second act saw Hiddleston kiss his co-star Zawe Ashton (who he’s now engaged to today) passionately, and the poster says that the young woman started up the same rigmarole again. Same banging against the armrest, same low moan followed by a louder ‘Ha’ and then calm. Once the show finished, she applauded enthusiastically, then exited quickly.
Page Six, which reported this, reached out to the show’s spokesman, Rick Miramontez, for confirmation, but he gave no comment. Which is strange, as this would have been a very easy claim to deny. However, that would imply that there’s no denying the effect Tom Hiddleston has on his legion of fans. If he can get them to do things as bizarre as this, then why would you get in their way?