Matthew Lillard’s fans know him from his diverse roles on the big screen, including the beloved Shaggy from "Scooby-Doo" and the quirky hacker Cereal Killer. While his characters may be eccentric, in real life, Lillard embodies hard work, kindness, courage, and energy. Recently, a fan named Travari Windrunner shared a touching photo and story about how Lillard brightened her day during a time of grief.
Image Source: Matthew Lillard attends the 2020 NBCUniversal Winter Press Tour at The Langham Huntington, Pasadena on January 11, 2020, in Pasadena, California. (Photo by Tommaso Boddi/WireImage)
Travari, a digital creator based in Seattle, Washington, posted a photo of the "Scream" star giving her a warm "dad hug." She shared, “My little sister and I grew up watching 'Scooby-Doo,' and we were just addicted to Shaggy and Scooby for their obvious silliness. Shaggy was our childhood hero!”
Travari met Matthew early last year at Emerald City Comic Con. It was her first encounter with the actor, just days after her sister had passed away. “When my turn came up for our photo together, I asked him if he could just give me one of those Dad-hugs. He looked at me and said, ‘You give me the biggest f*****g hug you can.’ I forgot I even needed to pose and just hugged him hard and he gave me that dad hug I needed,” she recalled.
When she met him for the autograph signing later that day, he expressed his deepest condolences for her loss. “He gave me another one of those dad hugs for an even longer hold and gave me some words of encouragement before signing my picture with ‘Hugs – Dad,’” she added. Travari concluded the post by mentioning that Matthew “is the sweetest soul on this planet and is so incredibly caring of his fans.”
Her story moved many fans to tears. Some shared that they now wish to meet the actor, knowing how kind he is. A few people chimed in with their own experiences of meeting him.
Image Source: Facebook | @nia.prieto
@diffpunk commented, “I’m glad this happened for you! I have a friend that knew him and from what they said, he’s a real one.” Also, @tim.peirson recalled that he met him a few years back in Crypticon, and said he’s a “really nice and personable guy.” @Klghstblr expressed her love by writing, “I am in tears this story is so precious. I'm so sorry for your loss, sending big sister hug vibes your way.”
Image Source: Facebook | @brenden.rigby
@indysochor, whose 16-year-old son is a huge Matthew fan, commented that the actor is a “rare gem and definitely deserves to be treasured forever.” Five days later, Travari shared a screenshot saying that Matthew had commented on one of her posts, and she was overwhelmed with emotion.
The photo and story in Travari’s post were also shared on Reddit by u/michael14375 in the r/MadeMeSmile community, where it has crossed 97,000 upvotes and more than a thousand comments. Many people described him as one of the “nicest celebrities," "the kindest man,” “friendliest guy" and "the most amazing human."
Image Source: Reddit | u/travari-windrunner
u/argyleskin, who lost their son, shared that they once met Matthew and told him about their late son. Matthew gave them a hug, sharing their sorrow. “The connection with a human about my son meant more to me than getting a hug from an actor. He’s just such a decent human and good soul. Few people famous or not are that pure,” the Redditor wrote.
Image Source: Reddit | u/maywunu
Robin Williams performs for military men and women as part of a United Service Organization (USO) show on board Camp Phoenix in December 2007
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Will your current friends still be with you after seven years?
Professor shares how many years a friendship must last before it'll become lifelong
Think of your best friend. How long have you known them? Growing up, children make friends and say they’ll be best friends forever. That’s where “BFF” came from, for crying out loud. But is the concept of the lifelong friend real? If so, how many years of friendship will have to bloom before a friendship goes the distance? Well, a Dutch study may have the answer to that last question.
Sociologist Gerald Mollenhorst and his team in the Netherlands did extensive research on friendships and made some interesting findings in his surveys and studies. Mollenhorst found that over half of your friendships will “shed” within seven years. However, the relationships that go past the seven-year mark tend to last. This led to the prevailing theory that most friendships lasting more than seven years would endure throughout a person’s lifetime.
In Mollenhorst’s findings, lifelong friendships seem to come down to one thing: reciprocal effort. The primary reason so many friendships form and fade within seven-year cycles has much to do with a person’s ages and life stages. A lot of people lose touch with elementary and high school friends because so many leave home to attend college. Work friends change when someone gets promoted or finds a better job in a different state. Some friends get married and have children, reducing one-on-one time together, and thus a friendship fades. It’s easy to lose friends, but naturally harder to keep them when you’re no longer in proximity.
Some people on Reddit even wonder if lifelong friendships are actually real or just a romanticized thought nowadays. However, older commenters showed that lifelong friendship is still possible:
“I met my friend on the first day of kindergarten. Maybe not the very first day, but within the first week. We were texting each other stupid memes just yesterday. This year we’ll both celebrate our 58th birthdays.”
“My oldest friend and I met when she was just 5 and I was 9. Next-door neighbors. We're now both over 60 and still talk weekly and visit at least twice a year.”
“I’m 55. I’ve just spent a weekend with friends I met 24 and 32 years ago respectively. I’m also still in touch with my penpal in the States. I was 15 when we started writing to each other.”
“My friends (3 of them) go back to my college days in my 20’s that I still talk to a minimum of once a week. I'm in my early 60s now.”
“We ebb and flow. Sometimes many years will pass as we go through different things and phases. Nobody gets buttsore if we aren’t in touch all the time. In our 50s we don’t try and argue or be petty like we did before. But I love them. I don’t need a weekly lunch to know that. I could make a call right now if I needed something. Same with them.”
Maintaining a friendship for life is never guaranteed, but there are ways, psychotherapists say, that can make a friendship last. It’s not easy, but for a friendship to last, both participants need to make room for patience and place greater weight on their similarities than on the differences that may develop over time. Along with that, it’s helpful to be tolerant of large distances and gaps of time between visits, too. It’s not easy, and it requires both people involved to be equally invested to keep the friendship alive and from becoming stagnant.
As tough as it sounds, it is still possible. You may be a fortunate person who can name several friends you’ve kept for over seven years or over seventy years. But if you’re not, every new friendship you make has the same chance and potential of being lifelong.