Funnyman George Lopez was terrified his mentor Sandra Bullock would give up on him after he asked her to make a long drive out of Los Angeles to watch him perform stand-up.
The comedian has Bullock to thank for much of his success after she approached him in 2000 about creating and starring in his own TV sitcom.
But he feared the Miss Congeniality star would lose interest in him after he invited her to a show miles away from her home.
He tells the New York Daily News, "I got this huge movie star to drive an hour out of Los Angeles to sit and watch me perform on a Thursday night. She was interested in seeing some comedy and she followed me in her car, and the whole way I was saying, 'You know what, man, she's going to turn back. It's going to be too far. She's going to double back.' But she stayed. She watched the show... She's the one person I've met other than my wife who completely has the belief in my talent, that it could be something."
Lopez has previously branded the actress his "guardian angel" after she saved him from a downward spiral of depression by helping him launch his series George Lopez, which began in 2002.