Mark Hoppus may be the cofounder of one of the most influential bands of all time, but he admits to being surprised when Hollywood starlets expressed their interest in him.
In an exclusive interview with Us Weekly, the Blink-182 musician, 53, dished on his decision to include two juicy stories about a one-off encounter with Melissa Joan Hart and a missed opportunity with Alyssa Milano in his new memoir, Fahrenheit-182. “I grew up in the middle of a desert in a town [with] 12,000 people, and I moved to San Diego in ’92,” he explained to Us. “And within a number of years, I’m hanging out with legitimate Hollywood stars — some of which are kind of flirting with me.”
In Fahrenheit-182, Hoppus detailed Hart’s publicist reaching out to Blink-182’s publicist to give him her phone number after the pair met at the Teen Choice Awards. Though the Sabrina the Teenage Witch alum, 48, was “very nice,” Hoppus recalled that their “awful date” — dinner at a sushi restaurant in the Valley and later, a quick visit to her home — was “tough” because the two failed to connect.
Though their outing didn’t end up materializing into something more, it left a lasting impression on him. “I was honestly starstruck and I felt so cool,” Hoppus told Us. “Like, Melissa Joan Hart wants to go on a date with me? OK, let’s roll.”
However, Hoppus doesn’t believe the same can be said for Hart: “[If] she reads the book, she’ll probably be like, ‘I don’t even remember that. I went on a date with Mark from Blink-182? What are you talking about?’”
According to Hoppus, it’s likely that Milano has also forgotten about their 1998 interaction. In Fahrenheit-182, Hoppus recalled the Who’s The Boss? alum slipping him her number after they posed for a photo together on set of the “Josie (Everything’s Gonna Be Fine)” music video, in which Milano played his love interest. However, Hoppus explained in the book that he was “too shy” and Milano was “too intimidating” for him to follow through.
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Much like Hart, Hoppus is sure Milano’s memory of him is unremarkable. “Alyssa Milano is probably going to be like, ‘Yeah, I gave him my number, but I gave everybody my number — I was just being friendly,’” he told Us.
Hoppus has not seen either woman since, but he made it clear that he didn’t include either story for the sake of dishing the dirt. “They were both awesome people,” he explained to Us. “I didn’t put it in the book to be gossip-y or whatever, but I was honestly starstruck and thought it was really cool.”
His encounters with Hart and Milano aren’t the only hot topics he opens up about in Fahrenheit-182. The musician dives into his upbringing, Blink-182 and, as Us Weekly previously reported, how being diagnosed with stage 4A diffuse large B-cell lymphoma— and ultimately, beating it — impacted his relationship with his bandmates, Tom DeLonge and Travis Barker.
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Though he was initially “resistant” to the idea of writing a book, Hoppus opted to share his story to honor his band and their loyal fanbase. “I was like, ‘Who cares about me in my life?’ But people love Blink and I love Blink,” Hoppus — whose book tour kicks off today — said. “Blink is my favorite band, Tom and Travis are my favorite musicians in the world, and so I wanted to share that joy and that love with the world.”
Fahrenheit-182: A Memoir, from Dey Street Books, is out now and Us Weekly’s full interview with Hoppus will be in the issue on newsstands tomorrow.
