Notting Hill, the Richard Curtis-penned film about a “normal” British bloke (played by Paddington 2‘s Hugh Grant) who falls in love with the most famous actress in the world (Julia Roberts), became the highest-grossing British film of all time when it premiered in 1999. And it has been inspiring casual conspiracy theories about who it might be based on ever since. Because, yes, according to Grant, Notting Hill does have a foundation in reality.

“This is a story he won’t admit to,” Grant told E! (via E!Online), “but [Richard has] told me in a drunken moment. A friend of his—an ordinary, normal guy—was in Harrods one day and met a very famous woman and ended up taking her back to his flat in Notting Hill—and all kinds of nonsense ensued. And they used to meet up, whenever she came to London their affair would reactivate itself...