The tourist who gained national attention as he and his fiancee were unknowingly escorted into the Dolby Theatre is looking back at the "surreal" moment at the Academy Awards.
A year after stealing the show at the Oscars, life for "Gary from Chicago" is extremely different.
Gary Alan Coe was on a sightseeing bus when he and other unsuspecting vacationers were ushered into the Dolby Theater during the 2017 Academy Awards.
He and his then-fiancée, Vickie Vines, snapped selfies with some of Hollywood’s brightest stars, even saying "I do" in a mock wedding performed by Denzel Washington.
And as a wedding gift, Jennifer Aniston gave Vines her $625 designer sunglasses.
“It was surreal, so to speak, I've been gone for 20 years and to get out and be exposed to something like that, it was earth-shattering,” Coe told Inside Edition.
Coe, a registered sex offender, had gotten out of prison just three days before his 15 minutes of fame.
But as he gained national notoriety, his past was put on blast.
“It was horrible,” he told The Hollywood Reporter. "I didn’t ask to be put on the Oscars. I was minding my own business, walking down the street. I was like, 'Wow, that’s crazy—that’s America for you.'"
Coe now lives in Fresno, Calif., and says he’s walking the straight and narrow.
He and Vines have since called off their relationship, but Coe has since found love with another woman.
As for Vines, she still has the stylish shades.
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