DeuxMoi Explains Where to Spot Celebrities in NYC

If you visit the “about” page on DeuxMoi.world, you will be met with a small block of text that reads, “Thanks For Visiting The About Page. This Is About All We’ll Say About Us.” What that “about” page gives us is pretty equal to what we know about the person behind the account—not much at all (unless you believe the internet rumors).

DeuxMoi originally started as an unsuspecting fashion blog in 2014 and an accompanying Instagram page. Although the blog went defunct, the Instagram page continued to be run by one of its original owners. In 2020 at the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic, the account’s owner asked her 45,000 followers for celebrity stories that they would be willing to share. What originated as an attempt to entertain herself quickly turned into an overnight sensation.

DeuxMoi began receiving and then anonymously posting direct messages with stories about A-listers from her followers. When celebrities like Leonardo DiCaprio, Jonah Hill, and David Beckham were name-dropped on the account, more and more people began to share their encounters with other stars. Two years later, now with over 1.6 million followers on Instagram, DeuxMoi has become one of the biggest sources of celebrity gossip, sightings, and stories. If a celebrity is spotted in the wild, chances are, DeuxMoi heard—and posted—about it first. Her weekly roundup of celebrity sightings, known as “Sunday Spotted,” is a consistent source of Hollywood news. Despite her popularity and much speculation around her identity, the woman behind the curtain remains a mystery. In rare interviews, like this one, she prefers to be referred to simply as DeuxMoi. She does not give any personal information about herself other than she lives in New York, but that tidbit does not seem to worry her since it’s pretty easy to remain anonymous in a city of eight million people.

While we may not know the name or face behind DeuxMoi, we soon will get to know more about her than ever before. On November 8, DeuxMoi will publish her first novel, Anon Pls., a fictionalized retelling of the account’s story. The novel follows protagonist Cricket Lopez, an assistant to a high-profile celebrity stylist, after she turns her Instagram page into a source for celebrity gossip. What started as a drunken decision begins to take its toll on Cricket’s real life. Celebrities begin hounding her for sharing their secrets, her boss is unhappy with her declining work ethic, and her friends feel sidelined by her social media presence. As her Instagram continues to grow, Cricket has to reckon with the fact that she, by proxy, is now famous—although no one knows it.

Anon Pls. may be fictional, but the places it mentions are not. For example, the famous The Bowery Hotel, a real-life celebrity hotspot, comes up in the book more than once. Although the other NYC haunts brought up in the novel are real, there is one spot in the book that DeuxMoi had to change the name of for legal reasons. But don’t worry: She’s certain that readers will know what the real location is, since she posts about it often.

Despite personally choosing to go to lesser known spots that wouldn’t be classified as “trendy,” the types of places that may not make their way into Anon Pls., DeuxMoi’s knowledge of where to find celebrities is boundless. DeuxMoi spoke to Thrillist about where to go if you want to spot a celebrity. And if you succeed, make sure to hit her DMs.

Below 14th Street

Celebrities happen to go to a lot of the same restaurants over and over—particularly celebs that don’t live in New York. Whenever they come into town, the Kardashians for example, they’ll always go to the same places. The flip side of that is maybe they know where to go to be seen. Carbone is an obvious example of a restaurant that celebrities always love to go to. The most underrated celebrity hangout spot is Supper. It’s Italian on 156 East Second Street. Celebs have been seen there, but I just feel like it’s not as well known as Don Angie and Carbone but also has really good Italian food.

I mean also Ray’s, obviously. It’s owned by Justin Theroux and Nicholas Braun is also a partner, so there’s always celebs at Ray’s. Zoë Kravitz loves Ray’s. Anytime a celeb is in town, like Dua Lipa, they always stop by Ray’s for a drink.

If you’re in Manhattan and you’re in Soho or if you’re in the West Village, you have a better chance of spotting. NoHo, SoHo or the West Village, those are the best spots where you’ll have the best chances of seeing celebs.

Hotels

The Bowery Hotel, of course. Celebs love it. They’ll hang out in the lobby. They’ll hang out at the bar that people can walk off the street and go into. It’s not super discreet. It’s not a private club. I don’t necessarily understand the allure of why it’s still so popular.

I would also add Casa Cipriani, which you have to be a member of. The Ned is another one that celebs are at all the time, but you also need to be a member. The Mark Hotel, too, there’s always celebs at the restaurant there as well.

Brooklyn

I think Manhattan is better for celebrity spotting than Brooklyn because it’s more condensed. But that’s the only reason I think that. There are tons of celebs in Brooklyn. I think a lot of celebs live in Brooklyn, but things tend to be a little more spread out.

I think that the “Sunday Spotted” portion of my Instagram account has really helped me get ahead of the curve. For example, I started hearing about Laser Wolf in Brooklyn a couple of months ago and now I’m hearing about it a lot more. I would say that it’s definitely an up-and-coming [celebrity hangout] spot.

A lot of people are going to Brooklyn more, which is good because I think Brooklyn actually has really good restaurants. There’s the Italian restaurant that Pete Davidson loves where he took Kim Kardashian to last year, Lilia. And there’s Cafe Mogador. It’s a family-run Moroccan and Middle Eastern Restaurant. Those three places that I hadn’t really ever heard of, I started getting celebrity sightings there a couple months before it started ramping up.

DeuxMoi’s celebrity spotting advice

I think that if someone wants to spot a celebrity, they just really have to be alert and keep their eyes open because they’re probably passing a celebrity on the street. Especially if you’re in any of those neighborhoods that I named. If you’ve lived here your whole life and you’ve never seen a celeb, of course you have, but you just didn’t notice.

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.

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