Times Josh Groban Wasn't So Innocent

When it comes to inoffensive celebrities, Josh Groban is probably at the top of anyone's list. Do a little more digging, though, and you'll find a whole slew of instances that seem to maybe suggest that he just might not be as innocent as he seems. This guy? Much as we love him, you might not want to take him home to meet your grandmother after all.

In 2009, Katy Perry was photographed leaving East Side Ink. According to the New York Daily News, Perry got people talking when she flashed a badly spelled tattoo reading "Josh Grobin". The tattoo was fake (she really only got a tiny strawberry), but it was a shout-out to some major rumors that the two had been dating.

As for Groban himself, he stayed mum on the whole thing. That is, until 2013, when he spoke to Details magazine (via Entertainment Tonight). His comments left more to the imagination than they explained, though, and Groban said that they "[...] might have skated on the line of dating." That was only after they'd pushed him a bit, and at first he claimed that they were only good friends, and had been before she had even been catapulted to superstardom. He said that they had hit it off because of similarities in their goofy personalities, but he's remained stubbornly obscure on anything else that might have happened between the two.

From the outside, it's all but impossible to tell just how much control any artist has over their own career, and how much of it is the responsibility of managers, consultants, or advisers. When HuffPost UK sat down with Groban in 2013, they asked him just how much of what he did was him... and how much wasn't.

"I've always been a self-flogging workaholic, so my version of trying to relax more is to go out after a show and have a drink with the band, not going back to the hotel and start writing more music. I'm trying to go with the flow, and not be such a control freak," he admitted. He went on to talk about just what it was he likes to control, and when it comes to his career, the answer is a rather relentless type of everything.

"I'm ruthlessly picky when it comes to the crafting of an album, the choosing of musicians, the right mikes, the right studios. There was a time when it was 'whatever you want'. Then, as you learn a bit more about your tastes, I don't give into that kind of thing."

According to him, needing to be in control of everything all the time is exactly why we don't see him out and about on the party scene much, either. "[...] I am a bit of a control freak, and I don't like getting out of control, especially in public. Some people get great pleasure out of losing themselves in public, it only makes me paranoid." He went on to say that his limit was only a couple of whiskeys and he would pass out of his comfort zone. So, what else is he a control freak over? Pillows. The self-described "pillow diva" needs at least three.

Groban dated actress January Jones for three years, and when it comes to Hollywood relationships, that's practically forever. When they called it quits in 2006, a curious public wanted to know what happened... and no one was saying. According to People, Groban's rep stated simply that they were "taking a break" and that "they remain friends".

Needless to say, that left things open to a lot of interpretation, especially considering not only how long they lasted, but how close they always seemed—not to mention Jones' alleged shady dating history. In 2013, Groban opened up a bit to Details (via Entertainment Tonight) about just how he felt about the whole thing. "We were madly in love," he said. "It was definitely my longest relationship. [...] I'd love to get into another serious relationship. I am a real romantic at heart."

On thing's for sure, at least: Groban's probably not the as-yet unnamed father of Jones's baby. "I'm pretty certain our breakup [and the child's birth were] enough years apart that that wouldn't be possible," he told Dujour. Whew.

It's one of the first things most people learn as children: if you can't say anything nice, then don't say anything at all. We expect that on the internet, maybe, but Groban proved that he can't always keep the snarky comments to himself, either.

When Mariah Carey performed live on New Year's Eve at Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve with Ryan Seacrest, technical difficulties made it very, very obvious that she was lip syncing. While it's generally frowned upon, it's not at all uncommon, and according to E! News, Carey herself took it in stride and tweeted, "S**t happens. Have a happy and healthy new year everybody! Here's to making more headlines in 2017." Groban, however, appeared to take a less-than-kind shot at her, tweeting, "Any time one of the greatest voices of my generation lip syncs an angel loses its wings."

Harsh words, for sure, and Groban deleted the Tweet not long afterwards. The sentiment behind deleting the Tweet was rather backhanded, too, with Groban saying that he wasn't out to trash-talk other artists, and that he had made the comment to be funny. Seeming to blame the Twitterverse for taking it out of context and turning it into something that it wasn't, he attempted to further defend his deleted comment by tweeting, "For the record, my point wasn't that great singers never do it. It was that I don't like it when they do." If that's the case, it's sounding like the original intent behind the Tweet might have been exactly as mean-spirited as it was interpreted as being.

What young Josh Groban fan doesn't have a bit of a fantasy about meeting him on the street and falling deep into mutual love? It's the stuff that Hollywood romances thrive on, after all. But according to Groban, that's incredibly unlikely. In his interview with Details (via The Daily Mail), he opened up about not only January Jones and Katy Perry, but on just what it's like for him to try to date an "ordinary" woman, too.

"I was on a date once, and the girl came over and was looking for music to play. We were having a glass of wine, and she played rough mixes of my new record and started dancing to it. I was like, 'Don't do that. Groupie alert, groupie alert'."

So, memo to all the ordinary ladies hoping to date Josh Groban: you might want to pretend to not like his music at all.

Over the years, Groban has been linked to everyone from January Jones, to Kat Dennings, and Selma Blair—three women who might want to pay closer attention to his lyrics the next time they hear one of his songs.

Speaking to Dujour, Groban admitted that his song "False Alarm" was written about an unnamed ex-girlfriend. "There's nothing worse in a relationship than realizing you're more invested than the other person and you have to let it go," he said. "It's that old saying: When you squeeze the sand in your hand and it all falls out ..."

Groban went on to say that he doesn't tip an ex off when he writes about them. "I do it Taylor Swift-style. I like to surprise them with it." Burn!

Groban got his start in acting, and when he sat down to talk to Entertainment Weekly about just why his acting career went dark for a while, he acknowledged that there's two completely different sides to him — and one of those sides, he just wasn't comfortable with showing to the public. "There was this feeling of, 'No, you've got to be that guy on the pedestal staring down dramatically from the billboard all day, everyday," he said. "You can be fun and funny with your friends, but when you're in work mode, that's the guy you are."

He went on to say that it gave him a reputation for being dry, boring, and the guy that no talk show host would want to have to interview, because he was going to be every bit as serious and bland as was absolutely possible. He says that it was only when he started being more comfortable in his own skin — telling jokes and poking fun at his serious image — that his acting career started to take off again. "I told myself, 'don't be afraid to be funny with other people, don't be afraid to show that you're a weirdo who's serious about your music but can also tell poop jokes if you feel like it'," he said.

He also admitted something else, too, that's a far cry from his public persona, saying: "Seventeen-year-old me was really insecure, really terrified. I'm still insecure and terrified, but I've got all this experience; back then, I was just blowing in the wind."

With a soothing voice and good-mannered behavior, one might assume that Groban is a tame, if boring, celebrity. Not so, the now-36-year-old admitted a few years back to Dujour magazine. Take, for example, the parties he's been to at Kid Rock's house.

"He'll invite a teacher he met in Brooklyn, then someone from the Beastie Boys, a professor and me," he said. "We'll all sit at this long table and have political conversations. Then we'll get drunk and dance on his stripper pole."

Granted, Kid Rock may no longer be, uh, "cool," per se. But at least we know Groban likes to party!