  Some of the mass that feeds the growth of a massive black hole (BH) in a
galactic center is supplied by tidal disruption of stars that approach it on
unbound, low angular momentum orbits. For each star that is disrupted, others
narrowly escape after being subjected to extreme tidal distortion, spin-up,
mixing and mass-loss, which may affect their evolution and appearance. We show
that it is likely that a significant fraction of the stars around massive BHs
in galactic centers have undergone such extreme tidal interactions and survived
subsequent total disruption, either by being deflected off their orbit or by
missing the BH due to its Brownian motion. We discuss possible long-term
observable consequences of this process, which may be relevant for
understanding the nature of stars in galactic centers, and may provide a
signature of the existence of massive BHs there.
