Watching TV and movies, we all tend to envy the lives of the stars that entertain us most. They live such glamorous lives full of wealth, money, fame, beauty. They know other celebrities and take amazing vacations to exotic locations. As much fun as it seems to be, though, there are some major drawbacks. Not only do they not have much control or privacy within their own lives, they also must deal with destruction in the one place they have to turn to for solace – their families. When seen in greater detail, celebrity is not necessarily a desirable lifestyle, whether you are the celebrity or just the close family member or friend of a celebrity.
While celebrity offers a number of enviable perks, there are a lot of downsides for the individual star. As Mary Loftus explains in her article, one of the biggest struggles celebrities face is their loss of privacy. “It’s an enormously stressful profession … There is unrelenting pressure coupled with diminishing private lives. They have to be on every time they step out their front door” (Jib Fowles, professor of media studies cited in Loftus, 1995). Because of the lavish gifts they are given simply for being attractive, many celebrities also struggle with feelings of ‘imposter syndrome.’ “We have created the hall of mirrors in which they so precariously exist. For the famous today … self-approval depends on public recognition and acclaim” (Loftus, 1995). To cope with their lack of privacy, many celebrities turn to drugs as a means of dulling the pain of their lives. According to studies, celebrities are much more likely to turn to drugs to anesthetize themselves from the many pressures they face including the lack of privacy, the pressure to perform at all times, the uncertainty of getting new work and the pressures of traveling and shooting schedules.
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In addition to the pressures that celebrities go through as individuals, their families must face a number of pressures as well. Most celebrities have normal moms and dads, sisters and brothers. Siblings find it difficult to compete with the star status of their celebrity relatives while also finding it necessary to protect their sibling from prying fans. “It’s not just that you get tired of people asking about them … It’s also that, in comparison, you feel kind of like a failure. I mean, he comes home for Christmas and has been at some exotic locale for his new movie, or just had lunch with Winona Ryder, and then it’s ‘So what’s new with you?’” (Loftus, 1995). While normal families such as this often serve as a sort of touchstone for celebrities to regain a sense of equilibrium to the real world, the pressures of having to protect their families is equally difficult as appearances at the family home can often bring unwanted attention from the Fourth Estate, the media and tabloid presses seeking to gain some form of notoriety off of the celebrity’s success.
The good news about the disadvantages of celebrity is that some of them can be addressed through connections with those families. While it does not seem to be enough to spend time with extended families to keep celebrities from losing some of their sanity, having children and stable families of their own does seem to counteract some of the negative effects – at least when the celebrity is devoted to the task. However, being the spouse or child of the celebrity comes with its own challenges. All the fame and fortune might be fun for a while, but eventually star status may create more problems than it’s worth.
- Loftus, Mary. (May 1, 1995). “The Other Side of Fame.” Psychology Today.
