How Fame Can Lead to the Ultimate Downfall
If you’ve ever thought about what it’s like to be famous, you’re probably guilty of envisioning a life filled with glitz, glamour, and enough money to thaw yourself out of anything life throws at you. I too, was guilty of this mindset, ignorant to the plethora of repercussions that come along with fame.
As natural born consumers, we have literally seen it all when it comes to celebrities. We’ve seen them lash out, break down and go insane before our eyes. We have witnessed the downfall of almost every single big name in the entertainment industry, yet for some reason, “fame” is never the attributed cause. It’s always either an “arbitrary” chemical imbalance or a “suddenly developed” drug addiction that takes blame, but no one recognizes that these are just some of the unfortunate yet prevalent side effects to fame.
The industry has done an amazing job at sustaining the allure of celebrity ever since Hollywood became a thing in the early 1900’s. Walking enchanted red carpets while donning top brand names swathed in bijoux was, and still is the most associated scenario that comes to mind when a person thinks “celebrity.” However; if susceptibility to depression, blatant drug abuse, and developing mental illness isn’t telling enough, what will it take for people to open their eyes to the real side of fame?
A couple of months ago, in an interview with NME, pop-star Justin Bieber touched upon the paralyzing aspects of his fame. When he was asked if he ever gets depressed he expressed, “All the time. And I feel isolated. You’re in your hotel room and there are fans all around, paparazzi following you everywhere, and it gets intense. When you can’t go anywhere or do anything alone, you get depressed. I just want people to know I’m human. I’m struggling just to get through the days.” He also admitted point-blank, that he “wouldn’t wish this [fame] upon anyone.”
It’s truly mind-boggling to think that the luxuries we have as common folk like going to the market in sweats with no makeup on or grabbing lunch with some friends is a celebrity’s biggest demise. What even is a life with no free-will?
A sad yet huge part of today’s culture is anticipating the downfall of a celebrity for the sake of big headlines. In reality, this type of “news” only makes for shallow headlines with no depth and expresses no real concern towards the person being affected. It seems as though the youth of our generation especially, has developed an obsession with glamorizing those who go rogue before our eyes. As if consumerism hasn’t contributed enough, tabloids and paparazzi build careers as professional instigators who live to fabricate stories out of thin air. Money is clearly the motive here, even if it’s at the cost of a celebrities reputation.
Money is one of the biggest reasons why people are consumed by the idea of fame at all. It’s the cringe-worthy “money can buy happiness” mindset that leads people to blindly believe that their freedom is worth the cost but what happens when you end up in a multi-million dollar mansion with every commodity you could’ve ever dreamed of with no one to share it with? Is fame worth the loss of every cherished relationship you’ve ever had? Is it worth your privacy, sanity or sense of security?
Megan Fox seemed to disagree when she said in an interview with Esquire that, “They all think we [celebrities] should shut the fuck up and stop complaining because you live in a big house or you drive a Bentley so your life must be so great. What people don’t realize is that fame [is] whatever your worst experience in high school [was], when you were being bullied by those ten kids. Fame is that, but on a global scale, where you’re being bullied by millions of people constantly.”
Several celebrities aside from Bieber and Fox have also touched base on the subject including Jennifer Lawrence, who claims she’s “just a normal girl and a human being.” She said, “I haven’t been in this [industry] long enough to feel like this is my new normal. I’m not going to find peace with it.” Both Lawrence and Bieber’s inclination to make it clear that they’re “just human,” is harrowing. How and why is it justifiable to treat people like anything but?
While Australian pop singer Sia Furler’s way of dealing with fame is to hide her face to avoid recognition; infamous stars like Lindsay Lohan, Britney Spears and Amanda Bynes know all too well about what it’s like to be under the radar. All three celebs were millennial childhood icons who grew up in the limelight and all three fell through the cracks before our eyes. Is it even possible to think of the year 2007 without the image of a deeply distraught and bald Britney Spears popping into your head?What about Lindsay Lohan, who’s series of DUI’s, multiple arrests and several counts of reported drug abuse were enough to solidify her as bat-sh*t cray cray, inducting her into the Hollywood hall of fame of reckless celebrities. The most perplexing of them all is Amanda Bynes who’s now most associated with the seemingly comical, yet extremely odd and questionable behavior that garnered nation-wide attention in 2012, following her blatant downward spiral towards mental illness. These unfortunate realities were clearly induced through lack of freedom and excess attention. There’s only so much scrutiny a human being can handle.
So why do they do it? Why do people take on fame when we all know what it looks like to fall for the trap that is becoming a celebrity, only to unlock a life that’s irrevocable?
Whatever reasons people come up with; I’ll just never see eye to eye. I want to be able to leave my house looking gross because I just spent eight hours taking shifts between binge-watching Netflix and taking naps without anyone giving me attention and I want to be able to fluctuate fifteen pounds up and down without my pictures and nasty headlines surfacing the web globally. No sum of money is worth it enough to give these luxuries up. I guess I’m just guilty of cherishing my freedom!
Reach Contributor Claudia Dayani here.
