My Addiction To Celebrity Gossip

It was in the summer of 2006 that my interest in celebrity gossip transcended from a brief flirtation to a full on obsession. It was a time like no other. It became increasingly apparent that no amount of PR training or product endorsement could hide the cracks appearing amongst the young stars of cinema, music or otherwise. It was approximately ten months before Britney Spears would shave all her hair off. If anything the events amongst her peers prior to Britney’s very public breakdown acted as trail which lead to the train wreck blazing on the horizon.

It seemed as though almost overnight the faces that had governed the glossy pages became less known for their talents and more for their extracurricular activities. The age of the DUI had quickly dawned and the emaciated faces of Lindsay Lohan and Nicole Richie were encapsulated in mug shots for all to see. Interest in promiscuity, drug abuse, eating disorders and the age old question ‘Who will be in rehab first?’ eclipsed all talk of their careers. So much so, that a new generation of people arrived, who were famous just for having used the platform of their parents, porn or money. Hello, Paris Hilton! Hiya, Kim Kardashian! As long as the salacious scandal was being delivered what did it matter that their careers remained somewhat ambiguous? It sure didn’t matter to me.

It wasn’t just the increasing reckless acts alone that helped gain public interest, but it was also the surge in celebrity gossip blogs that helped document such behaviour to the eager masses. Perez Hilton, TMZ, Oh No They Didn’t, DListed and so forth all became integral parts in profiling the downward spirals of America’s Sweethearts. They would each offer paparazzi shots of Lindsay Lohan falling out of a club, followed by yet more snap shots of her less than 12 hours later doing yoga with a cigarette dangling from her mouth. It’s that very content that has made such websites so alluring. Not content with seeing images of Britney grocery shopping at 2am in a pink wig? Why not watch a video in which you can witness her talking nonsense in an English accent, which adds a whole new dimension to the insanity.

The decaying world of celebrity didn’t just manifest in Hollywood with the likes of Mary-Kate Olsen’s apparent insatiable appetite for drugs and penchant for skipping meals. It was in the UK that the new poster girl for self destruction quickly evolved in the form of Amy Winehouse. With the aid of the public’s rather sick obsession with misfortune, Amy’s nocturnal activities quickly overshadowed her undeniable talent as a singer. Almost instantly we became fed a never ending series of images and footage of Amy bruised and bloodied, strung out and rail thin and looking somewhat subhuman whilst wondering the streets of London in her underwear. Her turbulent relationship with her husband Blake Fielder-Civil propelled the couple into Sid and Nancy status for the internet generation.

That’s not to say that I am some sort of self hating internet troll that’s prone to bouts of schadenfreude. I greet all paparazzi shots with the same sickening amount of inquisitiveness and delight, whether it’s Lady Gaga getting into a car or Lily Allen going for a run. The fact remains that unlike us mere mortals, celebrities can often make the most mundane thing look far more appealing than we ever possibly could. Granted their livelihoods are a lot more dependent on their looks than perhaps ours actually are, which is also why so many of us revel at the photographic evidence of stars without make up. Aesthetics aside, it’s also the often sordid details that make up the celebrity world the perfect escapism from our own lives. I know that I would much rather hear tales of backstabbing and broken hearts amongst the A list rather than hearing about how a colleague had sex in the toilets of a pub during a work night out. I recently announced to a friend that if I was able to retain as many facts about things that matter as I do with celebrity gossip I would probably be dangerous. But since that is not going to happen any time soon I will continue to unashamedly revel in my addiction.