Celebrity Privacy

Fame has truly become a two-edged sword in the 21st Century. For most of the last century the only time you heard about celebrities private lives was if something truly sensational happened, otherwise they got to live highly private lives out of the public spotlight. In our era of global communication however, there is no hiding from the spotlight, and the glare of the bright lights will be on you 24 hours a day. This is the cost of fame, and while some embrace it, others find it difficult to deal with. On top of this, there are those who try to take advantage of any potentially offensive action by a celebrity.

Two recent examples that come to mind are from relatively young celebrities. In one case I think the criticism was entirely valid, and the other incident appears to be more of a case of someone trying to profit off of a celebrity's fame and fortune. In 2010 Kristen Stewart made a comment to British Elle magazine, comparing the constant attention of paparazzi to "being raped". This was clearly an ignorant statement, and one that many found highly offensive. After all rape victims have no choice, Kristen Stewart made the decision to pursue a career that lead to her private life being on display. Stewart later apologized for the comments.




In February of 2009 a picture surfaced of Miley Cyrus posing for a photograph with several friends. She appears to be making her eyes slant upwards, a gesture usually associated with imitating an Asian person. This caused an uproar among some Asian communities, and a 4 billion dollar class action lawsuit was brought against Cyrus for 'discrimination'. In this case I think you would have to make a much more compelling argument than a picture of a 16-year old girl posing for a private photo with a group of friends, one of whom appears to be Asian, as a basis for being offended. Cyrus of course apologized if she offended anyone, and a judge later dismissed the law suit.



So while the price of fame means a loss of privacy, if you are choosing to profit from this fame, then I don't think you have a forum for complaining about your lack of privacy. However, I think that there should be more respect for people's private lives. I don't think that will happen anytime soon without drastic changes in our society.