Why We Are Addicted to Celebrity Scandals

We all know the age-old question: which came first – the chicken or the egg?  This classic poser can be applied not just to poultry, but to other conundrums.  Nowadays, we may well pose the question, which comes first, celebrity and status, or a talent for outrageous and bizarre behavior?

 

In other words, does fame, wealth and adoration turn a normal, sane person into a crazed egomaniac, or is it only those with a propensity to crazed egomania who have the drive to become famous, wealthy and adored?

 

Yet strange, shocking or just plain sordid as they often are – most of us love to read of the aberrant antics of the rich and famous, reluctant though we may be to admit to it.

 

On the Edge of Excess

 

The latest celebrity to find himself in the scandal spotlight is, once again, Charlie Sheen.  There has been the usual media frenzy around what is, quite frankly, yet another predictable tale of porn stars, drugs and an early-morning 911 call, followed by the equally predictable damage limitation exercise by his team of in-house lawyers.

 

Sheen is no stranger to scandal.  In 2009, he was briefly hospitalised for “psychological evaluation” after having allegedly attacked his former wife at knifepoint.  He has since been involved in a string of scandals, including an alleged alcohol-fueled binge with porn star Capri Anderson last year, which left him in a New York hospital.  The media faithfully reports each Sheen shenanigan, and we faithfully lap them up.

 

Whacko Jacko is…  Backo?

 

Being dead is no defence against scandal, rumour or innuendo – indeed, as the dead are no longer protected under the libel laws, celebrities would be well-advised to remain alive for as long as possible.

 

The latest twist in the ongoing saga of the late, great Michael Jackson, whose antics kept the media happily appalled for years, is the claim by Alain Branchereau, a French professor of vascular surgery, that the singer was chemically castrated at the age of 12 by the use of a synthetic anti-male hormone drug, supposedly in a bid to cure his childhood acne.  As the drug blocks puberty, the voice can’t mature.

 

Showbiz gossip columnists are now relishing the opportunity to wildly speculate on how far family ambition might have gone to protect the angelic voice of the goose that laid the golden egg, and on how far the subsequent bizarre behavior of that goose stemmed from such alleged childhood treatment.  

 

Intriguing though such speculation is, even more intriguing is why we revel in such gossip and scandal, immaterial of whether the stories are proven or unfounded.

 

Permanent Vacation From Sanity

 

Maybe the glee we take in proclaiming our disapproval of outlandish celebrity behavior is our way of coping with the knowledge that we ourselves will never reach such dizzying heights of fame and fortune, will never experience such luxurious lifestyles free from financial cares.  Maybe we are saying, “See what damage wealth and fame can do?  How lucky we are to know we will never be in a position to succumb to such temptations.”

 

But maybe the last word on our insatiable appetite for scrutinizing the many and varied ways in which the rich and famous misbehave should go to the 19th century American humorist Henry Wheeler Shaw: “Love looks through a telescope; envy, through a microscope.”

 

Food for thought.

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