fame

15 Stories

Our Culture Wants to 'Destroy' Celebs Like Me, Britney

Child actor Mara Wilson describes sexualization by the media

(Newser) - On her 13th birthday, Mara Wilson "made one of the biggest mistakes of my life." She opened up to a reporter, who would go on to describe a "complaining" child star who sounded "like a spoiled brat," Wilson writes in an op-ed at the New ...

Performers Live Shorter Lives Than Other Celebs

They can expect to live to 77: study

(Newser) - If you crave a long life in the spotlight, become a ... CEO. Researchers perused 1,000 New York Times obituaries from between 2009 and 2011 in a bid to glean some conclusions about the life expectancy of celebs, the BBC reports. What they found, in terms of average life expectancy:...

Prank Celeb Video Makes Man a Celeb

Brett Cohen fools New Yorkers with hired paparazzi

(Newser) - As Brett Cohen says, his life will never be the same—now that he's famous for pretending to be a celebrity. The 21-year-old pranked New Yorkers last month into thinking he was famous, and now that video of it has gone viral, Cohen is appearing on morning shows like...

Woody Allen: 'Can't Say I Don't Enjoy' Fame

It's 'disgusting', but great for dinner reservations

(Newser) - Paparazzi vs. good seats at basketball games. Loss of privacy vs. no waiting for doctors, even on weekends. Sure, fame has its problems, but the perks are pretty sweet, too, Woody Allen tells the Hollywood Reporter . "I'm not saying it’s fair—it's kind of disgusting—but...

Sean Penn: Celebrity Is Obscene Disease

Turning away from stardom 'common sense,' says actor

(Newser) - Bad boy Sean Penn is at it again. The eternally angry actor is blasting celebrity as an "obscene disease." "I don't think it's an overstatement to say that it's an obscene disease of celebrity that's taken over far too much of the life...

Lonely Emma: Men Fear My Fame

Her advice: Be brave

(Newser) - Poor Emma Watson. She doesn't have a guy and she thinks it's because men are frightened by her fame. "I find it hard to believe I would be intimidating," she says. "It must be the fame wall, the circus that goes around me." Guys...

Why We're Fascinated by the Royal Wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton: Anne Applebaum
 Why Wills and 
 Kate Fascinate Us 
OPINION
Apr 26, 2011 1:45 PM CDT

Why Wills and Kate Fascinate Us

They're victims of an inescapable fate—but they seem happy anyway

(Newser) - Even to those of us with no plans to sit through the royal wedding, Prince William and Kate Middleton are intriguing. “My friend is not a royal watcher or a tabloid reader. Neither am I,” writes Anne Applebaum in the Washington Post . Yet both were familiar with Kate’...

Boyle's Now a Prisoner of Her Own Fame
Boyle's Now
a Prisoner of
Her Own Fame
OPINION
Jun 1, 2010 1:25 PM CDT

Boyle's Now a Prisoner of Her Own Fame

Singer can't fade into obscurity like author Harper Lee

(Newser) - It's been exactly 1 year since Susan Boyle's star-making turn on Britain's Got Talent , and the singer is now crazy famous—but she doesn't seem to be enjoying it much. Friends say Boyle's suffered a breakdown and doesn't enjoy her celebrity, writes Ben Macintyre for the Times of London . She...

Ethan Hawke Ditched A-List, Found Artsy Cred

Star dishes on avoiding the fame 'trap' and doing what he always wanted to

(Newser) - Standing on the verge of Hollywood superstardom in the mid-'90s, Ethan Hawke blinked. Rather then sign on as the superhero flavor of the month, he turned instead to pal Richard Linklater's small indie flick Before Sunrise. The result has been a career trajectory not so much Hollywood glam as Big...

Boyle: I Did It for My Mom
 Boyle: I Did It for My Mom  
Interview
Aug 6, 2009 2:23 PM CDT

Boyle: I Did It for My Mom

Fame hasn't gone to singing sensation's head

(Newser) - Soaring to stardom was “too big for anyone to handle,” says Susan Boyle. But in her first major magazine interview, the singer doesn't pause when asked whether she’s glad she went on Britain’s Got Talent: “Come on! It goes without saying,” she tells Harper’...

Forget It: You'll Never Be Famous
 Forget It: You'll 
 Never Be Famous 
opinion
Jul 25, 2009 6:36 PM CDT

Forget It: You'll Never Be Famous

(Newser) - Celebrities are everywhere, grinning from magazine stands and TV screens galore. But good luck trying to join the glossy ranks of fame, Jim Hanas writes in the New York Post. The odds are daunting: Only 4,763 people are famous, says a market research company, and only 2% of...

Age of Celebrity Didn't Die with Jackson

(Newser) - Media commentators claiming Michael Jackson's death marks the end of mega-stardom couldn't be farther off the mark, Richard Florida argues in the Atlantic. It's true that the fast route to stardom the Internet offers has made celebrities a dime a dozen, but like every other new communications technology, the web...

Jackson Played Peter Pan to Charm White America

To understand Jackson, look beyond the man in the mirror

(Newser) - A musical genius, yes, but Michael Jackson was also a master of performing roles. And his greatest may have been that of a de-sexualized, non-threatening black man who appealed to white audiences, David Gates writes in Newsweek. The King of Pop looked "blackest" on the cover of 1979's...

Do-Gooder Celebs Can Aid —and Irritate
Do-Gooder Celebs Can Aid —and Irritate
OPINION
May 5, 2009 7:39 AM CDT

Do-Gooder Celebs Can Aid —and Irritate

Emma Thompson on the conflicts of charitable stars

(Newser) - These days every celebrity is a do-gooder, but for Emma Thompson, using star power to fight disease or injustice can be not only "stunningly effective" but "also profoundly off-putting." In a column for the Times of London, the actor and screenwriter describes the tension between charity and...

Watchmen Sure to Blow Wilson's Cover

(Newser) - Patrick Wilson has had many brushes with fame, but it’s fairly certain his role in the hotly anticipated Watchmen will finally make walking down the street a chore, New York reports. He’s done studio films before (remember The Alamo?), won praise for his role in Little Children, even...

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