Would Fame Be Worth It?

[33girl]

When I was younger I wanted more than anything to be a famous actress or singer. Now I can't imagine that the tradeoff is worth it.

My longtime boyfriend and I were breaking up at the same time Jennifer Aniston & Brad Pitt's marriage was breaking up. I was going through so many feelings, pain, anger, ambivalence, etc etc etc. It was really hard, and all I could think was that I was having an extremely difficult time just knowing the people in my little orbit knew about it - I couldn't imagine what JA was going through having her problems on every tabloid in the world.

I had a letter published in TV Guide (before it sucked) and I have a body part on an album/CD cover. That's about as famous as I think I want to get.

[EE-BO]

I have no interest in being famous- or infamous for that matter. If anything, I shy far in the other direction. I don't even allow people to photograph me all that often- even family members if those family members are the kinds of people who are stupid about the internet and post pictures and names for all the pictures they take and post on the internet for the world to see. Overkill perhaps, but I value my privacy.

On the tabloid issue, I do not have the immediate family connection to show business that OldGCer has, but I know a few things- and it is safe to say that pretty much all of the stars who appear in the tabloids regularly have publicists working to make that happen. Sure sometimes they get unfairly invasive- Cher and Carol Burnett's children come to mind, and there was a lawsuit in the latter case- but most often that is all well staged and planned, as is the buzz about how "sad" it is they are hounded so much.

Princess Di was a good example of this. Don't let anyone fool you into thinking she was unfairly hounded by the press. At times she was- but the fact remains that she also very often sought coverage to support her own image in the public eye. Once you use the press like that, it is hard to complain when they use you right back. Once you open that door, you cannot ever expect to close it again on your own terms.

[christiangirl]

^^^I remember all those stories printed right after his infamous fight. They interviewed him saying that his daughter was terrified of him because of all the things she heard about him (he was a vicious monster, he was going to bite her, etc.) and, at the time, she was little enough to believe it. That made me really sad for her, but how he acted afte made me not sad for him.

[AlwaysSAI]

Do I want to be famous? No.

But, I love to perform and consider myself a performer by trade and teacher by nature. I love to sing. I love to bring people joy with my music. If I were to purusue my first love as a career, fame would most certainly be a side effect.

I love teaching, but damn I miss the stage.