How does society decide which Celebrity gets a pass, and which celebrity gets trashed?
Just recently, I read a post at another blog that I visit, about Tori Spelling and her pregnancy. Specifically, the author was thrilled for Tori and husband, Dean, on the impending arrival of baby #3. Responses ranged from “So happy for her” to “Congrats on the baby!”, and continued in that vein.
But a while ago, this same blog trashed LeAnn Rimes, who was Tweeting that she was excited about her coming marriage to Eddie Cibrian – the man that she left her first husband for. And LeAnn was absolutely shredded in the comments. Called all kinds of nasty names, beginning with “cheater” and “husband stealer,” and getting worse from there. Her personal life, appearance and career were insulted. Some of the commenters expressed wishes for her to “just go away already,” and to “stop being a media whore.”
This same bunch of commenters can’t get enough of Angelina Jolie, but trashes Jennifer Aniston for “stealing” men from other women.
Now, I don’t profess to know a single detail about these ladies’ personal lives, other than what I read on the covers of the tabloids at the checkout, because who doesn’t read those? But I have to wonder, what scale are we using to tabulate fidelity? Who gets a pass, and who gets trashed?
The Tori/LeAnn stories are amazingly similar… Tori and Dean were both married when they started their affair. They left their spouses and married each other. LeAnn and Eddie did much the same, although they have not yet married. Tori uses Twitter to make announcements about her relationship, and the world goes gooshy; LeAnn Tweets about her relationship, and she is trashed.
Angelina, it is said, is responsible for breaking up more than one relationship before the Big One – Jennifer Aniston and Brad Pitt. And now that it’s “Brangelina” and not “Bennifer” (or is that Affleck/Garner? I can never remember), Angelina can do no wrong, and Jennifer can do nothing right.
Is a relationship deemed “proper” if the couple marries and produces children? If so, then once LeAnn and Eddie marry, they should become the Darlings of the Media. But if you follow that logic, Angelina and Brad should still hold the contempt of fans, because they’re not married.
I don’t know the answer, and I guess I’ll continue to be amazed at the schizophrenia of “fans”.
Us Girls..Our Views 
I think Bennifer was Afflack and JLo. I don’t know. I don’t know much more than you do about these “movie stars” either and have often wondered the same thing. Why people love and gush about some of them and then hate other although they’ve committed the same crimes?
Do you think it comes down to who we liked “more” before they committed their crimes? I mean don’t you think the world loved Jennifer Aniston because they loved her so much as Rachel? That and the fact that at the time, Angelena was so weird. I mean really, who wears blood around their neck in a locket????? Shame on me but I won’t even go see her in a movie. I really DON’T like her and I know it’s highly irrational.
I’ve really liked Eddie for a long time. I fell in love with him as a young teen when he played Matt Clark on The Young and the Restless and then went on to Third Watch. Who didn’t love LeAnn when she burst onto the scene with those wonderful pipes of hers singing Blue?
Tori and Dean??? I don’t really have a connection with them but him leaving his wife while in the midst of adoption did rub me the wrong way. That seems so mean but we really don’t know the whole story. That’s the saddest part of the whole thing. We love and hate people because of what we read and “hear.”
This is a really fun subject and I saw what you saw “over there.”
It just blows my mind! And as I was writing this, I was thinking, “Ok, how can I weave Camilla and Prince Charles into this?” Because she was the Queen of Evil before Diana died, and now, she’s all fine and dandy. Although I know she still has her haters.
I think the LeAnn thing has a lot to do with Country Music, truthfully. Those ladies ‘over there’ seem to be very, um… citified. Whenever country music is mentioned, it’s always the stereotype redneck crap – trains, prison, dogs, pickup trucks, mama and gettin’ drunk. So I wonder if they just extend that attitude to her, even though she did some crossover stuff?
And of course, “everybody” loves Tori, because she was on 90210. ‘Course now, I can’t even remember her character’s name…
Donna.
LOL!
Donna?? Really??? Wow. I do NOT remember that. At. All!!!
How sad is it that I knew her name RIGHT. NOW??????
You know you’re sitting on the couch, feet up, eating bonbons and watching all the episodes that you Netflixed!
I don’t get it either. Well, sometimes it’s about liberals vs. conservatives or the hated “cult” of the moment. I mean, look at poor Suri Cruise. And anyone who has ever thought autism might be something you can prevent or treat.
Justin Bieber was the bomb until he admitted he is pro-life. And they’re hating on Elton John ever since he played Rush’s wedding.
Other times, I really don’t know, and frankly, I don’t care. Amazingly, the people being “hated” still seem to be in the money. Look at Britney Spears. I don’t even know what she sings, yet she seems ever popular, despite the fact that everyone in blogland trashes her every chance they get.
So what is it about Gwyneth Paltrow – she can’t say a word without being accused of living on another planet. What did she ever do to anyone? Not that I’m a fan, but it just seems ridiculous.
And nowadays it’s that woman who played Gabrielle on Desperate Housewives (why can’t I remember her name) – probably the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen, who seems like a nice, relatively down-to-earth person (for a celebrity) as far as I can tell. OK, I wondered about her marriage choice, but why does everyone hate on her now?
And Miley Cyrus, who is apparently the only teen star who is expected to act like a novice in a convent. They can’t wait to see the younger Bieber get laid (and make up stories in the mean time), yet Miley is just a complete mess, according to them.
And the Williams sisters – what did they ever do to blogland? Do their awesome athletic bodies intimidate too much? What?
They even attacked Prince William’s fiance for losing a little weight.
And yet the fawning over other celebrities whom I know nothing about – who as far as I know have done nothing all that remarkable. Whatever.
I can enlighten you on the Gwyneth thing (of course, this is going to make me sound totally catty)… She writes a newsletter called “Goop”. No idea where that name came from, by the way. Anyway, in that newsletter, she apparently outlines what her “normal” life is like – a fleet of chefs and assistants. And tells her readers, who are presumably regular folks like us, that it’s so easy to have it all, just do it like she does – have people to do your shopping for you, plan/cook your meals, clean your house, and parent your children while you’re taking care of things like work and relaxation-directed massages.
OK, but did you get that directly from “goop” or from the sites that complain about “goop”? I ask because I’ve seen her “goop” trashed on the Stir pretty often, and some of the things they pick on are just for the sake of picking. I’m sure some of her ideas don’t translate easily to us, but how is that different from any other thing a celebrity says or writes?
I don’t subscribe to Goop (how many times can we say it in one conversation? goopgoopgoop)… but I have wandered over there on occasion. And honestly, I’ve seen some doozies. Of course, the most recent time I went there was one of the times that site was griping about her. And I just laughed at the fact that she said that you should have your fishmonger deliver your fish to your house to save time. That’s the one that I’m remembering right now.
But I will grant you that I don’t know what the demographic of Goop is… it could be directed at her contemporaries, so it would make sense to have your fishmonger deliver. In my case, I AM the fishmonger, and I don’t deliver unless I’m bringing it straight out of the lake.
My comment on the fishmonger rant was that I may not have a fishmonger, but I can use the tip anyway – having fresh groceries delivered can save a lot of time and aggravation. I don’t think you have to be rich to have groceries delivered (though I haven’t done it yet). But if people are going in with the intention of finding something nasty to post about (and get paid for bitching about), then anything can be picked apart.
Yes really. Poor Suri Cruise. Don’t they think think this little girl will grow up and possible read some of this crap about her? I really sometimes think no brain power is used. The way they talk about some people! Justin Beiber and Miley do take a lot too. What’s with that???
I feel really bad for the kids of the celebrities b/c they have no say and once it’s written down it’s there forever so they’ll always be able to find stuff. Joy mentioned Suri and it made me think of that recent picture where she was holding a box of penis gummies and the media ripped Katie apart for that one.
Penis gummies?!?!
Apparently they were in a candy store and someone had ordered penis gummies for a bachelorette party, and from one account, the security guard handed a packet to Suri for laughs. Supposedly Katie nonchalantly put them back down (which is exactly what I would do). Damn paparazzi. If they were following me and my kids all the time, who knows what they’d get photos of? I could just see it now, big headline, “MISS E’S FAVORITE WORD IS WEDGIE!” “SKL PICKS KIDS’ BOOGIES WITH HER OWN FINGERS, FLICKS THEM INSTEAD OF RECYCLING!” Ya know? It’s amazing those photographers don’t get punched more often.
Mine would be LAURA’S KID PEES IN TRAFFIC CONE AND EATS HIS OWN BOOGERS!!! I think we should probably stop this headline thing right in its tracks…
Hey, at least he only eats his OWN boogers. But you’re right, my children could find this site someday . . . .
LOL, LOL, LOL!!!!!!
As long as we’re talking about “over there,” you know what I hate? All the misleading headlines. Their posts are almost never what the title suggests they’re about. The one I can think of right off hand was the one “School Punishes Teen For Being Nice To Gays.” All that was about was a girl wore a “slogan” shirt to school that said “Some kids R Gay. That’s okay. FCKH8″and had to change it because they had a dress code she broke. I’ll tell you, those women went CRAZY!!! By the time the “discussion” was over, I’m not even sure what it was about. They do that all the time. Just the other day there was a post about Carrie Underwood’s marriage being in trouble because she told Ellen on her show that her husband loves to collect shirts and she want’s to get rid of them!!! The post had nothing to do with her marriage being in trouble. It’s called “adjusting” to living with someone else. I’ll start reading an article and it’s got nothing to do with what they call it. Is that a common practice?
It’s just to suck people in and get hits on the site and if they get people to comment and rant all the better.
I rarely process the titles of the articles anymore, so when I see people say something about it, I have to go back and read it again. I completely agree with that T-shirt ‘discussion’, though. It was about breaking a school rule, not about gay vs straight, but no… they had to tie that in with it just to draw the activists in. I think it’s a few of the authors, too. I see some doing it more than others.
It certainly is common practice on that site. So I’ve learned to expect the title to be meaningless. It used to get me all in a tizzy, though.
I think Joy has some really good points. I think it sometimes depends on how you perceive them before they commit whatever act they end up committing! I have never liked Angelina, and just like I won’t watch a movie with Tom Cruise in it, I won’t watch a movie with her in it!
I like Tori and Dean and sometimes watch their reality show. I also have always liked Leann, and Eddie is adorable! I always feel sorry for the kids, because they didn’t ask for any of this. And they will someday read or hear about all the BS that went on.
I don’t know what “over there” is, but wouldn’t have time to visit that site anyway. Getting back to the original topic…I’m not sure why people are so choosey when it comes to gushing about certain celebrities and giving them a “pass” for bad behavior and why other celebrities get raked over the coals. It’s never made any sense to me. But one thing I DO know from personal experience is that infidelity by one’s partner is a very painful thing to deal with. And to have the infidelity result in the break-up of your marriage/relationship only increases the pain. It is an emotional pain that cuts so deeply that you can actually feel it physically. Because I’ve experienced that, I have a hard time giving ANYONE a pass that has caused another that kind of pain. I don’t dwell on it though, and I don’t even write about such things on my blog. I just feel a tremendous sense of empathy for those who have to experience such pain. For someone to be so callous as to continually tweet about the relationship they stole from another, or to continually force it into the media, shows a lot of selfishness and, quite frankly, high school immaturity.