Why Being A Movie Star Might Suck

Back to the point, then. In getting ready to spend time with family, you often have to guard yourself against insult for their assumptions. If Grandma still thinks you collect unicorns, then you smile and thank her for them. If your mother insists that you have always loved pumpkin pie, even if you can’t stand it, you take a slice and shut up. These are the trade offs for enjoying the company of the people we love.

A similar situation arises in the wake of any reunion. Just as we must for family, we have to show our best side to gathered friends and foes of yesteryear in the old high school gym every ten years or so. We lose a couple of pounds, get a new haircut, take a date, and act like we have the whole world by the tail. The preparation for such things is startling. Just as we must gear up to see family at holiday time, we must be ready for the challenges of reuniting with people we haven’t seen since the retainers they wore made them lisp. It is a big deal.

So, why must it suck to be a celebrity? Two reasons spring immediately to mind. One – People who have never met you think they know you very well. Two- Every day has the stresses of a family or high school reunion.

To the first. I was watching CNN Headline News hoping for some actual, you know, news, when some item relating to Brad Pitt was mixed in with the crime and international stories. The anchor read said ‘news’ then proceeded to chuckle and make some snarky comment about Mr. Pitt, as though he was a good buddy that could be ribbed or joshed or tossled by said anchor. Imagine turning on CNN and hearing something you are alleged to have done, read by someone you have never, will never, know. That would suck. Added to this disaster about celeb personal lives is the fact that people in general seem unable to separate actors from the roles that they play. So, not only are you, as a movie star, responsible for and given credit for the actions of your everyday life, as they are perceived by an eager tabloid industry and public. You also must take credit or blame for the activities of your characters, whose identities people tend to meld with your own persona, the persona that is a construct and not really you.

Consider it as a game of telephone. The real Brad – the public persona – public response to said persona – generally accepted assumptions based upon that response. How often do things filtered through so many stages come out exactly right? Never. And yet, we continue to make our assumptions and judgements, believing what we wish to believe, that Brad will just love that ceramic unicorn we sent, because he collects them. Grandma said.

The second part, the everyday is a high school reunion part, sucks, perhaps, more. The same shield we use to present to acquaintances the best idea of ourselves, never reality, is the one that movie stars must don every time they step outside of the confines of their actual home life. If you are a movie star, you better look damn good running to the store or dropping the kids at school, because the camera is always watching.

There is a show running on VH1 called “Bad Habits.” It is basically a collection of movie stars caught picking their noses, biting their nails, and doing random other things that no human would wish to be captured on film and aired on VH1. And, somehow, the public seems to find this kind of thing exhaustively entertaining. Imagine your worst moment of the last week, last day, last hour displayed on television for the world to see. If it is not something you would want for yourself, then why is it expected of those in the public eye?

Yes, movie stars enter a sort of agreement with the public, by becoming famous, to be somewhat available to us, just as do politicians and any figure haplessly trapped in a news story that gains some national attention (which also would suck). Yes, they get the best tables and free clothes and lots of money. Is that a trade you would take? Having your face splashed across CNN and VH1 with a finger in your nose? Not me. Being a movie star must suck.