An ongoing debate that has been going on in my mind since the Clinton administration refers to the amount of personal information the public should be privy to when it comes to celebrities and other people that are constantly viewed in the public eye. For example, Bill Clinton’s inability to remain faithful to his wife seems to be more relevant during her presidential campaign than it was during his presidency. Still, many regard him as one of the better presidents to have served the country in recent years. I was very young at the time of the scandal, but remember wondering why we got access to threat information just because he was the president. Tons of men cheat on their wives, and it doesn’t make the local news.
Hollywood seems to have the dame vulnerability when it comes to personal information. Johnny Depp’s recent divorce, the break-up of Brangelina, and Jim Carrey’s questionable texts that he sent to his ex are all examples of too much information. This kind of crap gets shoved down the throats of anyone willing to entertain the gossip, and it’s quite pathetic. None of these incidents have done much to affect the role of the individual. Will “Ace Ventura” cease to be funny because Jim Carrey sent a tasteless text to an ex? No, and it should not change the public view of Carrey because this is information we should not have to begin with. Shortly after news broke about Depp’s divorce, Amber Heard claimed he was abusive, and then that was retracted. Now she is broke and homeless. Brad Pitt is under investigation because he allegedly got drunk, and was physical towards the children. If that is true, it is not right, but it is still information that the public should not have access to.
We do not live vicariously through Hollywood. Seeing someone’s new movie does not make you a part of their life. And if you find yourself deeply involved in the personal affairs of a complete stranger, you may want to seek out a support group of sorts, or maybe just a real-life friend. It starts to become a little much, especially when you can turn on the “news,” or look something up on Google to find that not one, not two, but numerous sources are all spending their time writing what is essentially a gossip column, and passing it off as breaking news. I am over it, and I believe the general public needs to get over it as well. Hyperlinks are placed throughout this article. However, clicking on them kind of puts you in the group of people this article is aimed at.
Can you imagine if every divorce, act of infidelity, or questionable decision everybody made was forced into the spotlight and made available for the general public to be used to draw our opinions on who we each are as individuals, or is it preferred we keep our dirty laundry to ourselves, and our skeletons secured in our closets? I truly believe that life would keep on moving right along even if we did not know all of the intimate details as they pertain to someone simply because they are famous. And if that is the price of fame, then I am just fine being counted among the unknown.
