Privations of the poor celebrity

Celebrities. Sigh. Just when you start getting all cynical about them, they somehow reach out and tug at your heartstrings.

Celebrities. Sigh. Just when you start getting all cynical about them, they somehow reach out and tug at your heartstrings. And just when they’re done doing that, they manage to get us cluck-clucking again. In this eternal cycle, one prime ingredient is the matter of privacy. We are told by the poor celebrity, who apart from some basic details is just like us, how harangued she is by that locust-storm, the paparazzi. Incredulous us, thinking of ways to satisfy our own attention-seeking tendencies, then look guiltily away from those magazines that have Angelina Jolie or Jennifer Lopez sunbathing, images obtained without the prior permission of the aforesaid ladies.

HT Image

But hang on. Before you stop subscribing to Hello or OK!, do know the latest happenings from the world of female Hollywood stars. Ms Lopez has struck a deal with a OK! magazine in which, for a nice pile of money, she has agreed to sell exclusive photos of her just-born twins. And if the money somehow made things seem too materialistic, the logic provided is that by ‘exclusivising’ the photos of her just-born children, she will short-circuit paparazzi piling up at the nursery window. Which to us sounds a bit rich — and by the reported $ 4 million that went to Mummy, should sound rich to her too.

Ms J Lo, Ms Jolie, Halle Berry and others will no doubt remind us of their desperate need for privacy. But then, the kids are all right. ‘Sell’ them while they still have no say in the matter. As for the evil paparazzi....