Is Fame Worth It?

Is fame worth it?

Do you have any celebrities that you might pay attention to? Alyssa Liu, Charlie D’Amelio, or Harry Styles? These are famous Tik Tok stars, Olympic medalist, and British popstar however every person has their niche celebrity that they have paid attention to along their lives. But fame is often perceived luxuriously, but it is not worth it. It can take a mental toll, put your family at risk, create parasocial and untrustworthy relationships. Being in the public eye is also often associated with burnout and anxiety. This is caused by constant pressure of being in the public eye and living up to unrealistic standards. It can also lead to stalking, harassment, and death threats at celebrities and their families.

Many influencers can find fame to be appealing, but it has a dark twist that few people pay much attention to. Fame can also lead to stalking, harassment, and death threats at celebrities and their families. We have seen countless celebrities have stalkers like Harry Styles, and we have seen a fan recently shot into Rihanna’s house. This forces most celebrities to be isolated for their own safety. They also must be selective on what they tell their "friends" as most could leak information that could feed stalkers more personal information. “Twenty-three percent of the entertainment security department cases met our definition of stalking, yielding 248 cases...... victims were closely associated with the entertainment corporation and were targeted because of their prominence in the popular media ” Meloy, J. Reid.; Sheridan, Lorraine.; Hoffmann, Jens, 1968- C2008. Page 38. Stalking, threatening, and attacking public figures : a psychological and behavioral analysis. 2026 is a time where we live in a very much celebrity influenced way of life. Regular people see their glitz and glamour and develop parasocial relationships. This creates a toxic hatred for their own "regular" lives and endangers famous people’s personal lives.

Being in the public eye can heavily influence someone's mental health by being in a toxic environment and handle unachievable standards. It is also difficult to develop personal relationships due to people using others for publicity and money. This forces celebrities to be more private and creates loneliness and anxieties. It also could be risky because it could create an information leak that could be airing out their privacy, like addresses or partners, to stalkers. Just by watching keeping up with the Kardashian, we have seen Kim Kardashian deal with these issues. She had her first baby in 2013, and she chose to send different pictures of her daughter North West to different friends. She paid attention to what pictures came up in TMZ and was able to cut off the friends who leaked the pictures of North. However, A list celebrities are not the only people in the public eye that experience this kind of harassment. Many welcoming newscasters experience stalkers and harassment due to their “warm, caring, and approachable demeanor”. Meloy, J. Reid.; Sheridan, Lorraine.; Hoffmann, Jens, 1968- C2008. Page 197. Stalking, threatening, and attacking public figures : a psychological and behavioral analysis. This goes to show you that there is a risk for many public figures and that they need to keep a close eye on how welcoming they appear.

However, Celebrates enter fame to be a part of Broadway, acting, or music. These are careers that force you into fame to be financially successful. It is difficult to be successful in an industry like that without making connections and possibly “using” people for publicity. Famous artist, Chappel Roan has gotten recent backlash for being an “extremist” and for being rude to fans. Her most recent scandal has been about how she made Jude Law’s 11-year-old daughter cry because his daughter smiled at Chappel during a hotel breakfast in Brazil. Chappel allegedly sent her security after this fan, which caused emotional distress to the child. Her justification behind her actions has been because of parasocial relationships. She feels that she does not owe anybody an interaction as she does not know them. There are ways to be a celebrity with boundaries while being respectful to fans. Now she has been applauded for creating a movement of respect from paparazzi. She had the guts to stand her ground and other celebrities like Sabrina Carpenter have been glad to no longer be screamed at by paparazzi on the red carpet. However, this movement of respect has come at a cost of her reputation and respect from fans. This also is not the first negative interaction from her and her team, and she is not the only celebrity who has been nicknamed “divas”. Celebrities like JLO have been given similar nicknames and have been known to behave disrespectfully with fans regardless of age.

Overall, the mental struggle and the lack of safety from fans outweigh the pros involved with fame. We have seen how fame can cause anxiety, eating disorders, and psychological issues. Yes, there are some pros to fame like money and luxury, but I believe that the main thing that matters at the end of the day are the people who you have in your circle. If you do not have people to live life with then you, being a millionaire, does not appear worth it at some point. Ultimately the stress and anxiety are not worth the glitz and glamour.