By Saloni Mhapsekar
Living the celeb life, or simply walking on the red carpet, either virtual or real, has its own upsides and downsides. The common perception is that celebrities and famous personalities have everything good in life, handed to them on a silver platter. Some are even born with the golden spoon in their mouth. While all the rest of the common folk stare up at them with love or hate, eyes filled with either jealousy or stars.
After all, the grass is always greener on the other side, isn’t it? The truth being that the down graph of being a celebrity is more or less equal to the up graph. Who said being famous was always fun? Decide for yourself—read on to find out.
Yesterday while I was reading the letter by the former International badminton champion’s to his daughter Deepika, it left me teary eyed. The letter gives a reality check to the people who still live in their fantasy land thinking that the celebrity life is all about glamour. This letter was written back in 2011, and yet, even today if one reads it, I am sure there’s no part of it which they could say that isn’t true.
Celebrity life is not all about unicorns and rainbows, but being under the radar 24/7 and hawk-eyed for every word you say, every picture you post, every person you meet, every diet you follow, every- the list is endless.
The honest job requirement of celebrity should be like this: Vacancy for an expert at putting shiny, happy act even if battling with gnawing confusion. Celebs are always a sight for the public eye. As the daily radio website said, “Fame is a seductive mistress who promises the world but pulls the rug from under your feet if anything goes wrong.”
Famous people are often followed or harassed by phone, email, or mail by fans or followers who cross the line and become obsessed. Obsession can turn into threats and even physical harm. Paparazzi will stalk you, hover around but there’s nothing you can do since this is what stardom brings to you.
One of the very obvious advantages of being famous is that fame generally brings lots of fortune. These famous personalities enjoy the title of the ‘aristocratic people’ aka ‘malamaal logg.’
But again you won’t be able to live a normal person’s life. You no longer can go and enjoy the street food with your friends because you are bound by the aristocratic code of conduct.You often find people praising your glamour, prosperity but they’ll hardly notice your sleepless nights,dark circles covered with two layers of makeup. Celebrities literally sell their souls to achieve fame.
People will talk about you, judge you, spread rumours but the only thing you can do is carry the fake smile wherever you go. If you need fame you also have to tolerate a lot of disrespect. According to me when we start living this life we become materialistic, obnoxiously and obsessively greedy. The epidemic of fame is often seen between the obsessive youngsters of age 16-25.They act as a starving lion whose prey is fame.
A celebrity has to look perfect wherever they go- perfect size, stunning look, gorgeous hair, and awesome sauce personality- that’s what everyone looks for. They are expected to be perfect human beings, or rather Greek gods, role models for five-year-olds, or teenagers, sometimes even adults and older than them too!
But, reality checks here, their fame and fan following obviously cannot give them happy lives, just like Benjamin Franklin stated, “that glamorous life really isn’t so glamorous at all”.
So now, it’s your decision. Whether being vulnerable to a high amount of criticism, attention, expectations, fame, etc or leading a normal regular day to day life with very less amount of the above- what does the celebrity life look like to you?
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I wish more people knew this.