By Anahita Devasi
We live in a celebrity-obsessed world, where everything they say or do is reported in the news or shared on social media. If the media publishes stories about the private lives of the rich and famous, it’s because there is an audience for them. Celebrity gossip is a part of a multimillion-dollar industry that flourishes off the exploitation of celebrities' privacy. But there is still a boundary beyond which it cannot be exploited. This boundary is often the information that the celebrities are uncomfortable with sharing or images that might be private.
Unfortunately, this boundary is crossed frequently, especially when the intrusive paparazzi leak private information to the public - as in the case of the infamous 2014 iCloud hack that leaked over 400 private pictures of celebrities. Most of these pictures were nudes of actresses and were posted on high-engagement websites like Imgur and Reddit. This even reached the headlines of multiple major newspapers - including the Daily Mail - with explicit pictures of Jennifer Lawrence, Kate Upton, Kaley Cuoco, Kristen Dunst and even underage pictures of gymnast McKayla Maroney “gracing” their covers.
The probability of a similar situation is presumably the biggest downside to being a celebrity. But, while it hurts them, it also helps them popularise their brand. Many celebrities make large sums of money by giving away their privacy for a reality television show recording every second of their day. This is what confuses people; celebrities have varying levels of privacy. The more closed-off a celebrity is, the more they are scrutinised by the media.
Many celebrities, however, accept this as a part of their reality. “I know this is a part of the job,” is often echoed on cameras, as if they’re saying, “I’m not allowed to complain about this.” But, this should not be the case. I believe that the only part of a celebrity’s life that belongs to the public is what they choose to share with us.
Going to their homes and hounding them and their families for a little scoop of information is extremely inappropriate and only makes the celebrity more closed-off. Tabloids are notorious for making up rumours about celebrities that could harm their personal lives. The online trolls that spread hate about them don’t realise that celebrities are human beings too, or that their fame doesn’t diminish their humanity. The private lives of people belong to nobody but the people themselves. Even if a person puts themselves out into the world, it doesn’t give other people the right to invade their privacy.
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