The title of “celebrity”, in its simplest sense, applies to any individual who draws widespread public attention through their profession, artistry, or other acts that may be considered noteworthy. It’s a moniker that can be applied to nearly anyone at any time; Donald Trump, with his entrepreneurial endeavors and presidential aspirations, has been attached with the same label as Perez Hilton, the infamous Internet blogger and gossip fiend. As such, “celebrity” doesn’t refer to persons of a specific occupation or media, but is a title affixed to those who have made a significant contribution (intentionally or not) to our popular culture and garnered enough attention to sustain an audience unto themselves.
When the average person hears “celebrity”, however, their minds typically produce images of movie stars at red carpet premiers and posh, lavish lifestyles lived out by beautiful people throughout southern California. This notion is perpetuated by the media’s incessant, almost disturbing obsession with covering all aspects of famous lives. We see it constantly on E!, Bravo, and it even seeps into our daily news. Magazine stands are filled with publications whose sole purpose for existence is to perpetuate “celebrity worship”. And, with the rise of the Internet, particularly social media phenomenon like Twitter, we’re exposed to this cult of personality far more now than ever before.
With celebrity culture playing such a significant role in our popular culture, we’re often swept up in the whirlwind of who is “in” and relevant at this very moment. Fame, as anyone with experience will tell you, is an ephemeral status. It’s grand, boisterous, and it can vanish in an instant. And if status is the constant, a star’s reaction to losing that fame is definitely the variable. For every Audrey Hepburn, there’s a Greta Garbo. For every Lindsay Lohan, there’s a Mara Wilson. For every Ron Howard, there’s a Corey Feldman.
What causes a celebrity to fall out of the limelight? Is it a matter of circumstance, social factors, or a product of the Hollywood machine itself? And why do some of these individuals flourish in their post-fame lives, while others end up broken & destitute? Furthermore, how have these experiences been affected in the Web 2.0 era?
Why someone in Hollywood rises to prominence can be attributed to any number of factors: genuine talent, charisma, a pretty face, or just being in the right place at the right time. These characteristics can be applied to the highest paid stars of the day and to bottom-of-the-barrel D-list celebrities. We gravitate towards a particular actor or actress because something about their person is particularly appealing to the audience. This notion pertains to all celebrities, not just those in the entertainment industry.
Furthermore, some celebrities remain in the public spotlight due to unflattering circumstances. Entire websites, magazines, and television programs are devoted to the paparazzi trying to catch stars breaking bad or engaging in malicious activities. These outlets, especially those in the online sector, have drastically changed the landscape of fame, as we will touch upon later. While a trash story is fodder for the tabloid circuit, eventually these problems become too much and give studios cause for concern. That’s when job offers stop coming through and a star fades away.
As every celebrity is entirely unique, such is the case with their reasons for losing the glare of publicity. Many downfalls come about due to bad business and financial decisions. We often gape in awe when confronted with the astronomical figures earned by movie stars & professional athletes. Money, though, if a finite resource, and a celebrity’s funds can tank fast if care isn’t taken. Some individuals can come back from this; some are entirely unrealistic about their situations, which is why it’s not uncommon to hear of actors pulling in million dollar deals declaring bankruptcy or running into serious tax issues.
Gary Busey, major Hollywood figure in the 80’s and reality show mainstay today, filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy in 2012. At the time, Busey claimed he had less than $50k to his name, and owed well over $500,000. To put this in perspective, Lethal Weapon, one of Busey’s biggest films, grossed over $120 million in box office revenue. Granted, Busey is still something of a celebrity, but his presence is more of a punchline than anything else. Wesley Snipes, an enormous star throughout the 90’s, including roles in Blade, the Major League series, and To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything!, was convicted of failing to file federal income tax returns. He served 3 years in FCI McKean, a medium-security prison, and his career has never fully recovered.
The temptations of Hollywood ruins careers far too often. Large paydays and a lifestyle that never says “no” can prove detrimental to even the most talented & promising of stars. We often attribute drug use and reckless behavior to musicians, but impulsive behavior can afflict anyone after enough exposure.
Mischa Barton took the mid-2000’s teen drama scene by storm with her role as Marissa Cooper in The O.C., along with major box office film roles. In 2009, however, she suffered something of a breakdown, which caused her career to grind to a halt. She would later admit that alcohol & cocaine put her in a dangerous state of mind, leading to numerous run-ins with the law and a suicide scare. Lindsey Lohan was America’s sweetheart in the early 2000’s, starting out in Disney productions and moving onto critically-praised roles in A Prairie Home Companion and Bobby. Like Barton, Lohan was brought down by alcohol and cocaine, with widely reported DUI’s, resulting in several rehab stints and community service. Lohan’s career has bounced back to some extent, but it’s a shell of her former status.
Though it’s a common belief that movie stars tend to fall on the eccentric side, some go “out there” to an extent that they turn off their audiences & the industry in general. Strange behavior can be a result of the previously mentioned issues (money & substance abuse), stress brought on by the demands of fame, psychological issues due to abuse or neglect, or attempts to stay relevant when a career becomes stagnant. And sometimes, people are just that weird.
Corey Feldman is the poster boy for scratched heads everywhere. The child star of the 80’s, Feldman went from high-profile roles in classic films like The Goonies and The Lost Boys to mimicking Michael Jackson’s dance moves and embarking on a music career that would be considered odd, at best. Feldman’s struggles with drug abuse were well known; he turned to heroin in his teens, but has been clean for over twenty years. Feldman would later reveal that he, along with best friend and child star Corey Haim, were subject to routine sexual abuse by Hollywood insiders throughout their adolescence, which led to their substance abuse issues (Haim succumbed to a drug overdose in 2010). Fortunately, Feldman has saw stead work over the past few years as a voice actor, but some fans have a hard time looking over his odd behavior.
Fortunately, a significant number of those who left Hollywood have adapted to normal lives quite well, or even successfully embarked on other paths. Mara Wilson, “that little girl” in Mrs. Doubtfire and Matilda, left Hollywood to pursue a degree at NYU’s Tisch School for the Arts, and is an advocate for teens with mental illness. Mike Vitar, AKA Benny “The Jet” Rodriguez from The Sandlot, and a role in The Mighty Ducks franchise, is now a decorated Los Angeles firefighter. Peter Weller, Robocop himself, has a M.A. in ancient aesthetics and a Ph. D in Italian Renaissance art history, and occasionally teaches at Syracuse University.
And then there are those actors who seemingly “come back from the dead”. By all accounts, Robert Downey Jr. had all but disappeared from Hollywood by the mid 90’s, due to his notoriously addictive personality. Through a series of fortunate events, however, Downey rose back to prominence, and is now one of Hollywood’s leading men. An interesting note: most of Downey’s film contacts now contain a clause that prohibits a major portion of his salary from being paid out until after shooting has completed, as “insurance” to help keep him behaved & sober throughout filming.
Obviously, celebrities run the entire gamut of post-fame lives. Some flourish, while others crash and burn. And the paths that lead to their fates are widely varied; no two stories are alike.
The rise of the Internet in the past 2 decades, along with social media and video-sharing sites, has forever changed the way audiences participate in celebrity worship. No longer relegated to weekly magazines or the lifestyle sections in newspapers, every move of a star can now be captured, and displayed, in almost real-time.
Twitter and Instagram allow us to take a peek behind the scenes with our favorite stars, elevating their exposure among the general public and also humanizing these larger-than-life figures. Emma Watson currently has over 20 million Twitter followers; The Rock’s Instagram is tracked by over 34 million users. Such access to celebrity musings, opinions, and snapshots into personal lives can have a tremendous effect on a career. It can also backfire in spectacular fashion. Amanda Bynes, another successful child star that really, really lost her way, has made headlines more than once over her outlandish behavior on Twitter, occasionally engaging in online spats with other celebrities, making questionable fashion choices, and even calling Barack and Michelle Obama “ugly”. The former All That star’s career was at a standstill prior to her Twitter incidents, and the attention didn’t serve to help matters at all.
Celebrity news websites attract an enormous audience. Mainstream sites and the blogosphere compete to distribute Hollywood gossip as quickly & widely as possible. TMZ, arguably the most prolific of these sites, attracts over 2 million visitors per month, and is known for breaking memorable stories regarding major (and not so major) celebrities. The site was the first to report on Mel Gibson’s DUI and anti-Semitic outburst in 2008; though Gibson was considered A-list throughout the 80’s and 90’s, his prominence waned in the mid-2000’s, and the negative publicity surrounding his arrest landed a major blow on his already struggling career.
Furthermore, the Internet itself, through sites like YouTube and Reddit, can showcase just how far some former stars have fallen. As mentioned earlier, Corey Feldman’s musical endeavors certainly garnered their share of critics; “Ascension Millennium” went viral in 2013 for the sheer absurdity of the music video, and the questioning of whether Feldman was being serious, or playing into his already bizarre persona.
Outside the online realm, pop culture has conjured up other outlets for stars of years past to make something of a reemergence: reality television. VH1 led the charge in the early 2000’s with programs such as The Surreal Life and its army of spinoffs (the Of Love series and numerous gameshows), which showcase a number of child stars, forgotten celebrities, and other random figures in typical reality show settings. Many other networks have picked up on this trend as well, with varying levels of success. Wife Swap and The Apprentice are among the two most popular that are still on the air today. Dancing with the Stars, while in itself not a reality show, is also known for recruiting celebs who fall into the “where are they now?” criteria.
Why do audiences jump on any story involving a fallen star who has made a questionable choice? Why are lists of the top ten celebrities who have done X or lost Y so popular? Where does the spreadability of a Perez Hilton post or misguided Tweet stem from?
As Spreadable Media points out, we share texts to establish our own cultural persona. We tend to define ourselves in part by the stories, articles, and videos that we distribute to others. And, as has been the case for centuries, gossip tends to draw a bigger reaction than most other pieces of information. People love hearing about superstars who stumble, or sometimes fall altogether.
In the case of celebrities who have attained tremendous fame and lost it, there are several reasons why we might find texts regarding their trials & tribulations interesting. Part of it may come from, as mentioned above, the idea of seeing a “somebody” that has become a “nobody”, as it may drive us to believe they somehow deserve their plight, giving us a ill sense of comfort regarding our own lack of notoriety. Part of it may also stem from a sense of nostalgia. Good or bad, part of us likes knowing that the actors and actresses we grew up with are still out there doing something. As the old adage goes, “there’s no such thing as bad publicity.”
“Celebrity”, as mentioned in the introduction, is a title we give to anyone standing in the public spotlight. Whether that spotlight is shining a good or bad light depends on an infinite number of circumstances, and an infinite number of fates await anyone who becomes a prominent figure in our popular culture. We would be lying if we told ourselves everyone lives happily ever after; it’s definitely the dream, but the real world is entirely too unpredictable to put faith in any one particular ending.
As such, celebrity culture will always be an interesting phenomenon to observe. Its spoils can be truly wonderful. It can also be cruel, unfair, and unforgiving, as many of the stars mentioned here can attest to. Though many key players in Hollywood will eventually fall into obscurity to some degree, we must remember that they’re still humans who feel the same hopes, dreams, pains, and emotions that everyone reading this experiences. To quote Harvey Mackay:
“Talent is God-given; be humble. Fame is man-given; be thankful. Conceit is self-given; be careful.”
(We’ll be showing a presentation in class that paraphrases and serves as an video companion to the written portion. We’ll link it afterwards.)
Brendan O’Hern
Garrett Arnold
Trick Linger
Cameron Hagan
