We live in a nation obsessed with celebrities. When the activities of Brad and Angelina, Britney Spears, and Paris Hilton receive more attention than serious news items; when in 2005, eight of the ten most popular search terms on the search engine Yahoo! were the names of celebrities, with Britney Spears at the top of the list; when “the ultimate competition for celebrityhood—American Idol—has more viewers than the nightly news on the three major networks combined” (xv); we can rest assured that we have swallowed the pill of our new addiction. We are, in the words of Jake Halpern, “fame junkies.”

In the book, Fame Junkies: The Hidden Truths Behind America’s Favorite Addiction, Halpern examines three separate subcultures: “the first inhabited by aspiring celebrities, the second by personal assistants and other entourage insiders, and the third by die-hard fans. Each subculture is the focus of one section of this book” (xvii). Halpern’s experiences are combined with insights concerning why we are addicted to celebrity and how we might break the cycle.

Halpern suggests that “Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous marked the beginning of the television obsession with celebrity lifestyle: “The show simply gushed. It was all Isn’t this just so wonderful, and wouldn’t you love to eat off these gold plates, and drink from these diamond-studded goblets, and go to these parties, and live in these houses? And the formula worked, because it allowed us to imagine ourselves in their shoes” (xx). Since we never actually saw the celebrities themselves – only their possessions – we could easily put ourselves in their place.

Add to this mix the explosive abundance of media outlets available now through cable television and the internet, and the possibility of achieving fame seems all the more likely – especially to those most gullible, that is, our children. Now, everyone expects their fifteen minutes of fame!

What Children Want

In a recent survey distributed to middle school students in the Rochester, New York area, students “were asked to choose from a list of famous people the one they would most like to have dinner with” (xvi).  The list included Jesus Christ, Albert Einstein, Shaquille O’Neal, Jennifer Lopez, 50 Cent, Paris Hilton, or President Bush. Among the girls, Jesus took second place, barely beating Paris Hilton, and falling behind Jennifer Lopez.

When asked what job they would like to have when they grow up, 43.4 percent chose “the personal assistant to a very famous singer or movie star” and only 23.7 percent chose “the president of a great university like Harvard or Yale” (xvi).

One of the survey questions was “If you could push a magic button that would change your life in one way, which of the following would you pick?” The options were “(a) Becoming smarter”; “(b) Becoming much bigger or stronger”; “(c) Becoming famous”; “(d) Becoming beautiful or more beautiful”; and “(e) My life doesn’t need any improving.” Among those teens who watched one hour or less of TV a day, only 15 percent of the boys and 17 percent of the girls chose fame. But among those who watched five hours or more a day—and many did—29 percent of the boys and 37 percent of the girls chose fame. (12)

Children Seeking Fame

In the first section of the book, Halpern follows a few children who aspire to be models or actors (or both). From their training in “fame schools” to their participation in and “International Modeling and Talent Association” (IMTA) event, he observes and evaluates. At one IMTA event he is shocked by kindergarteners striking poses on a runway against a backdrop of blasting techno music and “third- and fourth-graders dressed in padded bikini tops [taking] part in the swimsuit competition” (26-27).

Though many children may simply be a product of their own parents’ desire to obtain recognition and fame through association, it is clear that many of the children truly believe they will become famous. Psychologist David Elkind highlights two reasons why adolescents may be extraordinarily susceptible to promises of fame. He

maintains that by their very nature, adolescents are unable to grasp what other people are thinking or feeling, so they exist in a sort of egocentric daze, assuming that everyone else is as obsessed with their lives as they are. He articulates this notion in his Imaginary Audience theory, which posits that teens often feel as if they were on a grand stage in front of a watchful audience that noticed every facet of their appearance and behavior. Hence the teenage drama queen. Her bad hair day is a catastrophe because she believes that everyone she encounters is watching only her. And because this teenager feels that she is of such importance to so many people, she comes to believe that her feelings and her life must be utterly unique. This leads to Elkind’s second theory, known simply as the Personal Fable, in which an adolescent believes that his or her destiny is special and that conventional rules or odds don’t apply. (16)

Certainly, there are negative expressions of Imaginary Audience and Personal Fable, but an adolescents’ experience of these may also be quite natural, and even helpful:

According to Lapsley, both the imaginary audience and the personal fable are natural parts of the daydreaming that goes on during the so-called “separation-individuation” process. This process generally occurs as adolescents start to form relationships and define themselves outside the family unit. Daydreaming can be an important coping mechanism during this period, Lapsley says, because it allows adolescents to conjure fantasies in which they assert themselves as individuals. These are painless trial runs in which they can visualize doing bold things within the safe confines of their imaginations. (17)

Having said this, it is clear that today’s pop culture – in all its media-saturated, celebrity-obsessed, fame-hungry glory – distorts the normal maturation process of adolescents.

There may be one way to reduce the negative expressions of Imaginary Audience. Studies have shown that “the imaginary-audience phenomenon increases significantly among adolescents who feel neglected by their parents” (18). Halpern considers: “Perhaps it isn’t that teenagers are addicted to fame as much as that they are biologically predisposed to crave what fame promises: endless amounts of attention” (19). And when children are given a healthy amount of attention from parents, they may not crave it from other sources.

Remember the survey of middle school students and the question of what famous person to have dinner with:

Among boys who said they were not lonely, the clear winner was Jesus Christ; but among those who described themselves as lonely, Jesus finished last and 50 Cent was the clear winner. Similarly, girls who felt appreciated by their parents, friends, and teachers tended to choose dinner with Jesus, whereas those who felt underappreciated were likely to choose Paris Hilton. One possible interpretation of these results is that lonely and underappreciated teens particularly want to befriend the ultimate popular guy or girl. (116-117)

Why Do People Seek Fame

Though the reasons are endless, Halpern offers many possible reasons why we seek fame.

In his interaction with teens seeking fame and celebrities who achieved it, he discovered that many experienced deep rejection as a child, whether from parents or peers. As a result of rejection, achieving fame is way of expressing to others, “I’ll show them.” He writes, “one could argue that the desire to be famous is simply the desire to alleviate pain—the pain of being bullied, the pain of feeling like a nobody the pain of not getting the dates you want, and the misery of being below the people who inflicted the pain on you.” (34)

Some seek fame to fill a void: “In all likelihood many other famous Americans have also viewed fame—at least partly—as a way to fill the void or ease the pain of a shoddy childhood. Marilyn Monroe, who grew up without a father and spent much of her youth in foster homes. Wrote in her unfinished autobiography, “I knew I belonged to the public and to the world, not because I was talented or even beautiful, but because I had never belonged to anyone or anything else.” (34)

In an interview with an aged actor, “You know, most actors say that they need to express themselves, but fame is really the spur. We want to be accepted. We are really begging people, ‘Accept me!’ Let’s face it—it’s all about wanting to be loved.” (190)

The worst possible reason is narcissism. A narcissist possesses “an excessible and insatiable need for admiration” (38). “Fame is deeply appealing to narcissists because it offers a seemingly inexhaustible reservoir of praise and flattery” (38). Thus, “the pursuit of fame is an obvious and often inevitable path for narcissists” (38).

Some experts suggest that our attempts to raise children’s self-esteem may be “training a little army of narcissists” (38). This is especially true for today’s teenagers:

findings suggest that American teenagers have very high levels of narcissism and entitlement compared with older Americans and compared with teenagers from other parts of the world. Campbell fears that in America, because fame appears so readily available on TV and elsewhere, the atmosphere fosters narcissism and entitlement. (197)

To combat narcissism, we must encourage children to be curious about the world, about how to find out and solve problems, instead of simply focusing on the self. We must discover ways to nurture proper self-confidence without promoting arrogance; ways of having a healthy self-image without props. The challenge is great because of the paradox of greatness: “In order to strive for greatness, on some level you really have to believe that you are great from the beginning” (41). Perhaps a recovery of Jesus’ teaching on greatness may help here. Jesus understood people desired greatness, but he redefined greatness as humble service to others (see Matthew 20:25-28). What can we do to recover and reinforce this truth in our children? How must we change in order to do this?

Why Our Fascination?

Our obsession with celebrities may go deeper than we realize. It is easy to assume that we “know” celebrities. They can easily substitute for other relationships. We may know more about celebrities than our family, neighbors.

Perhaps we latch onto celebrities to make our lives more exciting:

The truth is, many people’s lives are empty, and they latch on to these celebrities … It’s easier to talk about celebrities than our own lives, which is another kind of escapism—not from Vietnam or Iraq but from the boredom of one’s own life. Celebrities are probably of less interest to people who live exciting, fulfilling lives—people who are involved with their family and community But how many people do you know who live exciting, fulfilling lives? (144)

Perhaps we latch on to keep from truly facing our own lives. After all, it is easier to speak about Brad and Angelina’s marriage than it is to speak about our own. Indeed, for some people, it is easier to speak about anything other than their own lives!

If addictions really offer only the “illusions of fulfillment,” as Craig Nakken puts it, then what fame seems to offer is the illusion of love (73). And it is an illusion. We don’t know the celebrities and they don’t know us.

Halpern interviews a woman who has obsessively followed Rod Stewart’s career for thirty years. When the woman reflects on her obsession, especially as it relates to her faith, she is troubled:

“This is something I struggle with,” she told me. “I wish that I were as passionate about Jesus—and the life of Jesus and everything that Jesus said when he was on this earth—as I am about Rod. I do worry about that. I worry that I’m worshiping the celebrity of Rod. And I have to ask myself, Would I really travel across the country to attend a rally for Jesus, like I’m doing for this Walk of Fame event with Rod? I don’t know.” (164)

If you ask me, her question provides the answer. She hasn’t traveled across the country to attend a rally for Jesus or to do something in his name. She has for Rod. At the very least, her obsession with Rod precludes (and in some ways, prevents) her from showing greater devotion to Christ. And, if her beliefs are true, there is no doubt that Jesus has a greater interest in her than Rod could ever possibly have!

Quotes excerpted from Fame Junkies: The Hidden Truths Behind America's Favorite Addiction by Jake Halpern

© Richard J. Vincent, 2008