Are celebrities really "normal" like us??

I thought this would make a good topic for discussion, because it's something I was thinking about yesterday.

"I'm just a normal guy/gal."

I hear celebrities say this all the time, as if they themselves really believe it to be true. So I started thinking about some things I do either regularly, semi-regularly, or on occasion - as a "normal" person - and did some comparisons.

1) I have to clean my own house. Celebrities have maids to clean their house.

2) I have to do my own cooking. Many celebrities have personal chefs to do their cooking for them.

3) I have to park my own car. Show me a celebrity who doesn't use a valet.

4) No one pays me to wear their clothing. I have to pay for my own clothes. Yet celebrities are given expensive clothing and accessories (like they really couldn't afford to buy the stuff on their own).

5) If perchance I am invited to a party, chances are I won't be allowed in the VIP room. Celebrities are escorted to private areas, away from the "normal" public.

6) When I go on trips, I have to go through the regular security line at the airport. Many celebrities are escorted through the VIP lines.

7) When I go on trips, I have to go unescorted through the airport. So if I'm harassed, I have to deal with it myself (or find a security person). Celebrities, however, have handlers, assistants, bodyguards, etc. to go with them.

8) When I go on trips, I have to carry my own bag, passport, ID, etc. Not so with celebrities. They have people to carry their stuff for them.

9) When I go on trips, I have to wait in the public section before boarding the plane. Celebrities go to private areas...at least many do.

10) When I go on trips, except on rare occasions when I can upgrade to first class for a small fee, I'm flying coach. Show me a celebrity sitting in coach! No, they're first class seating all the way!

11) I don't get swag bags at events I attend. In fact, most times I have to pay to go to these events. Celebrities get to go to hoity toity parties and get free food and drink and free stuff to boot.

12) I don't have a trainer to help me be healthy, lose weight, etc. I have to do it the old fashioned way. Celebrities have personal trainers, plastic surgery, botox, lipo, facials, spas, etc etc etc....and if that doesn't cut it, they have people who Photoshop and airbrush their pictures to make them look as flawless as possible.

No, Mr./Mrs./Ms. Celebrity - you are NOT like me. They should do a reality show where the normal guy/gal switches places with a celebrity and each has to live the other's life for a period of time. I'd love to see someone like Halle Berry or Brad Pitt living my life for a month. Could you imagine how they'd feel having to *gasp* BUDGET...or clean toilets...or scoop out litterboxes and clean up coughed up hairballs.....or...GOD FORBID...live in a mobile home! On the other hand, I'd love to be in Halle's shoes for a month...with full access to her man (and I ain't talkin' Jamie).

Hahaha. I would love to see someone else see if they could do my 2 jobs for the little money I make.

Celebrities were "normal" at one time, eh? At least before they became well-known. Right?

So I guess with fame and wealth come the perks that we, regular folks, aren't privy to. And to think about it, could I stand being famous?

I'm not so sure. To be gawked at on the street, harassed by paps and gossip rags, to have assumptions made of you, to have some sort of public persona.

Though I'm not making excuses for the rich & famous--they chose their path.

I suppose that some celebrities still maintain their pre-fame ways, and are "normal". Here lately I've come to look at celebrities through new eyes, and have stopped being in so much awe of them---they are indeed human like us, do the same human stuff that we do. Have vices, etc...

Their career choice happens to put them in the public's eye. Otherwise we'd never known about them!

I think at one time many of them were normal like us (unless they were born into the business), but somewhere along the way they seem to forget what it's like. I mean, how could you be famous and have it not change you? I don't think it's possible. I think about Susan Boyle, and how gentle and happy she seemed before all of her publicity. Then it was thrust on her so quickly, she didn't have time to adjust and it had a negative impact on her. Maybe losing that competition was a blessing in disguise.

There's nothing wrong with being successful, but when you lose yourself and your identity along the way, I have to wonder is it worth it? I go to conventions and I see celebs, and many of them are very down to earth and easy to talk to. But even then, with few exceptions it's like a matter of 'knowing your place', and their place always seems to be far above mine. They get pampered, taken care of and have their every need catered to by someone else. A friend of mine was at a con and saw an actor she admired in the hotel bar. She said she was only going to walk up to him and say hi, but his big burly male handler, bodyguard or whatever he was literally pushed her out of the way and stepped on her foot, hurting her in the process. He didn't apologize or even acknowledge what he did, and she was very upset about it. Now if you know this woman, she's about 5 feet tall. There's such a thing as doing your job, but there's another thing to go completely overboard with it.

DonnaKat wrote:

but his big burly male handler, bodyguard or whatever he was literally pushed her out of the way and stepped on her foot, hurting her in the process. He didn't apologize or even acknowledge what he did,

I think the people in celebrities' entourages are the ones that act the highest and mightiest of all. Many of us have personal experiences in that area.

DK, looking at your list, just about all of them apply to people with money, fame or no fame. So compared to normal rich people, many celebrities are normal. I remember when President George Bush the First went to a grocery store with entourage, and admitted he didn't know the price of a loaf of bread.

What they are not: Average. Common. One of the masses.

One of the things I really admired about Princess Diana was that she wanted her sons to know what it's like to be common people. She took them to McDonald's!

I feel bad for Susan Boyle. It wasn't fame that got to her, it was the f-ing cursed paparazzi harrassing her.

I wish I had money so I could act like I'm better than everybody else. I'm kidding. Actually, I'd be happy with steady employment and income.

Sometimes I look at these people and can't help but feel jealous. I mean, here I am without a job and they get all of these things handed to them on a silver platter. If anything, the freebies should be coming to the people that need it - not the ones who can already afford to buy it.

I always said if I had the money I'd help people in need. Unfortunately, though, I've never had enough to do it. I still give what I can though, whether it be materialistic or my time.

I flew first class once, and it was great. I couldn't believe the difference in service! I was also a VIP at a Christian youth concert once, because I was one of the sign language interpreters. It felt neat having a VIP pass and getting to go backstage and eat free food.

Yes...me too.

That's why I've often wished I could be one of those lucky gals who hangs backstage or actually has a real conversation with a celebrity. I imagine those kind of privileges are sweet.

But then again I wonder what the famous person is actually like off-camera. Plus, you have to deal with the entourage, handlers, assistants, groupies, etc....

As far as celebrity and money, sure I'd love to be comfortable and to not worry about stuff, but then too, you're in kind of a bubble.

I think that if I became rich suddenly that it wouldn't necessarily change. I wouldn't load up on the cars and jewels--now a home or two, that'd be sweet. I'd pay off bills, buy a home, travel.


I, too, get jealous. I, too, am currently unemployed at the moment. And wishing I had the funds to get to and stay in NYC.

P.S.:

I think I'd like to get treated like royalty---at least once.

I don't think that they are normal, nor like us.

I think that they say such things because physically, they are...more or less...and they think, feel, and the such, as humans do.

Some don't understand why anyone would follow them, or have any interest in their work or life...and I think that they say such things because they truly don't understand. Those who are just doing their work, because they enjoy it and are very passionate about it, many times don't understand why we have any interest outside the projects they work on...but many appreciate us.

If celebrities were "normal" they would not have acquired their celebrity status, no matter what it is.

They may be only human, but not normal. They brush their teeth, go to the bathroom, etc., all human functions but it's WHERE they do it that makes them not normal. They are humans living in an abnormal life.

I'm with you DK. There should be a reality show and call it, Walk A Mile In My Shoes" where a normal, everyday person gets to trade places with their fav celebrity for the day. Can you see Madonna working as a clerk at Walmart or Angelina Jolie as a waitress at Cracker Barrel? Then lets hear them say how they are just like us!

Ger

Exactly!! I think I may have the basis for a new reality show. Has it been done already? If not, maybe I should suggest it to the networks and make some money....unless they'd steal my idea from me and call it their own. Except it needs to be for more than a day - more like a month. The person who trades places with me needs to see what I go through in an entire month's time, because that's how often my bills come due. That, and they need to be able to do my shopping at least once, and clean my house at least once.

DonnaKat wrote:

A friend of mine was at a con and saw an actor she admired in the hotel bar. She said she was only going to walk up to him and say hi, but his big burly male handler, bodyguard or whatever he was literally pushed her out of the way and stepped on her foot, hurting her in the process. He didn't apologize or even acknowledge what he did, and she was very upset about it. Now if you know this woman, she's about 5 feet tall. There's such a thing as doing your job, but there's another thing to go completely overboard with it.

If that had happened to me, I would have gone to the doctors, and then sent the bill to the client's office. If I only take her word about it, and that happened to me, there would be a file reported.

Sadly, the bad ones ruin it for the majority of fans. But that was uncalled for. I've never know a security person to be rude. Cold, yes. Rude, no.

And for the most part...I think people with security...up to a point...are wusses.

DonnaKat wrote:

Exactly!! I think I may have the basis for a new reality show. Has it been done already? If not, maybe I should suggest it to the networks and make some money....unless they'd steal my idea from me and call it their own. Except it needs to be for more than a day - more like a month. The person who trades places with me needs to see what I go through in an entire month's time, because that's how often my bills come due. That, and they need to be able to do my shopping at least once, and clean my house at least once.

Really, Donna, you should be in the biz, writing.

I think they kind of have that idea with Trump's show, but now quite.

And to get someone as big as Madonna or Ang, would be difficult.

oh, Leo...Thanks for sharing.

I'm not quite sure that being a celebrity and wealthy is the same, you know?

You can be wealthy and not a celeb. You can be a celeb and not wealthy, although then you are almost a normal person when you don't get all the luxuries.

You're right though, most of us don't know what it's like and we are looking at the other side of the fence, seeing a well-groomed lawn. To us, they aren't normal people. But they may think that they are normal as the next person.

Maybe we aren't the normal ones...who knows?

And there are wealthy people with hearts of gold.

I do get upset when someone who has become a celeb says, "I haven't changed."

Uh, yes you have. You have been groomed to fit a certain lifestyle, meeting and hanging out with different, sometimes forgetting friends, because you can't been seen with anyone less than the elite.

Sorry, but you have changed.

Yeah, you've got a point there, Alice. Being wealthy and being wealthy and a celebrity are different issues. However, I can't help but think back to my classmate Tim and his father....

I remember meeting Gene after school when he came to pick up Tim and his sister. He stooped down so he can see me eye to eye and took my hand. I still remember his smile and his charm.....

Then come to find out years later that his wife, Jeane, was dying at the time I met him....and Tim lost his mum at eleven years old......

Behind that smile was no doubt pain and sadness...

As my favorite singer put it a few years ago......"No one gets away with a perfect life."

I'm sure there are assholes galore in Hollywood....celebrity "jerks' and users....but I'd be willing to bet the majority are nice people like we are....

How ironic this showed up on my Internet homepage just now:

Stars Are Nothing Like Us

Donna, don't bother with the reality show idea. I already tried it a couple of years ago. You get nothing for "ideas".

Ger

maybe you should write a blog, DK. Getting advertisers makes some funds.

and interesting article.

DonnaKat wrote:

How ironic this showed up on my Internet homepage just now:

Stars Are Nothing Like Us

That's what happens when you combine money and fame with poor upbringings.

Those with good upbringings don't make the news often. They're boring.

Here's another one of those stories:

10 Stars Who Are Cool and Above It All

I have a question:

On Facebook, with whom I have a page/account, I noticed a Gerard Butler listed as a friend of Kristi Korzec (L.A./TMZ video).

Gerard Butler has as his friends Ariel Vromen and folks from NY, LA, London, Glasgow, etc...

So, first, why would Kristi have a "fake" GB as a friend? And why would Ariel be a friend of a fake GB. Just wonderin'...

Could this actually be a legitimate social networking account of a busy actor??

Thoughts?

Why couldn't he have a FB page?

Exactly.

Just a curious thing with all the posers now and in the past that have as their account name Gerard Butler. The flap with that twitterer a few months back....

And, there are tons of Gerry's on Myspace and Facebook. It would so flippin' awesome...or at the very least interesting...should it turn out to be our own Gerry.