Tuesday, February 14, 2012

Being a celebrity....my POV

I'm up, can't sleep and thinking about Whitney. I remember when I was in the 4th grade I wanted her and Mariah Carey to come to my birthday party. I BEGGED my mama to get them there and promised to be good forever. I cried and cried when they didn't come. (I've always been a mysterious one).

Can you imagine that? Having someone you've never met, especially a child cry over you when all you did was share your God given talent to the world? I couldn't imagine the pressure. We never stop to think about the constant stress that celebrities are under. Sure, they're overpaid and some are undeserving of the fame, but they're still human. Humans with the same emotions, egos, and temperaments that us regular folk have.

Imagine this....you show up for work after being awarded the top performer in your region. You are extremely proud of your accomplishment, after all you are excelling in something that you've wanted to do your whole life, or at least something that you've set your mind to do. Then all of a sudden your co-workers are upset with you! They no longer speak or some are trying to defame you by saying that you cheated or just plain don't deserve the recognition. What do you do? Personally, I have been in this situation and I REACTED! I stopped speaking to them too and defending my achievement. I have always excelled in the game of CYA (cover ya azz) and I brought out the documentation proving that I was deserving. When I didn't feel like "faking it" I didn't. I mugged the people who I knew were causing me grief and I wore my feelings on my face. With that being said....it's hard being successful as a "regular" person!

So, imagine if every time you feel like giving one of those "bish I'll stab you" looks to somebody who you know just wants to drag you through the dirt, you'll have paparazzi and media snapping pics in your face and plastering it on the cover of a magazine with a headline like "Amber says she hates all of her fans and they're all demons". lol And everytime you try to justify or explain your actions, it just gets worse. You can no longer creep with your boo or date more than one person without it being in the news.  Then you have to smile and grin and pretend like everything is OK. I couldn't do it. I'll be like Naomi Campbell or somebody and stay with a negative headline about me. Sad, but I'm not really good with faking. Or I would be like Jasmine Sullivan and stick to my art and skip the interviews, red carpets, etc.

But for the superstars, its got to be hard for them to cope, which is why a lot of them turn to drugs. They use them to stabilize their moods and to be able to keep the smiles on their faces through the bs and foolery. They may start out with their families and friends and a strong relationship with God, but that pressure has to be powerful. And after getting tired of those friends and family members begging for money and not wanting to help themselves anymore because "you got it", its easy to lean towards the 'yes men' and get caught up in that world. Eventually things can get out of control and boom....we've lost another Whitney or Michael, or Richard Pryor, or one of the many other countless stars we've lost to that lifestyle.

This was a super random blog, but I just thought I'd share my point of view on the topic. What do you think? Put yourselves in their shoes and imagine faking it in your life, that you live right now, and increase that pressure 50x's and tell me if you could handle it.

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