There are lots of benefits to being famous: the traveling to exotic locales, the hair and makeup people, the award show swag bags, etc. But fame isn’t all that its cracked up to be. Behind all the glitter and glitz, there can be some major downsides.
As much as we can be envious of the lifestyles of some of our favorite celebs (who wouldn’t want to make millions each year just for allowing cameras to follow you around your daily life?), we’re not totally sure that we’d want to trade our sometimes-boring lives for their always-glamorous ones. We’ve rounded up some celebrity confessions that will make you so glad you aren’t famous.”
17. Gigi Hadid
Gigi Hadid has become increasingly famous over the last couple of years as she’s shot campaigns for Tom Ford, walked for everyone from Versace to Victoria’s Secret, and dated major stars like Zayn Malik and Joe Jonas. And while she has had a lot of success as a model and enjoys her career, she still struggles with some parts of the fame that comes with it all.
She told Harper’s Bazaar, “I’ve lost a lot of friends because I’ll get busy for a short period of time, and they’re not reaching out, but if I don’t reach out, then it’s like I’ve changed. I’m good with [the friends] I’ve got.” As much fun as Gigi’s life seems like it could be, we’re not sure it would be worth losing some of our closest pals over.
16. Kristen Stewart
Another downfall of being famous, is that your romantic relationships often become products, rather than real, genuine connections. Speaking about her relationship with ex-boyfriend Robert Pattinson to Vanity Fair, Kristen Stewart said, “People wanted me and Rob to be together so badly that our relationship was made into a product. It wasn’t real life anymore. I don’t want to become a part of a story for entertainment value.”
15. Selena Gomez
In 2016, Selena Gomez quietly checked into rehab, stunning fans and those close to her. It wasn’t until months later that she admitted to Vogue that the stint was largely due to handling the pressures of fame. She told the mag, “My self-esteem was shot. I was depressed, anxious. I started to have panic attacks right before getting onstage, or right after leaving the stage. Basically, I felt I wasn’t good enough, wasn’t capable. I felt I wasn’t giving my fans anything, and they could see it — which, I think, was a complete distortion. … What I wanted to say is that life is so stressful, and I get the desire to just escape it. But I wasn’t figuring my own stuff out, so I felt I had no wisdom to share. And so maybe I thought everybody out there was thinking, This is a waste of time.”
Yikes! That’s a lot of pressure to be carrying around, especially as a 24-year-old.
14. George Clooney
Being famous means you have so many opportunities that non-famous people don’t. Not a lot of us ordinary folk have had the chance to meet the President, or spend two weeks on our private yacht off the coast of Italy. But being famous also means that you have to miss out on a lot of opportunities that regular people have, like being able to go wherever you want, whenever you want.
George Clooney told Esquire, “The big house on a hill is isolating. There’s no other way to say it. There are restrictions to this kind of fame. I haven’t walked in Central Park for 15 years. I’d like to, you know?” When you think about it that way, fame makes you give up a lot.
13. Daniel Craig
We live in a culture that’s obsessed with knowing every last thing about the mega-rich and mega-talented. We want to know where Kim Kardashian went shopping yesterday, or where Daniel Craig ate dinner last night. In order to feed this obsession, paparazzi literally stalk celebrities, and, with the rise of camera phones, we do too.
Daniel Craig explained to Shortlist how frustrating this can be: “iPhones are “he f*cking bane of my life. I get people who [photograph me] while I’m having dinner. They think it’s their right to take a photo of me and I find that incredibly intrusive. But every phone has a camera on it, so how do we stop it? We can’t.”
12. Lady Gaga
Being watched and photographed all the time, can be more than just annoying for some celebrities. For Lady Gaga, it goes deeper, making the star feel that she’s lost some sense of her identity.
She told CBS Sunday Morning, “As soon as I go out into the world, I belong, in a way, to everyone else. It’s legal to follow me, it’s legal to stalk me at the beach, I can’t call the police or ask them to leave. And I took a long hard look at that property line and I said well, you know if I can’t be free out there, I’m going to be free in here [pointing to her heart].”
She went on to explain that she missed the sense that her life was her own and that her choices were autonomous. We’re not going to lie, feeling like we had to share ourselves with everyone around us would be exhausting.
11. Amy Schumer
Not every celebs complaint about fame is that heavy, though. Take, for example, Amy Schumer’s beef. She went on The Howard Stern Show and talked about her first experience at the Met Gala and how positively boring it was. “It felt like punishment… It’s people doing an impression of having a conversation… I don’t like the farce. I left, not the second I could; I left earlier than I should have been allowed. I got to meet Beyoncé, and she was like, ‘Is this your first Met Gala?’ and I was like, ‘It’s my last.'” If this is the most brutal thing about being a star for Amy then we really don’t feel all that sorry for her. There are bigger problems in the world.
10. Robert Pattinson
Being famous means not having a second of peace. Robert Pattinson talked to Premire about how much he hates going out in public these days: “In L.A., I have at least 40 seconds from the moment I arrive somewhere before I get asked for my autograph.” Why? “It’s Twitter’s fault. If this website didn’t exist, I’d be in peace.” We’re not going to deny it — being asked for pictures and autographs every time we tried to go to Chipotle would get really annoying, really quick. Especially for those of us who are less social, and really enjoy our own personal space.
9. Justin Bieber
While celebrities are constantly surrounded by their handlers, security team, hair and makeup crew, and personal assistants, the tour life takes them away from other friends and family far more often than they’d like. Justin Bieber talked about how isolating life can be when you’re constantly traveling in an interview with NME. “You get lonely, you know when you’re on the road. People see the glam and the amazing stuff, but they don’t know the other side. This life can rip you apart… And I feel isolated. You’re in your hotel room and there are fans all around, paparazzi following you everywhere, and it gets intense. When you can’t go anywhere or do anything alone you get depressed. I would not wish this upon anyone.” Not having your support system around you when you need them most would be really challenging.
8. Kylie Jenner
For some celebrities, knowing that fans are watching them at all times creates a certain type of performance anxiety. Kylie Jenner talked about how being so watched from such a young age has impacted her and made her constantly worried about her image.
“I wake up every morning with the worst anxiety. I don’t know why. I have, like, a problem. I wake up every morning at, like, seven or eight because I think that there’s a bad story about me, and I have to check. My worst fear is waking up and finding something bad about me on the Internet.” Stress dreams are the worst, and we’re glad we don’t experience them on a recurring schedule like this!
7. Johnny Depp
In order to avoid all of the attention and intrusiveness of fans and paparazzi, some celebs have taken to living extreme lifestyles. Take Johnny Depp for example. While making an appearance on Today, he talked about the way his life has changed since he’s become a household name. “[Being famous] is a little bit like living like a fugitive. Everything has to be some sort of strategy. To get you into the hotel, to get you out of the hotel, to get you into the restaurant, to get you out of the restaurant.” When you’re as well-known as Johnny Depp you have to start sneaking into restaurants through back doors and leaving hotels through unmarked exits. It seems like that hiding game would get old really quickly.
6. Courteney Cox
In the 1990s, Courtney Cox was working on the biggest show on television. She was a beautiful twenty-something who played a beautiful twenty-something. And when the show wrapped, and she grew older and moved on to new pursuits she felt the need to remain a beautiful twenty-something. So she turned to plastic surgery, and, in the end, regretted it.
Talking to New Beauty Courtney opened up about what it’s like to have your appearance constantly scrutinized, and how that affected her mental health. “If I ever need to feel bad about myself I just look at the newspapers,” she said. It would be so awful to have every bad hair day and breakout documented by the tabloids and discussed freely on the internet. That’s for sure.
5. Megan Fox
Bullying is a major problem. And for celebrities, it can be even more extreme and more of a regular occurrence. Fans feel the right to say whatever they want about their favorite stars and often do so from behind the safety of their screens without thinking about how it will affect those they’re talking about.
Megan Fox told Esquire about how brutal the bullying can be. “I don’t think people understand. They all think we should shut the f*ck up and stop complaining because you live in a big house or you drive a Bentley. So your life must be so great. What people don’t realize is that fame, whatever your worst experience in high school, when you were being bullied by those 10 kids in high school, fame is that, but on a global scale, where you’re being bullied by millions of people constantly.” Rough.
4. Idris Elba
Idris Elba has been in the game for a long time. But he’s the first to admit that being an old pro doesn’t make the struggles of fame any easier. He told Loaded that being famous has made him a more paranoid person and has amplified his trust issues because he’s always wondering if people are trying to use him.
“Sometimes you’re not sure what’s real or not, especially when it comes to relationships. If you’re adored by millions, sometimes even on your own front doorstep you can become paranoid and constantly question, ‘Who is he? Who is she?’ I know I’ve been guilty of it in the past.”
3. Shailene Woodley
Shailene Woodley has another complaint about fame, but this one we almost want to hate her for. Her least favorite part about having a famous face? The free stuff she gets. She told iVillage, “As far as the perks [of fame] go, you know, it’s kind of one of the disgusting things about this industry. The more money you make, the more free stuff you get. I think that that’s weird, and I’m not a huge fan of it.” We’re all about living a simplified life, but also we’re not here to argue if people just want to start sending us tons of free things!
2. Keira Knightley
We love Keira Knightley, but we’re not trying to steal her soul. The actress talked to Allure magazine about her least favorite part of the job: “I hate red-carpet events. I absolutely hate them … You have this feeling that everyone wants a bit of you … every photo takes away a bit of your soul. I wish I was just an insignificant speck.”
While it sounds a little bit dramatic at first, we totally get the frustration that must come with everyone thinking they’re entitled to you all the time. It really must be a little bit like losing your soul. Nothing any job, or any level of fame, is ever worth.
1. Jennifer Lawrence
Dating can be hard enough for those of us without incredibly demanding, and highly scrutinized jobs. But when you’re a celebrity, and everyone knows everything about you including where you went to dinner last night and your most embarrassing childhood moment, dating takes on a whole new layer of impossibility.
Jennifer Lawrence explained the struggle best when she told Vogue, “Guys are so mean to me. I know where it’s coming from, I know they’re trying to establish dominance, but it hurts my feelings. I’m just a girl who wants you to be nice to me. I am straight as an arrow. I feel like I need to meet a guy, with all due respect, who has been living in Baghdad for five years who has no idea who I am.” At least we don’t have it that bad.