May 31, 2007: Celebrity Junkie Get Your Fix

The term celebrity junkie takes hold! From Liz Smith's column:

Are we stuffing ourselves with empty cultural calories? Snacking mindlessly on famous people's dramas and distresses?" asks writer Jennifer Krause. Witness the latest In Touch mag cover: "Angelina Gains 10 Pounds." And the magazine goes on to ask if Ms. Jolie is pregnant. There are theories that, these days, the "news" is being constructed by a paparazzi and tabloid industry - that it's "made up." And the hunger for following celebrity makes us feel we know the star, and images of same give us a sense of "home and belonging." And I say we are all celebrity junkies to some extent, probably because we can't bear to be dealing all the time with the serious issues that surround us.