Constant spotlight dulled Spears’ glittery life
February 26, 2007
aerybritney
Britney Spears’ roller-coaster ride of a meltdown might be the most spectacular celebrity crisis in recent years, but it’s not the first.
Other divas have also unraveled in the spotlight, products of early fame, a voracious online tabloid culture and frustration with their own hyper-controlled public images.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
KABC-TV
Bald Britney Spears has re-entered rehab. This might be the time and space she needs to make a comeback.
"This regimentation, which is what is needed to make their careers, is the underlying force that pushes them into rebellious behavior," says James Robert Parish, author of the upcoming "Hollywood Book of Extravagance" about celebrity excess.
"It reminds me of stars in the 1930s and 1940s who were under studio contract and were forced to diet, and as soon as their contract is over, they just let themselves go and ballooned," he says.
After months of partying and scandal, after flashing her private parts, then shaving her head — all of it scrupulously documented by paparazzi — Spears left and then re-entered Promises, a Malibu, Calif., treatment center.
Though Spears quit rehab Wednesday for the second time in a week, Extra TV reported she went back in that evening after her estranged husband, Kevin Federline, warned Spears that he would seek full custody of their sons.
Cameras shadow Spears these days like choppers trailing O.J. Simpson’s white Bronco. No other breakdown has been documented so closely, but Spears has much in common with other troubled pop stars who fell apart in the public eye.
Like Whitney Houston, she defied her good-girl image by marrying a bad boy, then starred with him on a reality show before checking into rehab.
Like Mariah Carey, she began her career as a teen, then developed a penchant for flesh-baring getups.
Like Courtney Love, who lost custody of her daughter due to drug abuse, Spears has faced questions about her fitness as a mother because of her drunken nightclub antics.
And like Lauryn Hill, she had two babies within the space of 15 months, cut off her hair and abandoned her glamorous facade.
In the case of Hill, at least, the similarities end there.
"Lauryn had a principled breakdown," says Jon Caramanica, music editor of Vibe magazine. "Whitney and Courtney have been accused of drug use and Britney of alcohol and other questionable lifestyle decisions. Lauryn has always been a spiritual artist."
But both might have been reacting to the intense pressure on female stars to be beautiful, to please their public and be model wives and mothers.
Cutting off their hair, and refusing to glitz it up, might signal a quest for authenticity, says Nancy O’Reilly, a Missouri-based psychologist and author who has conducted research on women and aging in a youth-oriented society.
"It’s looking for a way to redefine who they really are," says O’Reilly. "It’s also a way of expressing anger, of saying ‘I’m not going to put up with this anymore. I’m going to get down to business.’ People don’t take Britney seriously. They’ve laughed at her. Shaving her head may be her way of reinventing herself."
Stars who gain fame during childhood or early adulthood are also prone to act out, particularly in their 20s, says O’Reilly.
"We’re talking about these twentysomething celebrities who grow up in the public eye, the media defines who they are, the fans defined who they are. How do they get to grow up?" she says. "There’s no course on Fame 101. No one has been there before to mentor them."
That’s especially true when the nature of fame changes every day, as more publications, TV shows and online sites fill a bottomless need for round-the-clock celebrity gossip and footage.
Houston reportedly had problems for years, but the world didn’t know about them until she was arrested for marijuana possession in 2000, says Parish, who published a biography of Houston in 2003.
"Twenty years ago, when Whitney was on her way up and crashing down, it was before the Internet," says Parish.
"There used to be room to manage image. All the quotes and images came through the publicity machine," says Caramanica. "And now it doesn’t. It can’t, at the rate this media is expanding. Even if you were trying to wear a mask all day, it’s going to be that much harder to keep it on all the time. And I think we need to ask ourselves why we’re asking these people to put on a mask in the first place."
But for unmasked celebs — or celebs who unmask themselves — it’s never too late for a comeback.
It happened for other unhinged divas, and it can still happen for Spears, says Peter Shankman, of the New York-based Geek Factory public relations firm, which practices "crisis management" for corporate and celebrity clients.
"She needs to get out of the spotlight: the next Drudge Report, the next photo of Lindsay Lohan doing blow off a table. If Britney’s smart, she’ll use that little window to get out of here," he says. "Build a recording studio in your basement, write something."
Americans will always forgive a star who reforms and repents, he says.
"The best celebrities are the ones who have been rehabilitated," says Shankman. "There’s nothing like an ‘I’m sorry. I screwed up. I’m clean’ celebrity. We love them."
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