It seems that the celebrity reputation has taken increasingly harder hits over the years. Whether it’s thanks to an increased nosiness on the public’s part, progressions in snooping technology, or more than likely both. We seem to have more of an insight into the private lives of celebrities than ever before. In times before the Internet, bands like the squeaky clean The Beatles got away with years of heavy drug use and exotic trips abroad. They weren’t alone, the Rolling Stones, Led Zepplin, Black Sabbath and many many more were living the highest of lives. Nowadays huge news and a media outcry is made out of an over-spending of a celebrity living it up a little too much and the fallout can cost them more than just money.
Nicholas Cage earned $40 million in 2009 but blew it all on English castles and dinosaur skulls (okay, so that part might be kind of awesome); since that he’s struggled to pay his taxes. Lady Gaga spent $60,000 on ghost-detecting machinery to keep her safe while touring from a haunting figure named Ryan – sure, why not. Big money spends on luxurious objects or being a regular at Winagames casino table games are an acceptable form of cash eccentricity from touring and travelling celebs, after all, eccentricity is much more respectable and publicly acceptable than the loop of drugs and rehab some big names have been stuck in lately. . Trash vogue sometimes costs more from the PR fallout than anyone can bounce successfully back from, though some people have a knack of making this work in their favour…. It’s a risky business!
PR firms have made millions from out-of-control celebrities having public breakdowns. It seems that nowadays it’s a case of the expensive covering up of mistakes followed by a swift court order to remove any evidence from the Internet, which frequently does not work. After Justin Bieber’s UK tour disaster, his management put a lot of effort into covering up his embarrassing outbursts but only made it worse, making it clear young Bieber has no sense of humor about himself and would rather spend a fortune ridding the internet of pictures of him looking like a baby than making sure he gets to shows on time.
Tom Cruise has spent infeasible amounts of money on his faith in Scientology, his substitute for psychiatry (which he believes should be outlawed), and his super-subtle platform shoes. However, compared with the spending habits of Pete Doherty – £50,000 bail and over £2000 in fines for drinking while drunk and in possession of heroin, not to mention the amount he’s spent on rehab – Cruise is basically a saint.
Oh, it’s so hard to be a celebrity these days. One rude comment or lude picture mistakenly posted on Twitter can bring on a massive and expensive PR disaster and it seems that efforts to cover these up are futile; hardly anyone had seen an unflattering photo of Beyonce before her management insisted it be removed from the Internet, when it promptly went viral. If you’re a celebrity, you might be best off spending your money on replica Batmobiles and saving the surplus for taxes. Either that or have a good firewall on you computer and mobile phone so private matters stay out of the public arena.
