Question

How much influence into the 'troubled young celebrity' do you all think is brought on by being in the public eye so early?

Would these celebs have different personality traits had they lived 'normal' lives? What effect does fame play in the formation of acting out behavior?

Answer 1

By troubled young celebrity, we mean, a celebrity who is young and is being troubled; in this case by the public. Exposure to the outside world at a very young age does not have more pros than cons. The child or young celebrity would always want to live upto the expectations of the crowd for the fame. In this course he/she would lose out on the self satisfaction that one gets by coming up with something new. Public demands could also create pressure on the child, and in the long run that individual would develop a dependant trait; as in what he must do next should be directed or told by somebody else. However, looking at the brighter side, the celebrity would gain confidence for future shows and rectify the initial faults.

If the celebrities would lead a normal life, definitely they would develop different personality traits. A timid boy would never come out of his shell, a beautiful singer would never have the confidence to stand on stage or even a shy actor would never come out of stage fright. Their self concept would be influenced by negative thoughts presenting a low self esteem. Positive self concept gives confidence, high self concept and the ability the stand out in the crowd. However, as we see in most cases, celebrities who are young and exposed to the public suffer isolation and even depression sometimes as their work over rules their leisure time. They might even procrastinate as to whether they should take rest or keep on pleasing the public.

Fame comes with a cost. To maintain staying in the limelight, actors take to drugs and marijuana to shape their emotions and behaviour. They self medicate themselves when they go through depression. Their aggressive nature comes out. Many a times they are drunk and use highly abusive language, go to prison and pretend like nothing ever happened. Most of these acts are seen in the United states. Not that it is absent in the rest of the world, but mostly highlighted there. Drugs bring out the worst in one. Such use of drugs could lead to permanent damage of nerve cells that would lead to distorted motor activities.