10 Reasons Why Being Famous Sucks

Although we might rolls our eyes and shed great big crocodile tears for celebs who whine about the hardships of fame, there are actually some unique challenges that can make lives quite difficult for public figures. The following reasons would probably make you think life sucked if you had to live in the perpetual spotlight. If you ever thought it would be great to trade places with a star, you might want to think again.

1. Everyone Sees Your Bad Haircut

Not every celeb walks out of the salon with a fabulous Aniston ‘do. Sometimes you just go temporarily crazy, shave your head a la Britney Spears, and the whole international press corps is there to document the bald truth of your bad hair day. Being famous means keeping those luscious locks shiny and bouncing at all times, or else the paparazzi will be there to point out each split end.

2. Stalkers

Celebrities are frequently plagued by people who become obsessed with them, sometimes to the point of stalking them. Gwyneth Paltrow, Selena Gomez and David Letterman have been pestered by stalkers, while others like Rebecca Shaeffer, Selena and John Lennon actually lost their lives to a crazed fan. It would be tough to live in constant fear that you’re being followed and watched by a psychotic stalker. As a result, lots of celebs are paying hefty sums for security detail. Even then, there have been stalkers who have breached security systems to find themselves in celebs’ homes.

3. People Make Up Lies about You

Sure, regular folks have to deal with people who lie about them too, but those lies don’t sell magazines. The press constantly reports falsehoods about celebs, everything from their rocky relationships to their alien abduction. The worst thing is that no one believes the truth when they try to refute those dirty little lies.

4. Money Matters

Most of us think that celebrities have seemingly bottomless bank accounts. When stars can’t pay their bills and hit the skids financially, they can’t keep the news under wraps. Everyone finds out about the bankruptcy, tax bill, investment fail or the divorce settlement. If you ever become a famous celebrity, you’ll find it next to impossible to keep the status of your bank book private.

5. Stuck with Other Celebs

Being a celebrity can sometimes seem like being stuck in a surreal clique. It seems that stars only sleep and interact with other stars. It’s like they make a pact with the Hollywood devil before hitting the big time, and can only fraternize within the inner circle. Has Taylor Swift ever gone out with a non-celeb? Did Kim Kardashian really need to pair up with Kanye to secure her status? Maybe stars spend so much time on set or in the studio, they don’t have the opportunity to befriend people outside of the club. It just seems that when A-listers hook up with A-listers, a break-up is bound to be on the horizon.

6. People Assume You Are Shallow and Fake

Just because you shift from Kabbalah to Zen Buddhism to Scientology (you’re not shifting anywhere once they get their hooks into you) in the space of a couple years, does not mean you are flighty or given to trends. You could be incredibly deep in spite of the fact that your most meaningful relationships are with a trio of shih tzus. Jessica Simpson comes off like a dumb blonde, but her business success would indicate there’s something going on in her head. There even has to be some degree of business acumen and dare we say substance behind the Kardashians that helped propel them to the stratosphere. Maybe some of these stars don’t care about their shallow and fake image. They’re too busy counting their money.

7. You Can’t Hide the Flab

If you put on a few pounds, you can count on the cameras to catch every subsequent inch of flab that hugs your belly and thighs. Celebrity life is hinged on looking good, so if you seem a bit bigger than you did in your last film, you can count on the paparazzi to point that out to the entire world. Even pregnancy doesn’t seem to be an excuse to gain weight in this business. There’s pressure to constantly skip dessert, avoid the drive-thru and hire a live-in trainer to maintain Hollywood’s arbitrary perfection standards. That puts a lot of pressure on a person.

8. Life with Users

Celebrities often feel like it’s tough to connect with real friends. They feel victimized by people who are only befriending them for their fame or money. If you don’t pay for your posse’s every round of drinks when clubbing, they’re going to rat you out to the press for being cheap. Stars like Mark Wahlberg, Leonardo diCaprio and Justin Bieber tend to hang with buddies they knew before they were famous, just to try and keep things real.

9. No Anonymity

When you’re a celebrity, your entire life is under the microscope. When you order a bite at the deli, the world winds up knowing you like extra mustard on your sandwich. When you want to get your freak on with a back-up dancer, the whole world has to chime in on why that’s not such a good idea. Sometimes you want to walk into a bar where absolutely nobody knows your name, but you give that up when you join the fame game.

10. Labels

Few celebrities ever get the chance to break free of their labels–unless the new labels are scandalous. For Miley Cyrus to break free of her Disney girl persona, she had to shake her rear-end and crotch in front of the camera. We’d say she was effective at label shedding. Celebs who earned a negative reputation like Lindsay Lohan, Mel Gibson or Michael Jackson found it impossible to rebrand themselves again in a positive light. Fame can be an unforgiving beast.