Being a fan of a particular musical artist, actor or athlete means keeping up with everything they do. Through my life, I would look up to these people, support everything they did and aspire to be exactly like them when I grew up. Who wouldn’t want to be the next Emma Watson, Dwayne Johnson or Micheal Jordan?
When I was little, I had an enormous crush on Ariana Grande. I thought she was the best teen pop sensation, but then she changed over the years. When she transitioned to music, I heard that she was rude to some of her closest friends and spewed “hating America” comments. After I became older, I realized that she was not doing anything different than many other people her age, but I remember judging her harshly. I’ve seen this type of situation happen a lot with celebrities.
I constantly see celebrities rise to fame, and soon after the public know the smallest details of their personal life. The media criticizes them for the mistakes they make, they make them seem like horrendous people and just like that, they fall from stardom.
When we find ourselves doing this, we should ask a very important question: would we judge our closest friends and family this severely? For me, the answer is no. If my friends or family members fought, got upset or said something over dinner, I would not terminate my relationship with them. I would undoubtedly question why they did something so inappropriate, but I would acknowledge that they aren’t the only ones who are imperfect. I would hope they would act better moving forward, but I wouldn’t stop supporting and loving them.
This example is how people should react when a celebrity has a wrong moment in the public eye. Instead, people are quick to judge and say they are a terrible influence on our children.
While undoubtedly, some celebrities do change when they become famous, most of them are ordinary people. They make mistakes like everyone else and we shouldn’t judge them for that. The only way average people differ from celebrities is that every move they make is scrutinized. This puts them in a tricky situation, and it can be hard for them to live their lives without every moment being nitpicked.
Celebrities shouldn’t be held to a higher standard, but they usually are. They have plenty of people looking up to them, so they always have to be careful. Of course they can make mistakes, so society needs to make sure they don’t look at them as anything more than ordinary people. People need to accept that celebrities make mistakes because everyone does.
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