Are you like millions of other people who are hooked on Hollywood gossip? Lucky for all of the Hollywood gossip junkies out there, you have many places you can go for your daily fix of what’s hot and what’s not when it comes to celebrities.
In recent years, more and more sources that track the comings and goings of our favorite stars have become available; from online Hollywood gossip sites like TMZ.com and perezhilton.com to Hollywood gossip magazines like US Magazine and People. In addition to the many online and print sources, of course, there are television programs that will keep you up-to-date. Entertainment Tonight has long been a favorite as has Inside Edition. Much Hollywood gossip news has even crept into traditionally hard news programs like Nightline and the Nightly News.
Following the ups and downs of celebrities is nothing new. Since the days of the iconic Hollywood gossip reporters such as Hedda Hopper to institutions such as Robin Leach’s Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous, people have always had an appetite for Hollywood gossip. Scandals are particularly delicious to Hollywood gossip fans and have been since the golden age of the movies. One can only imagine how people sat on the edge of their seats waiting to hear radio accounts of the exploits of the likes of Clark Gable and Marilyn Monroe.
Why do we like seeing and hearing so much about celebrities? The simplest answer is that it takes our minds off our day to day lives and lets us fantasize about the extraordinary. Hollywood gossip, particularly when it is about the infamous, lets us put aside the humdrum routine tasks of every day and peek behind the curtain of those we think live glamorous carefree lives. It makes us feel just a little bit better about what we consider to be our living lives when we see the troubles of those we think have it made splashed across the news headlines.
So is all this exposure to Hollywood gossip healthy for us? Who knows? Curiosity about the lives of those we consider famous is human nature. The urge to get the inside scoop has always been there and probably always will be. And if it makes us feel better about ourselves and our lives can it be all that bad? The truth is, it does not matter. We will continue to read about and listen to Hollywood gossip because we want to. As long as we want it, Hollywood gossip sources will continue to provide it to us. That’s the law of supply and demand.