Celebrities in the News: From Britney to Paris

Celebrities, celebrities, celebrities! Everywhere you look nowadays - be it television news stations, tabloid articles or even comedy schticks meant to point out the worst of a celebrity - they're definitely everywhere. In fact, there isn't a day that goes by where we don't hear about some delicious scandal a star is involved in or the next biggest whoops from a young starlet. One definite thing, however, is the sheer fact that there are quite a few stars out there in the news so much they're overkill by now. Taking this obvious fact, I gathered some of the most newsworthy celebrities over the past months that have us screaming, "Enough, Already!"

1. Britney Spears

Let's face it, Britney Spears is a confused (and often times confusing) young woman. She's also a prime target to the paparazzi as we've seen most recently with her shaved head and new body art. Like I'll mention with all the Celebrities in the news, I'll do a rundown of the most recent reasons Britney is becoming an annoying name in the news.

Every day people get married and every day people get divorced. This includes celebrities. However, someone felt Britney and Kevin's divorce was quite newsworthy for some unknown reason. Perhaps the initial source felt we had a 'need to know' basis. Perhaps they were just money hungry and knew Britney could score more reads than Reese Witherspoon and Ryan Phillippe's divorce proceedings. The main question is, "do we really care?" Sure, it's nice to know that a fairly attractive person is on the market but beyond that nobody really cares what or why a couple files for divorce.

Of course, there are so many other reasons as of late why Britney has graced various news sources, but even I, as a writer, knows when to say enough about a person. The rest, well, is her business.

2. Lindsay Lohan

What hasn't this girl done lately? Apparently nothing truly good. This girl seriously can't get into the news unless she does something wrong. When was the last time Lindsay was praised for something good she did? I can't recall a single time in the last year.

Here's the brief rundown on why Lindsay in the news is just plain annoying. We all remember hearing about her partying which caused rather big problems with one of her more recent movies. We also heard about her being underage according to New York State Law (being only 20) and having to attend A.A. meetings. Then, like Britney, we hear about her vast partying once more and the chaos that ensues from a night out with Paris Hilton.

Why do people care so much about Lindsay Lohan? I haven't a clue. I think when she stopped being a redhead she acquired this careless attitude about her behavior and appearance to the point her life became too juicy to avoid. However, if the girl wants to get better people need to stop focusing so much on her cons and more on her pros. After all, not every bad girl is 100 percent bad.

3. Anna Nicole

I felt horrible when I heard about Anna Nicole passing on suddenly. In fact, it was quite a shock when they announced it because the first thing that registered in my head was, "poor baby!" in regards to her daughter. Let's just admit it was probably the worst time for Anna Nicole to pass on considering all the news she had been in up to and after her death.

We heard about her daughter being born last fall and her son, Daniel, dying only days after she gave birth. As if this wasn't sad enough to hear about a woman losing her son, it gets compounded with a sudden 'who is the daddy' debate that carried on into after her death.

Before Anna's death there was a lawsuit about trim-spa in the works - which immediately after her death seemed to disappear from big news. It seemed her death overshadowed everything and for weeks after the event most people waited anxiously for a reason why. Perhaps it was a certain closure that with a reason for her passing given, she would be considered a less than hot topic for the news.

Boy, did that theory backfire. After the reason was given the shift immediately turned to Anna's daughter and who the real father was - plus her mother's debate to try to become a more active part in the infant's life. We heard about diaries for sale and now there's even a movie in the works. Finally, there came the announcement of Larry being the father. Thankfully, except for a few small bits which I consider 'updates' on situations, Anna Nicole finally is getting a rest in peace from the media. I can honestly say it's about time.

4. Angelina Jolie

Flipping through a tabloid on my lunch break recently, I took note of Angelina Jolie being on the cover of one - along with boyfriend Brad Pitt and a second woman - a perfect stranger to almost anyone who would glance at her picture. This is where I realized that Angelina Jolie has been in the news way too much in the last year. I believe most of you reading this can agree.

It was quite public when Angelina suddenly snagged Brad from Jennifer Aniston and truthfully, it made me dislike that whole set of events but all involved are merely human. But what was quite surprising was the sudden expectation of a child between Brad and Angelina. Sure, it wasn't as public as the TomKat baby, but it still made news.

We all recall the adopt-a-thon Angelina seemed to go on (and still insists is going to happen). First, before the Brad affair she adopted her son, Maddox. Then she adopted a second, Zahara, had Shiloh and adopted another child (Pax) after that. Personally, I would never 'knock' any celebrity who gives a child a loving, happy family but anymore it seems to be publicity. I've not been the only one thinking this. In fact, I've overheard several conversations which seem to make this idea quite commonplace.

What's next for Angelina? Even more recent (as in days from writing this) she has announced a takeoff of time from acting for a year. Why? To help Pax become adjusted to his new life. While that's commendable to want to be there around the clock for a child in a very confusing time of life, why do we need to know this so publicly? Thespians in general take time off all the time to pursue other things. Orlando Bloom merely got a glance look at about his upcoming role in a play after the Pirates filming.

Let's not forget Angelina's like for being a goodwill ambassador. That, honestly, is something we all love to hear. It's a change from the adopt-adopt-give birth-adopt again bit. However, when perusing the most recent article announcing this break, it only lightly mentioned the good and focused more on a new movie she's in more so than her actions in goodwill. Hopefully with the one year break in acting we, too, get a break from her name.

5. Paris Hilton

If Paris Hilton were dubbed any title she'd certainly acquire "Leader of the Bad Girls" for everything she's done since who knows when. Perhaps more gossiped about than Britney Spears or any of the others mentioned, Paris seems to be a glutton for punishment no matter what she does.

Yes, the heiress has made us both groan and laugh hysterically at her actions, but why do we need to know what she does every moment of her life? It's common knowledge she's a party girl and does anything she can for attention - including charging people to make appearances at parties she probably wanted to attend anyway.

Most recently (and most annoying perhaps) was the Paris Going to Jail bit. Now, this isn't just a Paris thing, let me say. Any big celebrity that goes to jail makes the news (but it's interesting when someone is a celebrity for absolutely nothing goes to jail) and we hear about appeals amongst other juicy details leading up to and including the incarceration. However, what makes Paris and her entire situation annoying is the distress she seems under from having to serve a sentence. Why? She isn't above the law and deserves the same treatment someone else in her shoes would get, right?

Seriously, though, we can kind of guess without being told that going to jail would get some kind of negative reaction out of her. She can't party, can only have one hour a day to do something and what known party girl wants that? None. However, do we truly need to know this publicly? Not really. It seems to be another way to get her name in the headlines so that she's constantly being pounded into our heads.

Celebrities in the news are fine, let me just state. When it gets repeatedly, as I've pointed out above, it gets to the point where you get sick of hearing about it and even dread turning on the news. Perhaps what this kind of publicity shows us is more a misguided idea of news and a lesson to us all that we need to focus more so on important matters - and not who did what this time in public that's deemed shocking or shameful. Remember that Celebrities, like other people in the world, deserve privacy. No more and no less than the rest of us. The ones mentioned above definitely deserve to be in time out, though. Overkill does no good - something we all forget from time to time.