Celebrities We Heard Too Much About in 2007

There are some celebrities in particular whose names have been bandied about frequently during the soon-to-end year of 2007. From reports about their latest escapades on otherwise serious television network news to online entertainment websites, these are the people we have been simultaneously fascinated and repulsed by.

Just why we never seem to tire of hearing the latest scandalous stories about certain members of the rich and famous is no mystery, in my opinion. With a controversial war, suffering housing market, rising gas prices and the like, we seem to be in desperate search for some type of trivial distraction and I guess dysfunctional celebs fit the bill.

Among this group of troubled stars are some we have probably heard way too much about this year.

Britney Spears

Have we not all winced at the news of yet another "Britney story" and all of its sordid, juicy details? From her divorce from K-Fed to the shaved head incident to her bizarre behavior in general, she has been the fodder for many a headline. Is Iraq a more worthy thing to focus on? Sure it is, but it doesn't give us the delicious opportunity to either gloat or cry over the latest negative tale about Ms. Spears.

Have I written about Britney myself this year? Guilty as charged. However, I have cut back considerably, due to the blatant over-saturation on the subject of this sadly out-of-control woman/child.

This is the last time I am mentioning her. I swear. Really. In 2007.

Rosie O'Donnell

Is there anybody on the planet that Rosie doesn't disagree with?

Her 2006 feud with Donald Trump continued well into 2007 and she also succeeded in ticking off Christians, the British Royal Navy and fellow co-hostess Elizabeth Hasselbeck, as well as coming up with a far-fetched theory about the 9-11- attacks. Granted, it all made for very interesting television, as The View, without Rosie's antics, was pretty stale beforehand. Her exit from the show was just as colorful as her entrance, as she managed to get a dig in at Barbara Walters in the media afterwards.

Proof-positive, however, that Rosie was overexposed this year is the fact that she lost out on a potentially lucrative deal with NBC, because she leaked the news to the press before NBC officially announced it. This time around, the media worked against her and she was dropped for the job with the "Peacock Network."

Larry Birkhead

Okay, let's see if I can get this right. Larry Birkhead is famous, essentially, for fathering a child of someone else who was famous for being famous. He was one more character in the circus that was part of the poor, departed Anna Nicole Smith's life and the ensuing paternity battle over baby Dannielynn, following Smith's death, remains a legendary tabloid event. I know for a fact that there were people glued to their television sets on the day Birkhead was officially declared to be the father of the child.

The overexposure part has come. since that time, from Birkhead not only continuing to appear on shows like Larry King and Entertainment Tonight, but having photos of Dannielynn splashed everywhere. How in the world can she ever have anything that resembles a normal life, if the press has constant access to her?

Besides, what other "talents" does Larry Birkhead have, beyond having the capacity to father a child, that merit him having so much media coverage?

My hopes are that, for the sake of his daughter, he will fade into anonymity and not allow her to be exploited..

Brangelina

Once more, Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt make my yearly list. Certainly, they are an exquisite pair to look at and Angelina's image has been turned from one of "home-wrecker" to "a second Mother Teresa", due to their charitable doings and adopting of foreign-born babies. While they do make a very sweet-looking family, how many times do we really need to see photos of Angelina picking up Maddox from daycare?

To their credit, they differ from the others on this list in that they do not purposely court media attention.

Here's wishing that, in the upcoming year, the paparazzi will dedicate their time to far more interesting couples than these two, who appear to just want to be left alone..