Celebrity Adultery: Our Obsession

Unless you have been living under a rock for the last several months you are well aware of the scandal that celebrity golfer Tiger Woods has stirred up with his affairs. When the news first broke and for at least two weeks afterwards you could not turn on a news program without hearing about the latest speculation in some cases it got better billing than the latest homicide in the city. Moreover, we all know that Tiger Woods is just the latest in a long line of famous scandals. Who can forget when Brad Pitt stepped out on Jennifer Aniston with Angelina Jolie? Of course, to date the couple holds fast to the fact that there was no actual affair but that they fell in love on the set of Mr. and Mrs. Smith. How about suave English man Hugh Grant with prostitute Divine Brown, Jude Law and his nanny Daisy Wright and of course perhaps the biggest known affair in the world Bill Clinton with Monica Lewinsky. The main question that linger is why do we care?

Simple. We love gossip and may even take a little bit of joy in the fact that it is not us. When a celebrity affair or scandal breaks there is not a person in the world who does not know about it, even the big news outlets like CNN and CNBC are covering the scandals these days. In addition, while most Americans will be moan the fact that they cannot get away from the news they may have the dirty little secret of enjoying it because there are over 7 million-celebrity gossip rags sold weekly. Deep down we know we should not care, we know that Joe Schmoe next door having an affair with he guy down the streets Wife might get a little round of neighborhood gossip at the end of the day it certainly does not rank top story on the evening news.

Perhaps the other reason we like hearing about the rich and beautiful having such ordinary problems as adultery is simply that it is ordinary. With glossy magazines airbrushing every blip of bad skin and magically taking away a normal little pooch, celebrities have become almost god like. Glossy perfect pristine people to whom many look up to. So when you hear that perfect Jennifer Aniston cannot keep her man from straying well maybe it is not to bad when it happens to the rest of us either. Weather you think all the attention that these celebrities get is a good thing or a bad thing you cannot deny that it is there. And it is a reminder that the rich and famous are indeed just like us people. Just keep in mind next time your gossiping about who cheated on who in Hollywood or politics that as real people they have feelings too. You would not want the whole world talking about your errant spouse would you?