Tiger Woods Wants Privacy. Really?

Do you remember how Tiger Woods complained about the media invading his privacy when he was raking in millions of dollars endorsing over-priced tennis shoes? How about the time he sternly lectured reporters to stop splashing his smiling face and muscle-toned body all over TV and magazines? Unless you live in Bizarro World, chances are you can't recall such instances because they never happened.

As long as their gravy train happily rolls down the tracks emitting glittery gold instead of dirty exhaust, celebrities like Tiger Woods enjoy media publicity, public adoration and all the VIP perks of superstardom of which they take full advantage, provided they are in total control of their public image-a carefully crafted façade of which any likeness to their actual selves is pure coincidence. Like a veneer cabinet, the celebrities reveal a glossy face to the world, hiding less attractive, even shameful qualities that lie just beneath the surface.

Celebrities with Double Lives

Many celebrities like Tiger Woods get away with their charade, creating an alter image that fools the public for many years into thinking they are getting a glimpse into "the real Tiger Woods" or other Jekyll and Hyde celebrity, until one day their private lives run a red light and collide with their public image. Suddenly the celebrity clamors for privacy and acts all offended that their former pimps in the media have overstepped their boundaries, reporting actual facts instead of the celebrity's fabricated version.

Tiger Woods Has a Yacht Called "Privacy"

Ironically, the illusion of privacy has always been important to Tiger Woods. The super-star golfer even named his $20 million, 6,500 square foot lot "Privacy," a modest five-bedroom affair with a lounge, gym, Jacuzzi and its own elevator. That is where Tiger Woods and his bride Elin Nordigren spent the first night of their honeymoon after a lavish wedding that included champagne, caviar, fireworks and musical entertainment by Hootie & the Blowfish along with such A-list wedding guests as Oprah Winfrey, Michael Jordan and Bill Gates. Not exactly an obscure city hall wedding for which a genuine privacy lover might opt.

Celebrities who truly want privacy would be more believable if they insisted on a total media blackout on their lives outside of their art or sport, such as that requested by Greta "I vant to be alone" Garbo and reclusive writer J. D. Salinger. But that would mean they would cease to be a celebrity, just another Joe or Jane who is very good at a certain skill like golfing or acting.

Is a Celebrity Without Publicity Even a Celebrity?

Most celebrities do not truly crave to be anonymous. They want and need publicity to get people to buy the products they endorse or tickets to their movies. Like the tree in an empty forest which falls and no one hears it, without publicity, does the celebrity even exist?

What Tiger Woods and other celebrities really want is the ability to manipulate the media and public into believing they are one person when they are actually another, to enjoy the lavish lifestyle and celebrity perks afforded by their fictional image. But just because a celebrity wants to have his cake and eat it, too, does not mean he "deserves" to do so. As an observer from Florida posted on a New York Times blog, "Tiger Woods can have his billion dollars or he can have his privacy, but (he) cannot have both. Not when his billion dollars were 'awarded' based on maintaining a wholesome public image."

Sources:
http://roomfordebate.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/12/03/does-tiger-woods-have-a-right-to-privacy/
http://marriage.about.com/cs/celebritymarriages/p/tigerwoods.htm