Innocent Celebrity Crush Turns into Fatal Obsession ( A Deep Dive into Celebrity Worship Syndrome)

 

      There is nothing wrong in admiring and looking up to celebrities, yet when looking deep into this admiration, it is often seen as abnormal and strange that people absolutely love and care for these public figures that do not know of their existence. Moreover, the fans know nothing about their personal daily lives and are not involved in it. As Nathan Heflick says, “We love celebrities because they are an integral part of culture. They have made it in the worldview we are so entrenched in. By worshipping them (to an extent), we feel as if we are participating in this hugely important cause/belief system.” Indeed, because celebrities are always in the public eye, they are expected to be admired and idolized by the young and the adults, but sometimes this admiration turns into something extreme and harmful for both the admirer and the admired.   

 “Celebrity worship syndrome has been described as an obsessive-addictive disorder where an individual becomes overly involved and interested in the details of the personal life of a celebrity (Griffiths).” The origin of the term ‘celebrity worship’ is arguable. Many academic researchers believe that the term was first coined by Dr. Lynn McCutcheon and her research colleagues in the early 2000; however, others believe that the term "celebrity worship syndrome" was first used in an article 'Do you worship the celebs?' by James Chapman in the Daily Mail in 2003 (Griffiths).

Celebrity worship syndrome has been studied by many psychologists, and it has always been associated with mental health. “Data from 3,000 people showed only around 1% demonstrate obsessional tendencies. Around 10% (who tend to be neurotic, tense, emotional and moody) displayed intense interest in celebrities. Around 14% said they would make a special effort to read about their favorite celebrity and to socialize with people who shared their interest” (qtd. in Maltby). Further research indicate that those suffering from celebrity worship syndrome are diagnosed with several mental diseases such as depression, anxiety, obsession, ego-identification,  and low self-esteem which can affect one’s body image leading to accepting the idea of cosmetic surgeries.

Larger research about the subject classified celebrity worship syndrome into three categories including: simple obsessional, love obsessional, and borderline-pathological, and each one of them is characterized by its own special traits.

The most common type is simple obsessional where it represents 70-80 % of all stalking cases (“Profiles of Stalkers”). With this type of behavior, fans become  extremely interested in their favorite celebrity’s fashion style, hairstyle, products they advertise, etc. Moreover, they start following their idols on social media and talk about their news with people who have the same interest. Those who are characterized as simple obsessed have some common features including low self-esteem, incapability to form relationships due to social awkwardness, and feelings of powerlessness and inferiority (“Profiles of Stalkers”). The term “fandom” is quite associated with this type of celebrity worship. Fandoms are small communities of people who have the same interest as each other. Members of fandoms like to show their dedication to their idols by attending fan conventions, creating fan fictions revolving around them, and supporting them in everything they do.    

     

Another type of celebrity worship is love obsessional. This kind of behavior is demonstrated when an individual develops a love obsession with a public figure, mostly a celebrity. Statistics show that this category covers about 20-25% of all stalking cases (“Profiles of Stalkers”). Recalling the topic of mental health, those who are love obsessed with celebrities are likely to suffer from poor mental health where they can be diagnosed with paranoia, schizophrenia, or erotomania. This kind of behavior becomes serious when an individual abandons real life and starts living in a visualized life where they believe that they are in a relationship with their idol. Also, this behavior seems to be more common among women; for example, a woman who has stalked David Letterman (a late night talk show host) for five years truly believes she is his wife (“Profiles of Stalkers”).

The final type of celebrity worship is borderline-pathological which is  addressed as the most severe and serious type. This type involves extreme stalking and invasion of privacy which could lead to harming the stalked celebrities, and “worship” is a very accurate word to describe this alarming behavior. Those who display borderline-pathological behavior do not respect their idols’ privacy believing that they have the right to be involved in and know every detail about the idols’ personal daily life. In South Korean culture, over-obsessive fans who are engaged in disruptive behavior are very common and popular that the term “sasaengs” was later coined to describe them. Sasaeng comes from the combination of the Korean words (sa) which means “private” and (saeng) which means “life”, so the term “sasaeng fan” is translated to private-life fan. Driven by their dedication, sasaengs are always very ready to commit any sort of act, even illegal acts, just to get the attention of their favorite idol and stand out from other fans. Sasaengs have developed various methods to obtain personal information about the idols and even created groups within themselves to help spread, share, and sell these pieces of information. In 2017, Brave Entertainment released a statement revealing that two of their staff members have been fired after it was discovered that they were sasaengs who spread personal information about one of their artists ‘Samuel’ and followed other artists (“Brave Entertainment fires”). This incident leads to the conclusion that sasaeng cases are becoming more frequent and bizarre.

     

 In short, admiring celebrities is quite normal and can be beneficial especially when looking at them as successful figures. However, this admiration and idolization should be limited, or else it will turn into something serious and harmful without the admirer being aware of it.

REFRENCES

 "Brave Entertainment Fires Samuel's Staff Members After Verifying Them As Sasaengs." Soompi, 4 sep. 2017, https://www.soompi.com/article/1038339wpp/brave-entertainment-fires-samuels-staff-members-verifying-sasaengs, 6 April 2019.

Chapman, James. “Do you worship the celebs?” Daily Mail, 2003.

Griffiths, Mark. “Celebrity Worship Syndrome.”  Psychology Today, 5 July 2013, https://www.psychologytoday.com/intl/blog/in-excess/201307/celebrity-worship-syndrome. 4 April 2019.

Heflick, Nathan. “Why We Are Obsessed with Celebrities.” Psychology Today, 9 December 2009, https://www.psychologytoday.com/ca/blog/the-big-questions/200912/why-we-are-obsessed-celebrities.4April 2019.

Maltby, John. “Worshipping celebrities 'brings success' ” BBC NEWS, 13 August 2003, http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/3147343.stm. 4 April 2019.

“Profiles of Stalkers.” Campus Advocacy Network, 15 February 2015, https://web.archive.org/web/20150215050503/http://www.uic.edu/depts/owa/stalking_profiles.html. 6 April 2019.