Whether through films or music, celebrities’ work attracts fans, but with extreme fame, their artistry isn’t the only thing in the spotlight. As she rose to fame, singer-songwriter Chappell Roan questioned the way celebrities are treated.
Roan has publicly discussed how she feels her vocal criticism of celebrity culture has impacted her widespread success. Despite this, her fans appreciate the traits that define her personality.
“I like the way Chappell Roan is super expressive of herself,” junior Eryn Shaw said. “I do like the idea of having a stage name as opposed to a regular name because I feel like you want to know about the singer, but then the person can still keep their private life private. At this point, she’s an icon of self-expression.”
(Jason Martin)
Roan’s hit single “Good Luck, Babe!” was her first to reach Billboard’s top 100; a song detailing a complicated relationship with another woman, grappling with themes of internalized homophobia. Roan herself only revealed a few facts about her love life on her social media, directly stating she wouldn’t provide more context, but various speculations followed.
“Celebrities’ kids or their relationship status is not what the public needs to be hearing,” Shaw said. “I feel like people forget Hollywood stars are still people. Just like how you wouldn’t tell the entire world, ‘Here’s everything that’s happening in my life,’ these stars also don’t want to do that. If people want to tell you, they will tell the press themselves.”
The press often serves as the middleman between celebrities and their fans, providing news about the celebrity to the public. However, information shared by the press doesn’t always abide by a celebrity’s boundaries; such as when Billboard reported Roan’s split with her management team.
“I think the media definitely encourages intrusive fan behavior,” junior Catherine Ebuen said. “TMZ releases really personal information about celebrities, and as a fan, that piques your interest, you’d probably deep dive into it. I just think it’s really normalized nowadays to be really obsessed with specific celebrities.”
However, intrusive behavior from fans and the press isn’t exclusive; neither are they new to the celebrity sphere. Roan has called for these practices to quit being normalized and has shown she will continue to push back against them. According to social worker Nick Thayer, modern fan culture in its extreme can cause fans to forget the humanity of celebrities.
“[Intrusive fan behavior] was at its worst like in the early 2000s,” Thayer said. “When you look at what happened to people like Amanda Bynes, Britney Spears, fans thought for whatever reason that it was okay to constantly be intruding into these people’s privacy. I think that things have gotten a little bit better, but I still feel like people see celebrities almost as like public servants and it’s their right to know what’s going on with them.”
