Art by Matt Herring; Stephane Cardinale/Corbis via Getty Images (Zendaya); Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images for The Met Museum/Vogue (Jenner); Theo Wargo/Getty Images (Grande); CHRIS DELMAS/AFP/Getty Images (Dobrik) Paras Griffin/Getty Images (Lil Nas X); Astrid Stawiarz/Getty Images (Centineo); Erika Goldring/FilmMagic (Eilish); Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images (James)

CCSS

R.1, R.3, R.4, R.6, R.7, R.8, R.9, W.2, L.4. L.6

Following the Stars

You comment on pictures of LeBron’s sneakers. You can’t wait for Kylie Jenner’s next vacation selfie. Isn’t it all just good fun? Or are you too obsessed with famous people?

February 2020

By Tod Olson

obsession

something that a person thinks about all of the time

Sometimes my brother’s obsession with bugs really creeps me out.

photo credit: ClarkandCompany/Getty

access

a way of getting near something or someone

Our VIP concert tickets gave us access to the band before the show!

photo credit: Robert Daly/Getty

envy

the feeling of wanting to have what someone else has

When I saw the Instagram photos of my friend’s vacation, I started to envy him.

photo credit: Constantinis/Getty

self-esteem

a feeling of having respect for yourself

Winning a ribbon at the school science fair really boosted Lia’s self-esteem.

photo credit: Brand X Pictures/Getty

justify

give a good reason for

My mom said my good grades justify extra allowance.

photo credit: Ryan Smith/Corbis/Getty

Bettmann/Getty Images (Gable, Temple); Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images (The Beatles)

Early Stars
In a world without social media, it was hard to feel close to your favorite celebrities. Clark Gable (top), Shirley Temple (middle) and The Beatles (bottom).

Sam Wells remembers the day David and Liza broke up. The news hit her incredibly hard. “It made me cry,” says Sam, a 17-year-old from Pennsylvania. “I was so sad.”

Thousands of people were probably crying with her. That’s because the ex-couple weren’t Sam’s friends. They were David Dobrik and Liza Koshy, two of the biggest YouTube stars ever. In June 2018, they posted a video about their breakup. Almost 58 million people have watched it since.

It may seem strange to cry over people we don’t know. But we care about famous people—beyond the videos they’re in or the music they make. We want to see inside Ariana Grande’s house. We want to know if Shawn Mendes is happy with his girlfriend. We get something out of our obsession with fame. The question is: what?

Close to the Stars

Our love of celebrities isn’t new. Actors like Clark Gable and Shirley Temple were huge stars in the 1930s and 1940s. And early rock bands—like the Beatles—drew screaming crowds wherever they went.

But back then, it was hard to get close to the stars you loved. You could read magazine articles about them. You might join a fan club. That’s about it.

Today, social media gives us easy access to our favorite stars. We get to peek inside YouTuber Emma Chamberlain’s closet. We can play video games with Ninja. “There’s not as much distance between ordinary people and famous people anymore,” says Joshua Gamson. He’s a professor at the University of San Francisco who wrote a book about celebrities.

Role Models

Why do we like feeling so close to famous people? One reason is that we envy their lives. “It seems like celebs have everything—money, love, happiness,” says Sam. Fans get to dream a little. They can picture themselves on a private plane. They can imagine what it’s like to have millions of fans.

Often, though, we don’t see the work it takes to succeed. YouTube stars can make fame look easy. You might think that anyone can upload a couple of videos and suddenly make millions.

Experts say such thinking may be affecting your life decisions. In 2017, a survey asked teens what they wanted to do when they grew up. More than 80 percent said they wanted to be entertainers. Doctor, lawyer, and teacher were way down on the list.

Reality Check

“It seems like celebs have everything—money, love, happiness.”
—Sam Wells, 17

We may want to be just like the stars we love. But often that’s not a realistic goal, says Ally Kustera, a 16-year-old from New York. Celebs can buy fancy clothes. They use apps to hide wrinkles and scars in every photo. “Seeing them look so perfect can be damaging to self-esteem,” says Ally.

Most fans know what to expect from social media. After all, they use it too. Still, it helps when stars point out the gap between the photos and real life. The singer Lorde once posted two pictures of herself side by side. One had been changed to make her skin look perfect. The other showed her face with acne scars. She wrote underneath, “remember flaws are ok.”

Sam, for one, feels like she knows the celebs she follows. Kylie Jenner is a mom and a successful businesswoman, she says. David Dobrik gives money to good causes. To her, they’re inspiring.

And for Sam, that’s enough to justify the time she spends following them. “They help you try your best to become successful and make other people happy.”

What’s It like to be famous?

TikTok and YouTube star Baby Ariel gets real

February 2020

by Anna Starecheski

When Ariel Martin was 14, she posted goofy videos to Musical.ly (now TikTok) to make her friends laugh. And then . . . she went viral. Five years later, she has released her own music, written a book, and starred in movies. We asked her what it’s really like to go from being a typical teen to a celebrity with millions of followers.

You’ve made social media into a career. What’s that like?

It’s amazing, but it’s a lot of work. I don’t just make videos. I have meetings, do interviews, and go on tour for weeks. Plus, I write songs, act, and more!

What’s the hardest part of fame?

Sometimes I feel like I’m just going through the motions, like a robot. So I make sure to take some time off, put my phone down, and just be alone. I write down my goals, write songs, go for a walk—anything to get away from my job for a little while.

Have you ever been bullied?

When I first started posting videos, I got a lot of hate. There were days when I would just cry and want to give up on all of it. I still get mean comments, and it hurts. I’m a human being.

Some people think young stars get a lot of freedom. Is that true?

My mom still yells at me when I don’t do the dishes, so no. Everything that all teenagers go through, I go through!

Do you have a lot of friends?

I have my few best friends and that’s it. People have tried to be my friend for the fame or the followers—so it’s hard to trust people. It makes me sad to say that, but it’s true.