Every so often, a moral, social, cultural or philosophical crisis is embodied by a celebrity and played out on the world stage, inviting (or at least, we invite ourselves) the public to offer its educated, well intentioned judgement. Jade Goody decided to die in public, flooring even the genuinely educated and well intentioned; Britney Spears had a psychotic break in public, Amy Winehouse shared her step by step spiral into drug addiction and the rest of them played with anorexia and rehab, both of which everyone enjoys.
And now, the celebrity-watching world (aka us) has whipped themselves into a lather because Rihanna has allegedly gone back to Chris Brown. The frontier of domestic abuse, once largely reserved for behind closed doors, has been crossed. It seems everyone, from the editor of Famous magazine, to the editor of Who Weekly, to the editor of OK magazine has an opinion. Hell, even Donald Trump has an opinion, and I believe his hair does too.
However the lather has reached its zenith with the wade-in of the big O herself, one Ms Winfrey. Suddenly everybody else fades into the background. Suddenly the trashy magazines screaming ‘Rihanna takes Chris back’ seem cheap and nasty, like the annoying kid at school who talks over everyone because they have a take on a piece of gossip they think no one else could possibly have conceived. Suddenly the gravity of the situation hits home. Because whilst everyone else has merely implied it, Lady O has said it.
“If a man hits you once, he will hit you again. He will hit you again.”
It is, my friends, as simple as that. **
In other highlights …
Britney Spears has said the word pussy. To the crowd at one of her Florida concerts. Unless they had high powered binoculars (which, lets face it, some of them probably did) they mightn’t have seen it was because her leotard was revealing more than perhaps she and the costume designer had initially planned. Perez Hilton has it all.
Jennifer Garner and Ben Affleck have ‘shown off’ their second baby, Seraphina, to the world. This is what media outlets say when the paparazzi they pay a fortune to for photos, have hounded a new father bolting to his car whilst shielding a baby carrier holding aforementioned newborn. So it’s less ‘proudly showing off’ and more ‘running in the other direction trying to avoid a snaking camera lens,’ but that snappy little catch phrase doesn’t sell magazines, nor assuage consciences.
Mariah’s new video has landed, and it’s the directorial debut of her husband, old Nick Cannon (still feels weird to say that). It involves Mariah writhing around on a bed, interspersed with braiding someone’s hair on what looks like the steps of a brownstone. So, in other words, something that has never been done before.
** It’s worth mentioning, just for comparison’s sake, Donald Trump’s comment, as reported on Perez: ‘She better get the hell out. If she goes back, she’s a loser, and she doesn’t deserve to have any future successes.’ Not as profound, Donald.
Image by Gredelegre on Flickr
