Stars often disenchant themselves with embarrassing or even criminal behavior. If you want to be admired like a demigod, you have to remain mysterious.
Alain Delon, the most handsome man in French cinema, was known for his ugly behavior towards women.
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When Alain Delon died last week, Emmanuel Macron wrote on X: “Melancholic, popular, mysterious, he was more than a star: he was a French monument.” That’s what happens when a film star dies: On social media, black-and-white pictures illustrate the expressions of love from fans, until the devotion is interrupted by voices reminding people of the questionable, evil or even criminal things the admired person did in his life. And then the idolized person shrinks to human size.
These troublemakers of social media funerals bring back to consciousness what the public likes to suppress: that the supernatural aura of stars is just an illusion. As fictitious as the roles that made them famous.
Delon, who became famous as the most handsome man in French cinema, was known for his ugly behavior towards women; he hit them. He refused to acknowledge his son with Nico, the singer of The Velvet Underground. He was friends with the right-wing extremist Jean-Marie Le Pen and regretted the abolition of the death penalty. Nevertheless: in 2019 he received an honorary award in Cannes. And now: “more than a star, a monument.”
Daylight makes you pale
Anyone who wants to live and be buried as a real star would do well to actually be “mysterious,” as Macron claimed of Delon: always maintain the illusion and stay in the spotlight, which is there to highlight their advantages. When stars are exposed to the ordinary light of day, they suddenly look pale. Pathetic.
Then, when there are reports about the most embarrassing court disputes (Johnny Depp and Amber Heard), tax evasion (including Wesley Snipes), drug problems (who doesn’t?), allegations of alcohol abuse (including Til Schweiger), allegations of violence (such as Johnny Depp and Sean Connery), sexual abuse (including Gérard Depardieu), anti-Semitism (Gérard Depardieu, Roseanne Barr, Mel Gibson), anti-Semitism (Gérard Depardieu, Roseanne Barr, Mel Gibson). Catherine Deneuve made herself unpopular when she dismissed the #MeToo campaign as “hatred of men.”
So it’s better not to make any political statements, to remain modest despite your million-dollar salary and screaming fans. Don’t post anything stupid on social media, it’s better to hire a capable PR assistant to monitor your communication. And it’s better not to, like Alain Delon, stipulate in your will that your favorite dog should be put down and laid in your grave with you.
Yes, they shine in the cinema, the stars. Some worship them like goddesses, fans follow them like slaves to a dictator or Tom Cruise follows his Scientology gurus. The fact that the action star is a follower of the cult never did much to hurt him, but the world laughed at him when he jumped onto Oprah Winfrey’s sofa in 2005 and, newly in love, raved about his Katie Holmes. Cruise may say clever things in his roles, but when you hear him speak live, he is just unbearably self-absorbed. In general, it is noticeable when actors and actresses say more than just empty phrases in conversation. Only a few, such as Tilda Swinton, Emma Thompson, Benedict Cumberbatch, formulate their own thoughts or even allow themselves to have an opinion on the film they are talking about.
Nevertheless, stars are seen as moral guiding stars who are supposed to show humanity the way through life. Because in the cinema they look down on the audience larger than life and often play heroic characters with whom people identify. But it is a complicated matter with stars and morality.
Role models are expected to behave impeccably. This has been proven to be even more true of female stars than of male ones. But fame dehumanizes, turns people into “public property,” as Beyoncé once complained. And Natalie Portman described the bad feeling of being treated differently by her friends as soon as she became famous. She felt like she was put on a pedestal.
Silver Screen Collection / Moviepix / Getty
Johnny Depp and Catherine Deneuve: Back then they attracted attention with their talent, today with negative headlines.
The constant admiration means that the stars lose real human interaction. They are like lepers in expensive clothes. And if you are no longer treated like a normal person, you will eventually stop behaving like one. If you are used to a submissive entourage and assistants for everything, you forget how to take responsibility, whether for yourself or for others. George Clooney aptly stated at the 2006 Oscars that life in Hollywood is a little out of touch with reality, but that is a good thing because actors are a kind of secular priestly figure. They inspire America to be better.
Commitment to wet-nosed primates
It is therefore not surprising that the members of this parallel world believe that they are above the rules and laws that actually apply to everyone. The consequences are embarrassing or even criminal behavior, which the paparazzi and tabloid media made a living from before social media existed. Today, everyone joins in the shitstorm when an idol violates some social rule that is currently in force.
You could almost feel sorry for these stars. After all, their fame often ruins them. Some die of drug addiction, others retreat into solitude, end up in rehab or prison. And when fame fades because age erodes beauty or the lifestyle has destroyed talent, as in the case of Johnny Depp? Then there is still philanthropy, the attention that comes from activism. Brigitte Bardot fights for animal welfare. Leonardo DiCaprio fights against the climate crisis and for wet-nosed primates.
Many of them are committed to helping refugee children, the sick, and anyone who needs help. How should we interpret this? Do they want to live up to the idealization of their fans? Or is philanthropy simply a means of tax optimization?
Not only do stars attract fewer audiences to the cinema, they are no longer larger than life on screens. Today, when so much is streamed, they are only screen-sized. You look at them in the palm of your hand while scrolling through Instagram. In a place where everyone is putting on a show, they are almost like real people.
