Success, fame and recognition go hand in hand for those who achieve the dream of a Hollywood lifestyle.
This comes with the attention of the media and paparazzi. With a snap of a picture, some stars say, everything can turn to dust.
Actresses Nicole Kidman and Penelope Cruz lashed out this week about living in the public eye, accusing the media of intruding upon their privacy.
“I understand that people are interested, but it’s my life – my personal life,” Kidman told The Sydney Morning News.
Still upset about her separation in February from Tom Cruise, Kidman said she felt that the media coverage about her recent miscarriage was “invasive and upsetting.”
She also said that the 10 weeks after her split with Cruise had been the toughest of her life.
“It’s very difficult seeing your life being dragged through the newspapers and the tabloids and your children being dragged through it,” she said.
Cruz, whose new film Blow opens Friday, also is upset with how she considers the media covers celebrity news.
“Just because we are actors, it doesn’t give anyone the right to ask who we sleep with,” Cruz told The Calgary Times. “It’s such an absurd invasion of privacy, which is why actors lie so much about their private lives. It’s our way of getting back.”
Gossip columnists have linked the Spanish actress in the past year with Matt Damon, Nicolas Cage, and, most recently, Cruise, with whom she is making Vanillia Sky.
Furious about the rumors, Cruz clarified that she made it a rule when she became famous to not talk about her private life. “I won’t break that rule now just to put those rumors to rest, ” she said during the interview.
In 1997, George Clooney held a press conference after receiving several requests from networks, major newspapers, and magazine shows to comment about the paparazzi in light of the death of Diana, the Princess of Wales.
In the previous year, Clooney led a boycott against Entertainment Tonight and Hard Copy because he felt they violated privacy issues.
“We need a line drawn between legitimate news and entertainment,” Clooney said in a statement released in 1997. The actor discussed about privacy, not just for celebrities, but for everyone.
“Clooney‘s situation was entirely different,” Stan Rosenfield, Clooney‘s publicist, told Hollywood.com on Wednesday. “George objected to the creation of news and covered it.”
Clooney said that the news was becoming “a neatly packaged entertainment show,” often altering the truth.
Clooney‘s position regarding the media has not changed, Rosenfield said. The actor wanted to be very specific on his viewpoints on the media, which is the reason why he became the center of attention.
“His side was that if [the media] goes out in public [with a false story], it is fair game and [the media] must be held accountable for it,” Rosenfield said.
Clooney said he believes in freedom of the press, but with that freedom comes responsibility.
Directing a comment to the editor of The National Enquirer, Clooney said in his 1997 statement: “You’ve washed your hands and you’ve placed blames and reflected responsibility, and yet, I wonder how you sleep at night? You should be ashamed.”
“The media is as important to them [stars] as their career,” Richard Valvo, the vice president of corporate communications for American Media Inc., said Wednesday to Hollywood.com. American Media owns The National Enquirer.
