Do you think that being famous would suck even if you were rich?

I think that famous people need family and real friends to be happy. non of the other shit is happiness

Yes, I think it would suck. I am glad some people are willing to be famous so I don’t have to. People who are rich seem to use a lot of their money to escape the spotlight and hide from their public. Being a prominent figure even in your little club or organization can stop being fun after about the first fifteen minutes. I wouldn’t want a genuine celebrity anywhere in my family.

I wonder if it might be a little better, though, to be famous but not rich than to be famous and rich. It seems as if being not-rich might protect you more than wealth. I think people might be less interested in you then. Like an astronaut, for instance, or a renowned theologian or poet. Without the crowd-magnet glamor and glitz, maybe you’d get let alone more.

I’d be willing to try out being rich without fame and let you know how it goes.

I don’t envy famous people, at all. To the public, there are never enough details released, someone is always wanting to know more and doing anything they can to find out what they think they are entitled to know.

There are some very famous people that are very smart about things. They do keep their private life, very private – which, to me, is what they should do.

Being rich, doesn’t make life perfect – just as being famous and having fans isn’t the answer to complete happiness.

The trick is to become rich without becoming famous.

Famous and rich? Yes. It would suck for ME. Everyone is different. For some, attention and monetary happiness “does it” for them.

i’d never want to be famous.

Yes. I think it would suck. I have a hard enough time worrying about what the other moms at my children’s school think about me. I would hate to be famous.

For me it would suck because I would really detest all the extra attention I’d be getting from the parasites (a.k.a. media, journalists, photographers). I want to be able to choose when my privacy is invaded and who invades it.

No matter how much money I might have, being famous would be terrible. Sometimes I need to run out to Walgreen’s at night for toilet paper or cold medicine, and it would be really, really bad if I had to dress up and look nice to do that. Imagine having to go everywhere with an entourage, too. No wonder Marlene Dietrich kept saying “I vant to be alone!”

I would rather be rich and not famous than rich and famous (or famous and not rich). I don’t like it when people I know have controversial things to say about me; I don’t want random ass people having opinions on my life!

Honestly. I don’t get it. Perhaps because I have not basis for comparison. But if I had that much money I would put up with the paparrazzi. I could care less if someone was flashing my picture at every move if I could live with the peace knowing I could pay my bills, pay my family’s bills, and help others. I’m not a money hungry person at all. Oh and I would not want to be famous either. I don’t enjoy the spotlight at all. Maybe this is just coming from the fact I need a job and have been searching too long, lol

Psst, Darwin, that was Greta Garbo, and it was a line of dialogue in the movie Grand Hotel.

@Jeruba – It’s late and I’m tired and, dare I say it, I really do want to be alone far too often (I have children)

@Darwin, I understand. I learned early on that I could not survive as a full-time mommy even though I adored my kids. I paid a babysitter to come to my house while I worked at home on freelance jobs just to save my sanity.

@jamzzy – Not if I were Thom Yorke famous. He’s rich. Makes great music. Do you see him, or any member of Radiohead, in the tabloids? No paparazzi, either. Nope. He’s respected for his work. Does an interview or three when an album comes out. Goes on tour. No one knows about his private life. No one knows about the Edge from U2, either. Or Larry Mullen. Meryl Streep. The list goes on.

Make your fame about the work; that’s the sort of rich and famous that’s all right to me. Celebrities have a great deal of control over how much the paparazzi and TV and newspaper tabloids invade their lives. And if there’s a camera in their faces, barring a 2006-style, Britney-like stunt or a crime happens, like with Rhianna and Chris Brown, then it’s because they want it there. No one need know their business at all.

It depends on what you want in life and how good you are at dealing with the problems that come with fame.

I have been both, even though I was not particularly rich at the time I was famous. I didn’t mind the media much, since I had nothing to hide, but the worst bit is that the phone was ringing off the hook at all sorts of times. Journalists would call at 4am because they had a deadline, or at 10am when I’d still be sleeping, assuming 10am is late enough.

Other famous people I have met seem to have a much normal life than you’d expect. Especially if they’re famous for something like writing a book. Sure, there are the Pamela Andersons too, but I think they may be sort of looking for trouble themselves. Media interest keeps them famous, and even being notorious is better than being forgotten. (more or less what april just said)

Overall, I was not very happy with my “famous” spell, especially since it did not leave me much time to do the thing I was famous for – music. As a matter of fact, my second album is pretty crap, and I think that could be part of the reason.

I have an actress friend who spends so much time doing interviews and going to cocktail parties that she doesn’t have any personal life, and doesn’t really make all that much when you think about it.

I learnt my lesson back in 1996 and when I started over, I made sure to concentrate on the singing and generally keep a low profile. I’d go into a city full of my posters incognito, set up the stage, sing my songs and get out of there the same night. No interviews, no groupies, nothing. Maybe the odd autograph right after the show and that’s it. I made a lot more money that way and had a much healthier and balanced life. And always slept at home, even if it meant getting there the next morning.

I think if you were doing what you truly love it wouldn’t suck.

Well it depends on famous for what. You could be Angelina Jolie and you could never go out in public and then you could be O.J. Simpson and never be able to go out in public.

it’s not all that and a bag of chips. and money means very little when you’re alone and have nobody to share it with!