Stalking in Everyday Life

Para-social relationships: stalking in everyday life, totally acceptable with celebrities.  Even though celebrities are real people, it is okay to look up information on them, stare at pictures of them, and even give them names because you like it better.  I bet if you asked any celebrity, at least one of them would find a few of these para-social relationships a bit creepy. If I found out there were people nowhere close to my age who probably know more about me that I do, I’m not 100% sure how I would react to that.

However, I can’t judge too much.  I must admit that I, Treva, am in more than one para-social relationship.  As a celeb crush, Hugh Laurie is mine.  Sometimes I worry my mom when I start talking about his acting and his music.  “He is way older than you Treva, that’s weird”, she says.  So I justify this by creating a similar relationship with Trisha Brock, the lead singer in Superchick.  This relationship is more like a best friend or older sister relationship.  She just had a baby and I was counting down the months and cheering her on. 

Although, I have seen some pretty crazy para-social relationships.  One of my friends is sure she is going to marry Johnny Depp.  I remember the day she came up to me to tell me that he had a new girlfriend.  She was mad.  She collects all his movies, has posters, and even has a blanket with his face on it.  In the back of her mind she knows it’s just a dream, but she rarely thinks logically about it.  One-sided relationships that have a very slim chance of working- real life, but probably not healthy.