The glitz and glamour of Hollywood has always influenced our society, especially targeting the young, impressionable adults. From the endless and ever-changing fashions to the relentless scrutiny and attacks on body image and physical fitness, pop culture grabs at our minds and hearts and pummels out all of the individual creativity and exclusive personality traits that dare to be in contrast to the perfectly chiseled image of beauty and exquisiteness.

Hollywood actors, singers, and even athletes are placed on a high pedestal, differentiating themselves from our reality and into our fantasy. They are highly esteemed and raised to be impeccably spotless before the eyes of the world. Constantly under the surveillance of the public's eye, we cage them to a perfect standard of living. Make one wrong move, and everyone will know. With all the pressure of perfection weighing down from countless angles, life is not easy to live. The tempting trap of riches and fame is truly a ravenous curse that destroys the lives of our beloved actors, singers, and athletes.

America's sweetheart and popular actress world wide, Jennifer Lawrence, found her rise to fame in her huge role of Katniss Everdeen in The Hunger Games. Charmed by her humorous and sarcastic personality and sympathizing with her unashamed flaws and imperfections, she is uncharacteristically normal for what is considered "Hollywood royalty". In a recent Vogue article, Lawrence has stated that she is " kind of going through a meltdown about it lately. All of a sudden, the entire world feels entitled to know everything about me." She continues on to argue that she is a normal girl and refuses to accept her fame. Taking over the life of a normal girl with hopes for a happy future, Hollywood successfully has petrified one of the most down-to-earth stars in less than five years.


Many big time stars have fought this continual battle of identity and fame. Keira Knightly is a picture perfect example of Hollywood success. She is a very prosperous actress with almost 40 films behind her at the young age of 24. Unfortunately, her fame is responsible for her fear of cameras. Talking about the paparazzi, she says, "It is constant and I can spot them a mile away. It made me frightened of cameras and people." She then shares that acting is a "pretty horrific career. Every photo takes away a bit of your soul. I wish I was just an insignificant speck."

As a teenage girl who has felt the empty loneliness of being an "insignificant speck" of dust in a garden filled to the brim of gorgeous roses and radiant sunflowers, it is almost impossible to have a desire to be invisible. A typical girl dreams of being wanted by every eligible bachelor with a solid six-pack and who is up to his ears in cash. Women world-wide yearn to be considered the "prettiest women alive", but is it all worth it? Is sacrificing your life and privacy worth stardom and crawling gold-diggers?

Reed Robertson, son to the ever-so popular Jase Robertson from the hit show Duck Dynasty, never expected to become corrupt with pride and fame. "I guess I just got really caught up in thinking that I was better than everyone else because of who my family was,” he confesses. Not even being in the center spotlight of the show, Reed let pride rule out his life and treatment towards others. Slowly but surely, he found he had no friends, "because no one wanted anything to do with a cynical person like me,”. He stated that he had hit the rock bottom and wanted to take his own life.

The dangers of prosperity and stardom do not only reach out to women in society. While each sex may have different struggles, men are affected as well. Reed, who had everything a high-schooler could want: a girlfriend, a successful football career, friends, and good grades, was easily overwhelmed with his family's fortune and almost led to his tragic death.

While Reed was fortunate to have good examples in his life to help him through his ominous trials, not all stars can be so lucky. Perhaps one of the most famous examples in history was starlet Marilyn Monroe. Exalted as the most beautiful woman of all time, Monroe had her fair share of misfortunes. All three of her marriages ended in divorce and she struggled with three miscarriages. Yet through all of her pain and suffering, she still remained strong and confident to the public. She had both Kennedys falling at her feet in love with her. She spoke strongly and confidently about body image and women's rights. She was an image of perfection who did not conform under the pressure of the public's controversy. The mask of firmness and fearlessness was ripped off when Marilyn was found dead on her apartment floor. Though many rumors circulated, her death was labeled as suicide because of all the drugs she had ingested. She was an image of light in Hollywood's gloomy and dark world, but even that ounce of sun was destroyed.

Today, we all still dream of being the talk of the world. Paparazzi and fans would be a run in the park; money and hot spouses is just another day's work. We all feel threatened and abused by the glamour and perfection of stars whom we raise to be toned, gorgeous, and without any shortcomings or disorders, but instead of endangering ourselves, we are ultimately condemning those whom we put in the highest estate. Those who are able to survive in the world of harsh illusions are never the same, scared from their strenuous efforts to meet unreachable expectations. There are only a few who are willing to fight this battle head on and, more often than not, they turn into another horror story like Lindsay Lohan or Amanda Bynes. Without fully comprehending it, we are slowly destroying people and their futures one by one.