15 Reasons Why We Obsess Over Celebrity Passings
It is no secret that we are super connected to this little thing called the Internet every single day of our lives. We read the news constantly and hear about the latest in politics and entertainment on a regular basis. Thanks to social media, this has become even easier to do. We all have a love/hate relationship with Hollywood and with the celebs that populate that interesting and sometimes strange and crazy world. Most of us are super guilty of following the latest celeb scandals about stars' divorces, movie flops, and more. Celebrity deaths are definitely no exception. As a matter of fact, more people obsess over celebrity deaths than anything political or newsworthy put together. How crazy is that?Why is that the case? Why are we so fascinated by celebrity deaths? Here are 15 reasons that we are just so interested in this super sad and tragic topic.
15 We Realize They Are Human Just Like Us
Death comes for each of us. We know this and yet we fear it with every ounce in our body. After all, each day brings us closer to death and we do not know when the end is. No one does. That is why we feel a certain sense of satisfaction when we see that celebrities may have power, money, beauty, and fame, but they will still meet the same end that we all will. They are human beings, after all, and their time here is as uncertain as it is for the rest of us. We feel that no matter what kind of life we lead and no matter how different we are from the rich and famous, we have to make our life a good one as we have no idea how long we will be here for. We just get one chance at life, after all. It also reminds us that no one really has any control. We just all need to try our hardest to live the best life that we possibly can.
14 We Are Reminded Of How Precious Life Is
Whether a celebrity dies tragically young for an illness or by suicide, or whether it is a seasoned celebrity who passes on after a long and productive life, we are reminded how precious life is. Celebrities, like us, leave behind partners, children, close friends, and sometimes even aging parents. These individuals mourn not for the famous rich person, but for the person they love. This person with no matter how much fame or money is special in their own right. It reminds us too, that fame or not, rich or not, we are all special to someone and precious. That is where our real wealth lies. If we are not, then it is time to start building those relationships. After all, without connections to other human beings, life may be materially uncomfortable but is spiritually and psychologically devoid of any feeling or happiness. You can have things, but it will not buy you happiness in the end.
13 We Realize They Have Lives We Never Knew About
Money does not guarantee that you will be smart about life. If that were the case, then every rich person would be happy and every poor person would be totally miserable. Instead, what experts are finding more and more is that it is your state of mind that will determine your level of happiness. Of course, having money means materially you are well off and have many advantages. But unless you are a person already blessed with a happy and grateful disposition and have a handle on mental health issues and physical challenges, as well as good decision-making abilities, then the money will just help you buy nice things or things you don't really need or are dangerous. Those of us who see celebrities who have struggled with addictions use their money to buy these substances see this theory in effect. It's a comfort to us, though a sad one, that money does not buy happiness or solve problems.
12 We Feel Like We Can Relate
Having trouble in your marriage or relationship? Enjoying being a mom and spending time at the park with your little one? We naturally find comfort in others since we are super social people and when we see other people dealing with the same stuff, we love it, whether they are every day people or celebrities. When we see celebs kissing their partners or eating brunch, it reminds us that we have an overall human connection to one another. It helps connect us to total strangers in person or online. We feel happier and are reminded that we are definitely not alone in the world. We are also reminded that it is love that makes the world go round. Without love, things like power and money do not really matter at all. When we see a beloved celebrity pass away, we can relate since we have lost loved ones before.
11 We Can't Help But Be Curious
Okay, so it's not a super flattering characteristic, but most of us are curious about other human beings. And we are also pretty curious about morbid things. Some of us are definitely more curious than others, but we all try to make sense of tragedy and put it into some kind of context. One example? Your standard traffic accident. How many times do people slow down or even stop so they can stare at the wreckage? Many more times than you might even realize. Whether a fender bender or something more serious, this kind of situation will cause traffic slowdowns and tongues to wag. It will get tons of news coverage and people will talk and dissect what happened and how it could have been prevented. We can't help but ask why, how and what on a regular basis. So when a celebrity dies, we can't help but be inherently curious about what happened and if it could have been prevented as well.
10 We Are Drawn To What We're Scared Of And Don't Understand
Fear draws us in such large degrees. Sometimes we don't even acknowledge it but know it is there. Why? Well, our ancestors had a lot of predators to flee from. They were literally running for their lives. This kind of protective stance has definitely stayed with us. We are always careful to make sure that we're not in a dangerous situation so we can survive. That's why we definitely have a pretty massive survival instinct. When we see trouble in paradise with celebrities, it puts us on the defensive since we don't have their money or resources. We may become angry instead of trying to understand why things went wrong and we may even start playing the blame game. All humans do this to some degree. But we can use the fear that draws us in to tackle our inner emotional stress and handle things in a calmer, more adult way.
9 We're Not Sure What's Real And What's Fake
Are these celebrities like us or are they only putting on an act? This is especially confusing when the lines of fiction and real life are blurred, such as when actors who star in a movie together start dating off-screen, too. Are the characters the two actors played really characters or an extension of their real selves? This can be frustrating for us as we try to make sense of not only who celebrities really are but who we are as well. If we were that celebrity, would we get involved with the leading man/woman? Would we start denying it or hiding our romance? It's scary. If it can happen to them, it can happen with us we think. This is where fiction and truth become difficult to distinguish, and we must not overgeneralize that every celebrity or every person would act the same way. We are all responsible for making our own choices, good and bad, and have to try and live the best life we can.
8 We Realize That Life Is Not Permanent
One minute he or she is shooting a movie. The next minute, they're dead. We have seen this all too often in Hollywood, with actors like Heath Ledger, James Dean, and Carrie Fisher just to name a few. There seemed to be no indication that things wouldn't be fine… until they were not. In the case of Carrie Fisher, she tragically passed away right before the holidays and we have to think about how her family would have mourned. No matter where we are in life, we don't actually know what could happen tomorrow. We realize that all those cliches about telling people how much you love them, spending time with family and friends, and doing our best to be grateful every single day are really a great way to live. We don't want to ignore the people that we love because if they tragically and unexpectedly pass away, then we will definitely have some regrets. We realize that we truly have to treasure the moments with the people that we love.
7 We Think About Our Age And Mortality
When a celebrity dies, we are reminded not to take our own life and even our own age for granted. If we have been lucky to make it to middle age or beyond, our chances may look good for old age. But then, as many older people say, you begin to see each day as a gift and live that way. Even when celebrities that make it to their eighties and beyond, we are still super sad to see them go. We remind ourselves that it is even more important to treasure family, friends, and enjoy hobbies, and laugh as much as we can. It is only in doing that we will be able to say we lived and that those left behind when we pass, will fondly and happily remember us and our legacies. We don't need to be famous to leave behind a legacy, and as we age, most people begin to see this. That is when they can truly begin to see the beauty and excitement in their life and that they have full control over how they will be planning to live it.
6 We Are Distracted From Our Own Lives
When we are reading about celebrity deaths online, we're not thinking about our own pain and whatever is stressing us out right now. It also requires us to make harder changes in how we approach problems, find solutions, and live life. It is much easier to lose ourselves in other people's pain online or elsewhere than to tackle our own pain. But of course, it is not only healthy that we move away from obsessing about celebrity pain, but that we put that energy into handling our own pain and stress. What we can do is use the techniques we are using to dissect and question what happened to the celebrity, and bring that attention to our own problems at hand. We can write out solutions and step by step help, and discuss our strategies with friends like we would normally have discussed the celebrities. This is a way to move forward.
5 We Think About Our Purpose In Life
When a celebrity dies, it makes us think about our purpose in life. We wonder what we're doing and where we're going. This particular famous figure won Oscars and other awards and accolades. They did some awesome charity work and they were super amazing. But in the end, of course, they passed away. It makes you think that there has to be more to life. You realize that you should probably actually take the high road (instead of just thinking about it). You can get a jump start on your journey of self-discovery and think about the job that you really want to have and any other personal decisions that you want to make. This is one of those areas where good can come of tragedy, if only for one person to see how their journey can be different if they make different life decisions and take small and positive steps towards it. Maybe this celebrity died but knew that they were living the life that they wanted (or maybe not). Either way, we can learn from their experiences.
4 We Feel Connected To The World
We feel disconnected in our lives. Maybe we are isolated from family and friends because we live far away, we hate our jobs, we feel trapped in our lives, and/or we've lost touch with friends that we once were super close to. When we're collectively mourning the loss of a famous person, we feel more connected to people like we never have before and we may end up feeling less depressed and isolated than we did before. This is not always a true connection, of course, and it's not the best substitute for true human connection, but it's a break from our sometimes boring and annoying lives. This is why sometimes we find ourselves chatting about a recent celebrity death with strangers online, on social media or in person in line at the grocery store or something. We use this subject to connect, even if it's just for a few moments.
3 We See Them In The Best Light
When tragedy strikes anyone, whether they are famous or not, what do we do? We remember all the good stuff and we basically say that they are heroes and saints. This is basically the human condition. We focus on the good, not the bad, and of course, that makes sense but it's not super realistic or even true. With celebrities, this is done on a grander scale, of course. For example, we saw tons of flowers, teddy bears, and other gifts being left at George Michael's home. This helps us all grieve and remember that particular celebrity. We pretty much have an online grave site where we can feel sad, lost, and mourn this person. We feel connected to others who are mourning this star as well and that helps us feel less isolated and stressed out about this unexpected and tragic death. We can't help but try to make sense of this, even if we can't.
2 We Use This News To Our Own Benefit
Some people use celebrity deaths and the public's mourning as a way to connect to others through their websites in order to create more followers and future business. It sounds cold, but it is a fact that some people feel closer to those they see openly mourning terrible tragedies. If they see a business who seems to care about that more than the company's bottom line, they will want to support a company like that. It makes good personal and business sense to express our sympathies, love, and connection towards celebrities passing and to family members of that celebrity indirectly. Of course, this needs to be done respectfully and in a conservative way. Most companies know this and will do this. It helps with company morale too as employees want to be seen as more humane and caring individuals working for a humane and caring company. This makes a lot of sense if you think about it.
1 Some Of Us Might Not Have Good Intentions
A final reason that some of us are fascinated with celebrity deaths might not be the best thing to admit. Some people are happy to see someone else suffering or having suffered due to pain and unresolved emotional and psychological issues in their life. They may have been abused, neglected, violated or have a history of criminal behavior. Life is not positive for them and they are of the “misery enjoys company” school who wants to bring that misery to everyone else. A lot of internet trolls fall into this camp as well. They do not know how else to connect to people or are so unhappy that they want to bring everyone down. It is not only sad and destructive but wrong on so many levels and brings us all down. But hopefully, you know better than to actually be happy when a celeb dies because that is just weird.