Heath Heath Heath

[ifyoucantfixit]

   I guess I knew that my idea was off most peoples radar.  However I didnt know that my expressing of my opinion would make me subject to being removed from the welcome wagon.  If that is the price i have to pay in order to say what I think.  I guess I will just have to resign.  I just happen to think that if people know going in what they are in for.  They should be more aware of how to deal.  or not have it bother them so much...You simply cannot have your cake and eat it too in this world.  Its all about choices.. 
    Like I said, all they have to do is quit doing what they do.  If it is such a burden...It would be like a restaurant complaining about having to wash the dishes, after serving meals, and being paid.  There is always something about all jobs that people do that they dont like.  If that is the only thing they have that they dont like, then i would say they are lucky indeed.  Its a terrible thing to have to deal with.  But its not like they are royalty and born into it.  They choose this life. 
     People in this lifestyle never seem to be complaining for having the ability to have exclusive designers make them clothing for free, which they often get to keep.  They never complain about the free gifts and loads of perks for just showing up to a function, or award show.  They never whine about all the free trips etc they receive for gratis.  Its uncomfortable to not be able to walk on the street and not be recognized and photographed.. I still say it is ungrateful. 
      Ask a person living in Africa, with aids and no medicines if they would trade places.  Ask a refugee who lives in a small hut in a war torn country,
or a mother somewhere with no food for her children.  I am sure you would find they would all choose that life over the one they are living. 
    I personally think we are losing sight of what is true duress and just plain complaining.   
     If you think i should resign. just pm. me and if i get a few that think so.  I shall do it.  But im not going to quit speaking out about things I feel strongly about...
     All I have to say is remember John Kennedy Jr.  He walked around all over and no one harrassed him.  I think its about how you act..as much as how you are treated.                               my rant is over.    janice
   

[yb]

With all due respect, I couldn't disagree with you more on this, Janice.  I am with rouxb and oilgun on this issue.

The photo in question was taken at a holiday resort where Heath and Michelle were having a vacation before Heath started the filming of The Dark Knight.   They were having a sunbath within the premise of the resort and the paparazzi took the photo from outside.   If my memory serves, I think I read some reports that Michelle was nude or topless when they discovered the pap, so I think it's quite understandable that they were so pissed.  If they were on a beach, I can understand your rant but even then, I still think they deserved privacy during their private time.

If you look at the other paps photos that were taken when Heath and Michelle were in public places, they surely have mellowed even if they were with Matilda who they have tried very hard to protect from public eyes.  Look at the recent photos when Heath was strolling with Matilda in London and Brooklyn, he just let the photographer take photos.

Janice, I want to stress that this post is not to target you because I've seen the same opinions from others.  I just can't accept the opinion that because they are in this business, they are making big money therefore they are not entitled to complain; can't it be that they also really like to act that's why they're staying!  I for one do not wish to see the day that Heath (or any other celebrities) becomes so fed up with the intrusion by the paparazzi that they've decided to leave.  I would take watching their talents displayed on the big screen over drooling over some paps photos any day.

[Kerry]

I'm with you, Janice. 

[ednbarby]

I'm with yb, Rouxb, and oilgun on this.

Doctors and lawyers don't get followed around by people looking for medical and legal advice in their private time.  They make a lot of money.  Some of them are even famous.

I don't think actors owe us anything but the best job they can do on a movie or in a play at any given time.  It's one thing to do the publicity circuit for a movie to promote it, and to do photo shoots for magazines to promote yourself and/or your projects.  It's another to be stalked by vultures looking to make a buck off *your* looks and talent with no regard for your dignity.  They don't owe anybody that.

I've been in situations where I've seen famous people in private life, and if I were so inclined, I could have gone right up to them and asked for an autograph or whatever.  I won't do it.  I'll wait outside the stage door at a play, or I'll go to a book signing or Q&A at a film screening - there, they're purposely putting themselves out there for the fans.  But I refuse to interrupt a person's meal, or buying Starbucks coffee with his manager, or bicycling with his longtime friend, or watching her husband play a tennis match, to gush all over him or her.  It's just rude.

[Shasta542]

Did people like Tom Hanks and Meryl Streep have this kind of problem? I don't remember them being in a lot of controversy with photogs in their early careers.  Maybe the younger actors/stars could get some advice from the older ones about how to deal.

It would get tiring to have to disguise yourself and sneak around when you wanted to go out. It gets tiring trying to pay all the bills and struggling to keep things in working order in my house too. There is an element of negativity in all kinds of everyday life. I can dream about what it would be like to be fabulously rich and beautiful, and they can dream about what it would be like to be anonymous.

I agree with ednbarby that people should not approach celebrities when they are in everyday activities. That would be rude. Some of our young stars may need to hire bodyguards during their heyday--and even that doesn't keep the picture takers away. Or they may need to work for legislation that keeps the paps at a greater distance.

A lot of celebs have gone through what the younger ones are going through, tho, and they've endured. And what a retirement! Anyone who is doing something he/she loves may have to take some bad with the good.

[serious crayons]

Well, all jobs have their good and bad sides. Some require you to risk your life every day. Some have no health insurance, and don't pay enough so you can afford to buy it privately. Some require doing physically hard or disgusting work. And some mean having to be harassed by paparazzi.

I'm not completely pooh-poohing the hassle of being pursued and watched constantly. It would be awful. I'd never dream of approaching a celebrity in his/her daily life.

But among all the potential downsides of jobs, I can't say that seems like the worst one. Especially when, as Janice said, it's balanced with all those other perks and favors and bonuses AND huge salaries.

[oilgun]

  However I didnt know that my expressing of my opinion would make me subject to being removed from the welcome wagon.     

Sorry, Janice, that comment about the Welcome Wagon was just a joke.  A joke gone bad, obviously    Of course, everyone is welcome to express their opinion.  Please accept my apologies.

We have to admit that this paparazzi insanity has increased dramatically in the last few years.  Look at all the magazines that have popped up that support these bottom feeders.  Where there used to be just a couple there are now dozens, all featuring stalking photographs of celebrities buying coffee & scratching their bums.    I doubt that older stars, save maybe the Beatles and Elvis,  had to deal with this issue to such an extent.  It's become ridiculous and frankly disturbing when you consider what it says about our society.  I think that's why these paps bother me so much, their photographs make me feel like a pathetic voyeur or stalker, and they are impossible to avoid.  Not to mention that the paps were instrumental in the death of Diana.  How many celebrities have to die before we put a stop to this dangerous practive? ;-)  Of course there are the faux-celebrities that court the paps and would be nothing without them (The Paris Hiltons & Nicole Richies).  They can drive head-on into concrete columns anytime, lol!
   

[ednbarby]

It's worth a lot, Susie!  I agree completely.

[serious crayons]

I think it's simple ... there should be a law forbidding anyone from taking your photograh without your express permission unless you're a) At a public event b) At a photoshoot c) Doing something illegal.  No one has the right to chase you about incessantly, shoving a camera in your face.  These people have just as much right to privacy as every other human being!  There's already a law in place to protect children in the UK, it should be extended to include grown ups.

I think those restrictions would get pretty hazy in practice, though. What distinguishes a public event vs. just being out in public? For example, what about celebrities on the sidelines at basketball games? What if they're at the beach on the same day as a volleyball tournament (or whatever)? I think the courts would quickly fill with lawsuits devoted to untangling these questions.

And I wouldn't like to leave it up to some paparazzo to judge whether a celebrity is engaged in an illegal activity or not, especially because the photo itself might be unclear or deceptive. Can we be absolutely sure that the supermodel sitting next to some white lines is engaged in snorting cocaine? It sure would be in the paparazzo's interest to argue that she was, or try to compose the picture so it looks like she was, or even Photoshop it to look like she was, if it means the difference between a usable, legal and valuable photo vs. an unusable and thus worthless one.

Also, photos of crowds or street scenes would become pretty much obsolete -- no way to get express permission from all those people.

The rule now is that if you're out in public, you're fair game. Inconvenient for celebrities, no doubt, but it's hard to see a practical and fair way around that.

[serious crayons]

.... well then, it's a pity that these photographers don't simply have the common decency to know when to leave people alone.

Susie 

Or that the entire magazine buying and TV watching public doesn't have the common decency to know when to leave people alone. Paparazzi are only part of the problem. If there weren't a thriving market for those pictures, paparazzi would be out of their jobs. But the public's interest in celebrities' private lives seems boundless.