Can Britney escape paparazzi hell? Or will she be another Lady Di?

Feb. 8, 2008
By GERRY WARNER
Cranbrook Daily Townsman Staff
For God's sake, will people, especially the paparazzi, leave poor Britney Spears alone. I never thought the day would come when I would say something like this, but after watching the disgusting footage of the paparazzi vultures stalking Spears after she came out of the psych unit this week, it almost made me lose my supper.
And I work in this industry.
I may be dating myself, but I'm old enough to remember the end of Judy Garland's career and what a sad spectacle that was. Turning up drunk on the Dick Cavett show, her beautiful voice slurring the lines of Somewhere Over the Rainbow. She was once called the "World's Greatest Entertainer," but on June 22, 1969 she was dead of a sleeping pill over dose. She was all of 47.
Norma Jean Mortensen, or Marilyn Monroe as she was more commonly known, was the original blonde bombshell and sex symbol superstar (sound familiar). Along with starring in such blockbusters as Niagara, Gentleman Prefer Blondes and The Seven Year Itch, she collected an eclectic mix of husbands including the likes of playwright Arthur Miller and baseball great Joe Dimaggio and lovers on the side including a famous U.S. president.
But in the end, not even the magic of the Kennedy name could save her as she died in her Brentwood Hollywood home of a drug overdose August 5, 1962. Some said suicide. Others said worse. But whatever it was, it was another tragic life in the spotlight that ended too soon at 36.
And now it's Britney in the cross hairs of the paparazzi. Will she be the next Lady Di? One would like to hope not, but the odds aren't looking good. Her own family fears for her life, but this matters naught in celebrity culture. If Britney succumbs to her demons, there's always other fodder for the paparazzi mill. But does it have to be this way?
Maybe it does. As long as there's been people, there's always been some elevated to celebrity status. Julius Caesar and Alexander the Great were celebrities. So were Plato and Aristotle. We all know what happened to Caesar, twisting on the end of Brutus' knife. Alexander the Great also died a violent death and Aristotle was eventually chased out of Athens by his enemies and died in obscurity on his mother's estate on the island of Euboea. Napoleon, possibly the greatest general of them all, spent his last days reliving his battles on the island of St. Helena.
The lesson is obvious. Being a celebrity may be fun on the way up but the uptake is usually short and the end quick and often cruel. So why do they do it? The answer may well be that they don't mean to do it, but let their fame get the better of their judgment. And even if they come to realize this, the realization usually comes too late.
Britney Spears is a prime example. Raised in the small backwoods town of Kentwood, Louisiana, she was the middle of three children and her childhood was apparently happy and secure. Her mother was a school teacher, her father a building contractor and both were devout Baptists and pillars of their community. Britney was, however, a bit of a rebel. By the age of eight she was already on agent's books and by 11 she had landed a spot on the coveted Mickey Mouse Club. Convinced of her talent, she moved to New York at the tender age of 15 and started banging on doors of record companies. Less than two years later, still clutching her family Bible and proclaiming her virginity, she was a star, her first two albums selling more than 30 million records.
But the cute blond with the pouty lips and the "All-American" personality was already unraveling. Dumped by Justin Timberlake, the N'Sync singer and former fellow Mickey Mouse Club member, Spears' behaviour became increasingly erratic. She had a 55-hour "marriage" with a childhood friend from Louisiana, married sometime rap artist Kevin Federline the same year, had two children by him, saw the children taken away, began shaving her head, popping pills and making her celebrated trips to rehab with a howling mob of paparazzi and tabloid celebrity-stalkers chronicling her every move.
Is it any wonder the besieged star is now under suicide watch? Yes, it would be easy to say she brought it on herself, that her increasingly bizarre life style would have to catch up with her sooner or later. She's said as much herself, telling the London Telegraph "I was never pushed. It never had to be. It all came from me."
But damn it, this is a flesh and blood real human being we're talking about here, and celebrity or not, she's dying in front of our eyes and it's one of the most tragic spectacles this reporter has ever seen. Mental illness, or whatever else is plaguing Britney, shouldn't be grist for the tabloid mills, the paparazzi mob or late-night TV hosts.
As said at the beginning, for God's sake leave this woman alone. She has more going against her then most mere mortals could take and she needs all the help and prayers she can get.
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