The Cost of Fame – Should Celebrities Keep Their Relationships Private?

The intense examination of their relationship made me wonder, like the vigilante guards who protect everything Taylor, if a couple like Taylor and Travis could exist. again declare their love. It’s one thing for us mortals to kiss our partner at night or go “Instagram official” on a Tinder date only to delete their social presence months later when the flames burn, but when a celebrity couple goes public their love life. , there seems to be no easy way to hide under the covers and seek privacy once it has been carefully removed.

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Other famous couples who have also suffered from the effects of being pro-PDA include Kourtney Kardashian and Travis Barker, Selena Gomez and Benny Blanco, Meghan Markle and Prince Harry and Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck. Even though I’m not ashamed to say that one loves a significant other, when a celebrity does so forcefully in the public eye, I can’t help but question the purpose of such displays.

‘I remember being at a label meeting when the press was difficult for an artist and someone said: “We need to get them a famous girlfriend”. It was said to be a joke, but sometimes relationships in the public eye can be mutually beneficial,’ says musician and founder of Artist’s Way, Elspeth Merry. ELLE UK. ‘The pictures you see of your favorite couple arriving at a restaurant or leaving a party have been edited to help you enter the world of their choice.’

Carefully crafted power couples are nothing new, and many speculations have permeated the internet in recent months suggesting that many celebrity relationships, such as Taylor and Travis’ , are “PR relations” (the most popular from NPR). According to Google Trends, since Taylor and Travis started dating in September 2024, searches for “taylor swift and travis kelce together” have increased by 250%. The search term at the same time is whether or not you have been recommended to Taylor. The more interested the public, the higher the value of the celebrity name.

Fans are partly to blame for the rise of power couple PDA. Our obsession means that celebrities, for the most part, don’t have much of a choice but telling us, showing us and sometimes deepening their love for each other. We often take their lives into our hands where, with a flick of our fingers, we can create their stories like putty and play detectives who analyze every Instagram comment, from public to public. or the sideways glances they make at each other. Take Selena and Benny, who made their “first” court side at the Los Angeles Lakers game in January 2024, or Kylie and Timothée, who, knowing about the talk about their union, are looking at the 2023 US open together in stations. Celebrities can’t sit next to each other at a sporting event, let alone be seen leaving a restaurant one night, without the world calling them the new “It” couple. watch like the animals in the zoo.

Of course, living a private romantic life is possible for some celebrities who choose to steer clear of the pro-PDA scene in Tinsel Town. Some of the most famous people in the world they they can have dinner with a loved one or celebrate their success together without being photographed or written about the next day by Daily Mail. Privacy is possible for those who work hard to protect it. Take Dakota Johnson and Chris Martin, for example, who are photographed together and rarely discuss their relationship in public, so they’ve been plagued by breakup rumors since they started dating. Sometimes, it’s easy to forget they were ever a couple at all and maybe that’s the goal – to slip into the shadows.

There was even a time when Swift and her ex, actor Joe Alwyn, chose to lead a high-profile relationship behind closed doors. Describing the British star – who she dated for six years – as “normal” and “balanced”, she said of their courtship in her 2020 book, Mrs. Americana: ‘We decided together that we wanted our relationship to be a secret. I was happy. But I was not happy the way I was trained to be happy. It was someone else’s happiness. We were just happy.’

Others, however, use the power of social manipulation to their advantage – and for good reason. “The idea of ​​the power couple has gained even more power in the age of social media,” Merry adds. ‘Celebrity couples are a strong brand in their own right. Check out the Smiths – Lucky Blue and his wife, Nara. They have created an entire lifestyle behind the home life they have shared with the world. We have entered an even more critical period for this cheating couple.’

It’s not the first time a celebrity couple has seen their love turned into cultural currency. Brangelina, Bennifer and the Beckhams – each name is a combination of their relationships – all spent the 2000s playing the long game of selling their privacy for commercial profit. During their wedding in 1999, it is reported that the Beckhams were paid £ 1 million per OK! Magazine for exclusive photo rights at their wedding. Where love flowed, money also flowed. Fast forward 20 years and, thanks to the rise of social media, the rules still apply. Taylor released material inspired by a song she wrote about Travis; to promote Benny’s new cookbook, the producer offered to make Selena a steak and take it to her house. In a world where the minutiae of our daily lives are money, PDA is encouragement, and when there’s nothing less than meeting, it’s a no-nonsense business to share your love with the world. .

There is a nuance here, of course. It is clear that every private citizen deserves the right to privacy, and it is everyone’s choice how they choose to conduct their romantic relationships. And maybe, just maybe, the publicity surrounding Swift’s relationship is surprisingly part of the degree to which she’s been accepted; he gives up the privacy of his work, and that ultimately comes at a cost to his private life. She is a public figure who wears her heart on her sleeve since she was thrown into society at the young age of 16. Her fans feel like they can talk about her, and her love life, which has their benefits and advantages. traps.

The next time I see pictures of Taylor and Travis, I will remind myself of this. I will remind myself that this is just a woman, who could be me or you, who has come of age. It may look a little different than ours, but to him it’s one he seems happy with. Everything comes at a cost, and fame is one of the most expensive cosmetics in life. Now, when you watch the couple, whether it’s a fan-captured video or a paparazzi clip, walk into a restaurant, her hand on his, you can tell that this is a woman who has met her match – and he doesn’t do that. be aware of who is watching, judging or filming.

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