Pick Two: Fame, Wealth, or Privacy
Fame or wealth with any level of privacy is becoming increasingly difficult.
You know that old adage, "cheap, fast, good—pick two"?
Well, how about this for a new proverb: you can either be famous, wealthy, or private.
In 2024, maintaining all three is becoming gradually unrealistic.
Consider Gisele Bündchen, who was recently seen crying while trying to run errands, hounded by paparazzi and stopped by the cops for speeding. I genuinely feel sorry for her.
“I’m so tired. Everywhere I go I have these f*cking guys after me,” she says to the cop.
“He was stalking me. Nothing protects me. It’s like I can do nothing. I just want to live my life.”
By reaching fame, Bunchen has had to sacrifice her privacy and autonomy.
The Value of Privacy
Privacy is one of our culture’s most difficult-to-achieve assets. You can’t buy it—it's mostly a thing of the past. Celebrities with millions of dollars, who never have to work another day in their lives, go to great lengths to do normal things. Take, for example, Leonardo DiCaprio evading paparazzi, seen below.
In the age of social media, surveillance, over-exposure, and billionaire private-jet tracking, achieving wealth or fame comes at a great cost: your privacy. Once privacy is broken, it’s extremely hard to regain, especially if you continue to seek wealth or fame.
But wait, how can you have fame and privacy?
There are a few celebrities and artists who have done this really well. Note that many of them became famous pre-2000.
Joaquin Phoenix: famous for having no social media and being really weird if he gives any interview at all
Kate Bush: famous for taking long breaks between album releases, lives in rural England and separates her personal life from her celebrity persona
Enya: as one of the best-selling musicians of all time, Enya moved to a castle in 1997 and does not give interviews, nor does she tour, offer live performances or sell official merchandise
Cormac McCarthy: famous for disdaining fame, some might say. Cormac McCarthy kept an intense focus on writing and allowed his work to speak for itself without the distractions of public exposure.
Diane Keaton: prioritizes her work and personal passions, such as photography and home design, over the celebrity lifestyle. Despite her iconic roles in films like "Annie Hall" and "The Godfather," she keeps her personal life out of the spotlight, focusing on her creative endeavors and her family.
Sade Adu: so private that we do not even know what she does between albums.
I don’t know any new rising star who has any level of privacy.
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Old Vs. New Money
One cannot discuss fame, wealth or privacy without discussing old vs. new money.
Old money had privacy just by it being kept in the family and passed down without having to “sell out commercially” and overexpose someone.
Up until the 1990’s, one could achieve wealth and success, maybe even fame, too, while maintaining a certain level of privacy.
But with the advent of the internet and a culture obsessed with celebrity details, this balance has shifted. New money often flaunts fame, while old money views it as a distraction, a nuisance, not something to be desired. But soon all the old money will eventually become new money!
Is the American Dream dead?
The American Dream is facing some tough questions in today's world where fame, wealth, and privacy all collide.
Privacy has taken a hit, and fame and wealth are merging, fueling our obsession with instant fame, billionaire tracking and celebrity worship.
When I think of people who have achieved the “American Dream” over the last 3-4 years, most of them found it through social media or celebrity ties. Jake and Logan Paul, Kylie Jenner, Lil Nas X, Emma Chamberlain, and Greta Thunberg, all rose to prominence thanks to social media, which inheritantly is anti-private by design.
There is a new set of values in town, and it’s this: in order to be famous or wealthy, you must forego privacy. It’s nearly impossible to achieve all three.