North Texas Daily

The most influential and successful people in the world are celebrities. The exclusive club of fame is reserved for people who have reached a high level of success and recognition. Through their wide variety of talents, they accumulate fame and fortune throughout their careers with all eyes on them.

Although the glamorous lifestyle they live looks appealing, some celebrities feel they lack privacy. What most people call a normal life is entirely different for celebrities. They’re far removed from normalcy due to them being in the public eye and having to appease their fans. The closest people they can relate to are other celebrities who experience the same problems.

One of the few hardships celebrities face is trying to keep their personal life private from fans.

Stars can’t turn their fame off because people see their life as one ceaseless performance dedicated to the fans. Their personal life is continuously being thrust into the spotlight to be viewed as the peak of success. However, being successful isn’t synonymous with being happy.

Seeing our favorite celebrities interact with one another gives us false expectations for our relationships. So, what good comes out of us obsessing over celebrity relationships?

Besides the catchy breakup songs, unique baby names and endless Twitter memes. There are dangers in comparing your relationship to celebrity relationships. First, we start to create false expectations for our partnership. We expect to be in relationships like the famous people we admire. When in reality, every relationship operates differently.

Admittedly, I’ve been one to put unfair expectations on my relationships by making comparisons. For example, one celebrity couple I admired was actors Will and Jada Smith. Both of them had charisma and charm that I could only wish my future relationship would have. I even tried to emulate their relationship by looking for a partner similar to Jada Pinkett Smith’s personality.

Not only did I put unfair expectations on myself, but I did on my partner as well. Come to find out that their marriage wasn’t a relationship I agreed with. I realized that every relationship has different core values. I expected the characters they played on television to operate a certain way. When in reality, they’re just actors who are great at their job. Separating actors from the characters grounds us back in reality. Walking a thin line between expectation and reality in a relationship is hard, especially when we’re losing sight of our identity.

Through our search for self-identity, we can become distracted by a celebrity’s relationship. The success, wealth and accolades that stars experience are far from ordinary. But that doesn’t stop us from comparing our lifestyles with each other. We dissect and critique every detail with famous couples because we hold them to such a high standard. When in fact, we need to hold ourselves to a higher standard. We assume that their strong identity led to their success. But a celebrity’s identity isn’t always as transparent as it seems.

Professional golfer Tiger Woods was one of the wealthiest athletes with a clean image until he got caught cheating on his wife, which led to losing endorsements. Actors Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston were once viewed as the perfect couple until they had an abrupt divorce in 2005, which led to cheating rumors once Pitt co-starred with actress Angelina Jolie in “Mr. & Mrs. Smith.”

All of these famous relationships had a separate identity that didn’t match how the public perceived them. Despite their success, their happiness still suffered.  We let our fear of rejection prevent us from getting into a relationship because our favorite stars weren’t able to stay together. Love isn’t mutually exclusive to the rich and famous. By identifying ourselves outside these celebrity relationships, we can find self worth.

At the end of the day, celebrities don’t have the blueprint for a perfect relationship. Their success doesn’t immediately put them in a meaningful relationship with a partner. There’s nothing wrong with admiring a celebrity’s relationship, as long as it’s not at your own expense. Obsessing over celebrity relationships only perpetuates the idea that they’re the gold standard.

Featured Illustration: Miranda Thomas