Celebrities are a mixed bunch, aren’t they? You have the likes of Eva Mendes and Ryan Gosling, who refuse to even walk a red carpet together. Then there’s Mindy Kaling, who has managed to keep the identity of her children’s father a secret… despite the constant BJ Novak rumours.
On the flip side to that, you have Kourtney Kardashian and Travis Barker. Can you imagine your parents posting a montage of the sex-filled mini break you were conceived on? Because that is exactly what baby Rocky’s parents just did to him. On Valentine's Day, Kourtney took to Instagram to share snaps from a couple's getaway last year, with Travis commenting, "We made baby Rocky 🖤."
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We know the Kardashians love a balloon arch and a cellophane-wrapped hamper to mark every birthday/anniversary/holiday/mildly special occasion in their lives. But, in an ever-expanding family, having one annual, dedicated Instagram carousel clearly isn’t enough. Travis and Kourtney are no longer just marking their child’s birthday publicly, but also the day they mutually exchanged bodily fluids to make him. If that’s not worse than Greg Wallace’s day in the life, I don’t know what is.
Whether it’s to keep up with social media influencers who are increasingly crashing their A-list parties or to appear more relatable to their fanbases, it’s not just Travis and Kourtney who are over-sharing on the internet anymore.
Imagine being told by Hollywood royalty that your relationship is a concern because “it feels too much like you’re trying to prove something instead of just living it”. That is exactly what happened to Jennifer Lopez in her new documentary, The Greatest Love Story Never Told.
This behind-the-scenes look at Jen’s new album and accompanying film is where Jane Fonda’s comments about her marriage to Ben come in. In a surprisingly candid moment, Jane tells Jennifer that she feels invested in their relationship but is concerned about how public they are.
“You know, every other photograph is the two of you kissing and the two of you hugging,” she tells her. While Jennifer laughs it off, the whole interaction feels very self-aware for someone of her level of celebrity.
‘Everybody thought I was crazy,’ says J-Lo.
However, in the same documentary, Jennifer goes on to share her private love letters from Ben with a “bunch of musicians” in order to inspire them. Clearly, Jennifer is aware that we think she shares too much of her relationship, and that’s why she won’t share the letters directly with us. But our collective scepticism about their relationship is enough for her to want to confirm their existence, tease us into wanting more and therefore, push the boundaries of her private and public life once again.
For us normal folk, the whole point of the ‘photo dump’ is to still post to social media but appear like you’re too cool for it. Benny Blanco grabbing Selena Gomez’s breast in every picture is his equivalent of a photo dump.
While I do think Jennifer’s motivation is, of course, to make headlines, I also believe this new era of celebrity attention is an attempt at genuine candidness. At least that’s what I believe Masterchef’s Greg Wallace was going for, when he shared his meme-worthy day in the life with The Telegraph. Why else would you include that you didn’t want another child at your age but did it for your wife? There was literally no need to air your son out like that. All you had to say was that at 1.30 pm you get the Duplo and the Brio train set out.
The problem these celebrities have is that in order to stay relevant nowadays and compete with the influencers that are increasingly taking more of their pay-checks, they need to be relatable; they need to share their real life. However, their real lives still have a lot of smoke and mirrors to them. In fact, this current wave of celebrities over-sharing reminds me of our obsession with the Instagram photo ‘dump’.
For us normal folk, the whole point of the dump is to still post to social media but appear like you’re too cool for it. You no longer take a posed group picture in the pub, that’s too try-hard. Instead, you upload a series of blurred, frankly shit pictures, to prove to the people that follow you that you absolutely did leave your house and that you are having so much fun. While also reminding them how pathetic they are for scrolling Instagram on a Saturday night.
Benny Blanco grabbing Selena Gomez’s breast in every picture he posts is his equivalent of a photo dump. Travis commenting on Kourtney’s picture, “We made baby Rocky” is another.
This is the new version of the staged magazine photoshoots of old. These celebs would never do a tell-all interview about their love, that would be fake. But they know they need to keep us interested in order to stay relevant. Why else would Greg include the agreement between him and his wife having a child, involving his mother-in-law moving in to help around the house? Why would Jen include these questions about the status of her relationship and then allow randoms to read her very private love letters? Why would Travis and Kourtney not show their babies face but include every detail about his conception, and why would Benny and Selena go from privately dating to publicly boob grabbing?
The problem these celebrities will face, however, is that their candour – which can be so easily given – is a lot harder to take away. In order to be truly relatable, like their influencer peers, they can’t just share these very personal insights into their relationships and expect their privacy to be respected when it all goes wrong.
The only thing more interesting than the celebrity overshare era? The fallout from it.
