This Thread Has People Revealing The Moment They Stopped Admiring These 40 Celebrities

To find out more about our fascination with celebrity culture and our eagerness to learn more about their day-to-day lives, we reached out to Kelli S. Burns, Ph.D., an associate professor at the University of South Florida and author of Celeb 2.0: How Social Media Foster Our Fascination with Popular Culture. "Celebrities possess the qualities that many regular people desire, specifically money, fame, success, and physical beauty," she told Bored Panda.

"While celebrities lead glamorous lives enjoying beautiful homes, luxurious vacations, expensive restaurants, and designer clothes, fans are also fascinated with celebrities when their lives are seemingly relatable to regular people." The professor added that this is the reason why content like Us Weekly’s feature Stars—They’re Just Like Us! is so popular. Moreover, "Paparazzi photos of celebrities grocery shopping, walking dogs, and dropping children off at school remind us that celebrities aren’t perfect."

It’s easy for us to show admiration to our favorite superstars and hope that one day we might become just like them. However, Burns explained that sometimes we get slightly too invested in our heroes' lives. "Some fans can experience a condition called celebrity worship, which is an extreme feeling of attachment to a celebrity," she noted.

"Celebrity worship often starts with parasocial relationships, which are one-sided relationships that fans feel when they experience celebrities via the media. Social media can intensify feelings of attachment because fans have increased access to a celebrity through the photos and videos shared not only by the celebrity, but also by other fans," she noted. It turns out that this unlimited access to celebrity lifestyles can increase desires among fans for what the people in the public eye possess.

"While parasocial relationships are considered normal, celebrity worship can have detrimental consequences for both the celebrity and the fan when taken to the extreme," she noted that unhealthy levels of celebrity obsession often come with a cost. "A celebrity may become the victim of an obsessed fan who becomes a stalker. Fans who worship celebrities often suffer from poor mental health, although it’s not clear whether the obsession caused the mental health issues or the mental health issues caused the obsession."

When asked why people stop respecting their beloved celebrities, the professor mentioned it’s important to remember that they are regular people who also make mistakes. However, their slip-ups are more likely to trend on Twitter and be discussed in entertainment news and by everyone online. "Fans often stop admiring celebrities when they realize their values are not in line with those of the celebrity," Burns added. "For example, the celebrity might make a racist comment, cheat on a spouse, … or resort to physical violence."

"Fans idolize celebrities and put them on a pedestal where they are seemingly immune to mistakes. When celebrities are involved in a scandal, fans can feel hurt because their perception is now out of line with reality. Being disappointed in someone you admired and respected is a natural reaction when they make a mistake."

According to Burns, those who follow the lives of famous people should consider whether their admiration and interest is a healthy or unhealthy practice. "For some fans, a celebrity may inspire them to follow their dreams of becoming a musical artist, Broadway actor, or film director. Many celebrities also support causes that fans might benefit from knowing more about, such as mental health."

"At the same time, fascination with a celebrity can cross the line into an unhealthy obsession where fans spend an inordinate amount of time trying to interact with celebrities online or feel depressed about their own lives when comparing themselves to celebrities," the professor concluded.