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Sure, we may all complain about the celebrity obsession in the media, but when we hear about Britney shaving her head or Nicole Richie checking into (or out of) rehab, do we actually turn off the TV or click off the website? No, we're obsessed and we know it.

Nearly everyone enjoys a good gossip fest, and what's juicier than failure? Failed marriage, failed drug test, failed life? Gossip gets juicier the further the source is from us. Do we whisper over the garden fence about our sister's divorce and our cousin's drug charges? No- we know the details of each situation and have a personal stake in the outcome.

Because of the familiarity we feel with these people, we're interested in what happens in their lives. But because these same people have everything that most of us want, wealth, fame, beauty, and yet don't value it at all, we feel a perverse sense of justice when they lose it. And when they lose it, they do so spectacularly.

We're so used to seeing celebrities as the characters they portray and not as real people. We have no personal stake in what happens in their lives and so we can relish every drop of misfortune without any of the tears that we might shed for our neighbor. Their reality is so different from ours that we don't recognize it in a way that would make us take pity on them. It's like watching your co-worker's divorce in every gory detail, but never having to say "I'm sorry to hear that".

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