by Terry Marsh

Created on: April 04, 2008

Few celebrities master the delicate balance of separating their public and personal lives, and to some extent, they are not to blame. Celebrity publicists and spin doctors work around the clock to ensure that their client's likeness is plastered across as many magazine covers and television screens as possible. It is they who create the buzz, and it is that buzz that sells everything from music cd's to movie tickets.

Publicists manipulate the media, catapulting struggling artists into superstardom and forever changing their lives. They know the entertainment media aggressively seeks out the latest new sensation, so public persona's are carefully crafted to compete for "face time", or as much publicity as can be generated. Unfortunately, once an artist become popular, every aspect of their lives is dissected, and media outlets dig shamelessly for background and lifestyle information.

Some celebrities manage to maintain distance between the press and their privacy. Generally, these are artists who have risen to the level where just their association with a project guarantees its success, or those who have regained control of their lives from the spin doctors. They spend more time honing their craft, than in competing for magazine covers, and it is they whose careers last well beyond the media blitz.

Paul Newman became a heartthrob early in his career. But after his marriage to Joanne Woodward, he shied away from the gossip fodder to establish a marriage and career that endured for more that forty years. More recent celebrities who have successfully kept their personal lives private include, Denzel Washington, Will Smith and Jada Pickett, Samuel L. Jackson, and Michael J. Fox. In each of their lives, there is also a common thread, and that is family.

There comes a time when one must decide between being a celebrity, and the things that are important to them. Many young celebrities yearn for the spotlight, until something devastating happens in their lives. Then, they shun the same media outlets to whom they sold their souls as struggling artists. It is important that when they achieve a certain level of celebrity, that they begin to take those steps necessary to establish how they want their lives to be in the future. To do that, they must remember that publicists work for them, not the other way around. Creating a plan for the future helps. If an artist achieves fulfillment from their work, and not the facade of their celebrity, they'll have a much better chance of riding out the strain of negative publicity.

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