Why Should Celebs "Come Out"?

This is something that I have been thinking about for a long time but just recently boiled over. Maybe the final straw was the article where some new rapper took it upon herself to "out" certain entertainers whose sexuality many have questioned for years. Or perhaps it was the onslaught of people who were outraged that Paula Deen--queen of all things buttery, sweet, and fried--didn't reveal that she was diabetic until now (coinciding with her becoming a spokeswoman for a diabetes drug).

[caption id="attachment_2067" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="We are celeb-obsessed, but where does it end?"][/caption]

My thing is this: why do so many people feel that celebrities owe them an explanation of... well, anything? True, their professions are in the public eye, but don't these people deserve private lives too? (Note that I am talking about real celebrities, not those who acquired their fame from reality tv or who they slept with. Those folks have already sold a bit of their humanity and privacy, IMO.) We are really that entrenched in the lives of people who know and care nothing about us that we feel entitled to every bit of personal information about them, huh?

We've all seen enough to know that many of the people in the limelight are not role models. They aren't immortals. Their fate doesn't determine our own. Yet society obsesses with what they do, who they love, how much or little they weigh, what's wrong with them, etc. How many of us have the same kind of interest in the lives of our loved ones, those that actually affect and interact with us on a regular basis? Often times we shy away from knowing too much about them, from fear of TMI and not wanting to get involved. Yet we readily gobble up any gossip we can get on our favorite (or not so favorite) star. And in doing so, we feel that they are not allowed to have any personal, private matters. If they refuse to discuss their love lives, they must be in the closet. If they don't publicly discuss all the details of their weight loss (or even if they do) we feel they must have had surgery. If they don't reveal they have some kind of disease then they are doing some kind of disservice. If they speak out and admit it while promoting something that can help, they are pimping us.

In conclusion to my mini-rant, they don't owe you, me, or anyone else a detailed account of their lives. Just as you aren't expected to go on air and announce that you are flat broke, or that you aren't sure who your baby's daddy is, or that it burns when you pee O_o you shouldn't expect celebrities to share their personal lives with the world. If you just need to know something, find out how your coworkers are doing. See if you can help your neighbor with an issue. Or, best of all, look at your own life and make some much-needed improvements.