NY Post Columnist Cindy Adams has posted a long over-the-top rant against celebrity lifestyles in general, using the rumor of Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie’s split as a catalyst for her ire. It’s really an incredible condemnation of Hollywood and the way we elevate, coddle and overpay celebrities. Adams seems to claim that it’s inevitable that celebrities become entitled people unable to maintain relationships based on the way they’re treated like Gods. This lady is 79 years old and I would guess she’s fed up with everything she’s witnessed and is headed into either batsh*t or “I don’t give a sh*t” territory, or maybe a little of both. With this rant, she’s probably burned some bridges and written herself out of potential interviews with the celebrities and industry she’s bashing. It’s a damn good read. Here are some highlights, and go to the NY Post for more.
The Angelina-Brad thing. I don’t know more than anyone else. Their lawyers probably don’t know more. Who knows if even they know more. They really only know they’re used to being pampered, protected, worshipped and obeyed.
These types don’t figure ’til death do us part. “Death” to them is the hairdresser who didn’t show up or the photo that makes them look fat. Serviced like racing cars, on the set they put a hand out — someone plops a cup of coffee in it. Trust me, after five years, no spouse, bed partner or significant other does that.
Brushed with God’s feather, these creatures have looks, ability, some somethingness that dropped them into an odd narrow profession that propels their image onto celluloid. They can’t direct a rocket to the moon. Can’t gather assorted springs and coils into a wrist watch. Can’t cure the common cold or summon the smarts to build a skyscraper. All they can really do is pretend. For that, they earn more money than most countries.
AND the result? Not gratitude. Entitle ment.They want. They have everything. They still want. They want more of whatever’s inaccessible to anyone else. You want to rescue one Chihuahua? They want 12. To match each outfit. You looking to adopt one child? They’re negotiating for a sixth and seventh. That lots of American children need homes means nothing. They want designer kids from the Congo or somewhere in Burundi.
Whatever’s bigger, higher, less available, they want. Clothes, they’re given. Jewelry, they’re loaned. Houses and cars, they have. Kids, they buy. Private planes, they use. Divorces, they get. They still want. More power, more money, more sex. What the other person has. At a Hollywood wedding, when asked, “Do you take this man [or woman],” bridal couples have been known to say, “No. On second thought, we’ll take that other one…”
SO maybe you have to be wacked out to be a Hollywood star. Maybe you have to be like Angelina, who has tat toos probably even inside her ovaries, who once kept a vial of then-husband Billy Bob Thornton’s blood in a vial around her neck, who doesn’t speak to her father, who’s reported to frequent a London sex shop. Maybe you have to be like Brad Pitt, who went from splendiferous to always always wearing a dumb baseball cap and looking like Ho Chi Minh with that scraggly beard.
[From The NY Post via Fark]
I really hate how people continue to dismiss and characterize Angelina as crazy based on her wild youth. People change and grow and if anyone has show that it’s possible, it’s Angelina. A lot of people have tattoos and visit sex shops occasionally, it doesn’t mean they’re unfit parents. Also, Pitt does wear an unkempt beard now, but it’s probably for a role. Even if it isn’t, who cares? Everyone is growing a beard lately and maybe Pitt wanted to shed his beefcake status for a little while.
Anyway, it bothers me that Adams is lambasting the industry and its human products on one side and then going on to criticize the fact that Brad and Angelina aren’t perfect specimens of unblemished beauty. Yes celebrities are way too overpaid, pampered and privileged. So are sports stars. What are we going to do about it? I think there’s already a backlash against massive celebrity salaries, because we’ve seen that an enormously popular star, (Will Smith probably excepted) can’t carry a movie. It’s more about action films and plots now rather than your favorite celebrity. (Some of the highest grossing films don’t have big stars like The Hangover, Avatar, Transformers, etc.)
So will Brad and Angelina break up and is their demise inevitable given their careers? Maybe, maybe not. As I’ve said before, they probably have a 50/50 chance just like everyone else.
This woman, whoever she is, is great just based on the fact that she has the precisely correct idea about actors and their need to be the best and have the best of everything.
Actors are generally insecure people searching for validation. I’ve been around them most of my life and I can tell you that actors are extremely insecure and only find their insecurity disappears when they get applause, or some other validation for their “craft”. The some other validation is usually fame and money.
The lady didn’t say that Angelina was an unfit parent, just that she was wacko. And she probably is. Crazy doesn’t disappear with age, it just becomes “eccentricity”.
I don’t think she’s wrong to criticize Brad’s look, either. The Chinforest of Yuck is gross whether it is for a part or not. It looks like it has mites.
you know other celebrity that had wild past such as drew berrymoore and johnny depp, people let them grow, why not Jolie
and what exactly make Jolie wacko
I thought her assessment was PERFECT! That is exactly how people who are never told “no” act. The people who surround them are afraid to say something that will send them out of the social sphere. ex. Michael Jackson, Paris Hilton, Brittney Spears to name a few…
That was great!
A sweeping generalization, but a good read nonetheless.
Oh and something else. Actors are paid those ridiculous salaries because the movies make ridiculous amounts of money.
Entertainment in this country (and many others) is a massive business that makes trillions every year. Sports stars are grossly overpaid because people are willing to grossly overpay to see them.
If you want to blame someone for the salaries, blame yourselves for supporting the films by buying movie tickets, merchandise, dvds, blu-ray, and whatever else they sell to you.
She is spot on.
These people are used to get everything that’s why they also don’t value what they have and get bored easily.
And I can’t believe how much you excuse and defend Angelina Jolie.
Image is all for that women, like for the rest of HW but she acts as if she’s above them yet she uses the same manipulative tactics as Cruise and other celebrities. But naive people still believe in her Mother Theresa act.
a very interesting article and it is also interesting how CB manages to miss the point of it and focuses on defensing Brangelina. I wouldn’t call the article over-the top or rant. Passionate, sure.
Cindy Adams has made her fortune (or at least very comfortable life) from “reporting”, or more aptly, gossiping, about Hollywood stars and popstars. Talk about biting the hand that feeds you…
Awesome example of biting the hand that feeds. She’s right though, although we feed the celebrity behavior mode as well by visiting sites like this.
Old lady yells at clouds.
How can you judge if it’s good assessment or not when you never get to really know any of those celebrities and stars? That’s what you think they are or have to be or supposed to be or whatever. All that actors automatically == divas crap is an urban legend. Some sure are asssholes but world is big and is home to a great variety of species. So is Hollywood.
The Brad/Angelina diatribe is tagential. Of course they are not the worst offenders. She just proffers them as examples because they are so ubiqitous and easily recognizable. The greater point is the scathing critique of Hollywood, which honestly I appreciate. Someone needs to call some of them on their bullshit. I should read the entire article because what it’s lacking is discourse regarding the participation of the general public. Yes, Hollywood celebs are self-entitled, overexposed, megalomaniacs; but guess who helps to put them there? (She ponders as she contributes to the problem 🙁 )
Cindy got it right. I read it as more of a commentary of those who live in another stratosphere, aimed at no one in particular. In a nutshell “absolute power corrupts absolutely”. And this, people, is why we are here reading the latest celebrity news.
@ 12
You don’t have to know someone intimately in order to witness their daft behavior, nor to you have to know them in order to pass judgment. Everyone, including you and me, has to don a persona in order to deal with the public, so it’s not a tenuous argument to say that we don’t “know” a great many people that we think we do. Now granted, most of what we know about these celebs is filtered and downright fabricated, but one doesn’t have to be personally acquainted to “know” that a celeb saying that she really can’t be bothered with a country and people in crisis because she’s too busy promoting her stank perfume is asinine. It’s in the verifiable actions.
Well she is right. She said it like it is.
Considering she’s based her whole career on promoting celebrity, I hope she considers herself part of the problem too.
For the most part, I agree she’s spot on. However, I also agree with gloaming – it’s a sweeping generalization. There are a LOT of spoiled and entitled people in Hollywood, but there are also a lot of people who are still nice, decent people who try to keep their lives normal and grounded. We just don’t hear about them because it’s the entitled ones who make headlines.
Cindy may seem like a flaky old bat, but 9 times out of 10, she’s right. I don’t think she’s ever given a damn what celebs think of her writing. She’s not biting any actors hands that feed her, isn’t it the reader and her publisher that does that?
She’s got enough sources that she doesn’t exactly need celebrity interviews.
Yeah, while there were a couple things in there specific to Brangelina (and Madonna), it seemed like it was more a general rant about the crazy excesses going on in Hollywood.
Examples: Nic Cage, the Cruises, etc.
History repeats itself. The world collectively gasped when Elizabeth Taylor ‘stole’ Eddie Fisher from Debbie Reynolds after the death of her then husband Mike Todd and then promptly dumped him for Richard Burton when they embarked on an affair on the set of Cleopatra. The more things change the more they stay the same. Except now we have the internet. Can you imagine the fodder Elizabeth would have provided if she were the same age as Angelina today? Back then there were two women like Cindy Adams, one named Hedda Hopper, the other Louella Parsons, and they both wielded so much power through their gossip pages they could make or break a career, even though then, as now, much of the information was fed to them by the sutdios and agents. Maybe Cindy is just lamenting in general about a bygone era but nevertheless, she makes a lot of valid points about the affects of celebrity on the human psyche, both as individuals (stars)and group (us, the adoring public).
Maybe if Ange would come off as more honest and not such a phoney, most would have more sympathy for her. And anyone who had troubles in life knows that she is performing when she acts as if she’s got “it together”, for her relationship with her bio dad shows just how resentful and childlike she really still is.
I can’t wait to see these kids in thier teen years though. Something to live for, for sure! (that and Mercy’s tell all LOL)
TRUE THAT……
Shinning examples Nicolas Cage, and his many houses, all those rappers on Cribs who have 20 cars in the garage bragging like an idiot about his rides…last time I looked you can only park your butt in one at a time.
Actors meeting on the set dumping their spouses who have been there at the beginning for them, adopting all kids from China when we have so many here in foster care waiting for their chance to a family with some one.
WOW.
Great read.
Yeah, she’s made a bucketful promoting celebs. Case in point, that furry sleezeball Donald Trump.
But, she knows of what she speaks and she’s obviously reached the point in her life where she’s going to cough-up the giant hairball that’s stuck in her throat regardless of the fallout.
This is one of the most interesting articles I’ve read on a gossip blog as it talks about the real Hollywood vs. illusions. Excellent comments by many posters as well. I especially like SageAdvice’s insights. When you have seem to have so much yet continue to seek more, including adoration, something essential is missing.
Cindy makes very valid points..
she’s seen it all, I’m sure.
WOw, how did u totally miss the point, ms wasrows
My comment should have said wow, how did you entirely muss the point, blogger? She’s nit saying they aren’t pretty enough, she’s sayingbthat they are weirdos with too much money and too much time so they are doing weird things with their money and time like growing weird beards.
Perfectly said. Nice to see someone speak out like that. Wish more people would.
“Cindy Adams has made her fortune (or at least very comfortable life) from “reporting”, or more aptly, gossiping, about Hollywood stars and popstars. Talk about biting the hand that feeds you… ”
But she’s old now and it doesn’t matter, so she can voice her honest opinion. Though obviously this opinion was not important enough to sway her to switch careers, but I suppose money talks, eh Cindy? Nice dogs, btw. Who designed the clothes they are wearing? Someone famous, I would assume.
I have a feeling Cindy has been told by the rapidly failing NY Post that her services are no longer needed and she is going out with a bang!!! That’s what it sounds like to me.
Cindy is an old, old lady who sometimes lies and makes up stories. For instance, a few months ago she wrote an article about Ivanka Trump’s wedding and reception, in the first person, as if she were there. Ivanka called her on it and Cindy had to admit that she was not there and had only written what “friends” who were there had told her. This was not the first time that Cindy had lied about being at an important event. Turns out that not many important people in NY invite her to events anymore!! The woman has become an outsider!!
My personal opinion is that she is no longer relevant; she has absolutely zero inside into the workings of the current Hollywood and is therefore a drain on the Post financially and they want to get rid of the old bag. This sounds like Cindy’s farewell. I say, it’s about time and good riddance to her.
I think she has valid points too. She might have highlighted other aspects to these adoptions as well as Bragelina’s let’s have 6 kids in 4 years approach. Or pointed out that they might have stayed on a private island of some HW friend for the birth of their daughter, if they wanted privacy. Instead they not only camped out in a poor country where they could get publicity for birthing amidst the impoverished, (and flying in a western doctor with western technology for the actual delivery), they also pulled political strings, and managed to change the laws regarding what press that could enter the country, not to mention the route that actual citizens could use to get to their destination.
That’s a lot of power.
If they cared that much, they would have built a clinic without making the subjects pay for the gift. But then what would have been in it for them?
Great read! Angelina and Brad, both spoiled brats spoiling their own brats. Overpaid, overprivileged, over and over again. Good stuff Cindy!
Well said. She could’ve said a lot more too. If more spoke up publicly about it things might inch towards a change. It’s not likely to happen though.
Essie,you nailed it!
That was great. I thought I was going to bash her after but she was right on.
I actually really like Angelina but it has always bothered me that celebs refuse to adopt a ten year old American kid. We spend so much time helping and saving everyone else that we forget to take care of our own.
She’s totally right. Nailed it.
Wow, if this isn’t jealousy I don’t know what is. Obviously this woman is miserable with her own life (oddly enough, her JOB is based entirely on gossiping about the lives of others i.e. blood money, yet she’s grumbling about the lack of morality in others). Hypocrisy, much?
Celebrities may have money and fame, but neither ensures a perfect or happy life, and thanks to people like this woman, they can never have any privacy and their lives are not what the brainwashed public seems to think.
I worked in the entertainment business for five years and was around “celebrities” both professionally and personally and have seen firsthand just how sad, lonely, and frustrating their lives can be. Brad and Angelina can’t go anywhere or do anything without a million complications that we don’t have in our everyday lives, so anyone grumbling about celebrities needs to get a reality check, get over the jealousy, and realize it’s all an illusion and they are no less human and fragile than you.
“oddly enough, her JOB is based entirely on gossiping about the lives of others i.e. blood money, yet she’s grumbling about the lack of morality in others”
Umm, maybe be a little more thoughtful about how you insult gossips. The very people who run this website? Gossips.
I wish she had used any other celeb as an example, because she makes some really great points about celebrity culture but all anyone can see is that she insulted the Brange. Damn the Brange for overshadowing anything interesting within fifty yards at all times.
Some of these comments are ironic. High five Cindy for being “spot on” or “nailing it”, even though a few people say she’s also an enabler. What about the people who visit Hollywood gossip sites? Funny how people talk about the “rags” but it doesn’t occur to them that these sites are no less of a “rag” than print tabloids? If it’s true that Cindy may be out of a job soon, it’s only because of blogs like Celebitchy, DListed, Perez Hilton, etc. are more attractive, and no one has to wait a week to get “news.” Many people read all news online these days.
You may think these people are crazy and constantly need attention, but what do you think they’re doing now? Even negative attention can be positive attention in this case. You still come to this site, ad dollars are generated for the blogger, and I’m sure you think you’re sometimes happy to do it because you think the blogger is doing some type of service to the public. I’m starting to thing Hollywood gossip blogs are one of the best rackets in the country. The reader doesn’t lose money, just a little bit of intelligence.
Think some celebrities should go away and be ignored? How staying away from the sites, posts ect.
And how does Brangelina affect your life anyway? Are they docking money from your paychecks and keeping food out of your mouths (well, maybe the bloggers)? If you so “tired” of reading about them all the time, skip the story or stay away from the blogs until they let this thing die out.
I’m sorry, but I just cannot muster up any sympathy for ANY celeb. They knew what they were getting into when they chose to pursue fame and the spotlight, and if they are dissatisfied with it, then they are more than welcome to take their boatloads of money and go somewhere out of the spotlight.
It is true that their lives are not perfect, and money does not buy happiness, but I feel zero sympathy for them. I reserve that for victims of disasters (like Haiti), people who are losing their houses, jobs, etc. Celebs have the money and the resources to change their situation in ways that the average person can’t, so if they choose to continue in the public eye, then I imagine that they ENJOY all the attention and scrutiny. That attention will not always be positive, but there are down sides to every job. Basically, if they can’t take the heat then they need to get out of the kitchen. Simple as that.
Oh, and I personally cannot understand why anyone would be jealous of any celeb, but I am just a private person who loves their mediocrity and obscurity. The whole thing fascinates me because I cannot fathom living their lives, nor wanting to. Whatever….
I’d rather that someone adopt a needy child from anywhere in the world than not adopt one at all.
So many problems are created by the mind-set of ‘take care of ourselves’ over taking care of issues globally.
And keep in mind sometimes it’s easier to adopt kids from overseas. Friends of mine tried to adopt in the States 3 times and each time the parent(s) took money for hospital bills and when the one month they have to change their mind was almost over – took the babies back. My friends had their hearts broken three times before they adopted a beautiful baby girl from China.
Cindy Adams remarks were a general off the cuff rant, with little thought behind it. I do agree with some bits but she jumped over a lot.
Yes, there are people that you can point at and say “Brat”, but let us start at the beginning, actors on the whole face a tough time, they are paid very little (when now starting off), rejected a lot, and told more than any other profession how much they suck. (You nose is too big, you are not Italian enough, etc etc)
Let us not go into the couch auditions, or other sleazy things that go on behind.
The point is that before actors get lucky, and get a role that shows they have talent, they are abused in many ways, and let us be honest, most do not make it to the big show. (Hom many porn stars actually came to Hollywood to become actors?)
So when we look at someone like Tom Cruise, yes he was lucky, he had some talent, he worked hard, and we have no idea what he did (sleaze wise) before getting to the top, but he got there.
Now he may act like he is the golden child, but is that any different from a CEO on Wallstreet, or Bill Gates or anyone who fought to get to the top?
In my opinon, that rant should have been directed to people like Paris Hilton, who is nothing more than a waste of space, and only got where she is BECAUSE she never had to worry about how she is going to pay her rent ttomorrow.
“They’re negotiating for a sixth and seventh. That lots of American children need homes means nothing.”
That last sentence makes it seem to me that this goes beyond her being tired of Hollywood. I agree with many of the comments here but I think just people have favorite stars or personal biases, Cindy has hers.
Why must Angelina (or whoever) HAVE to adopt in the US? I can see this statement in regards to Madonna who seemingly bought a child but Angelina’s adoption and that being said Mary Louise Parker’s were reasonable and wanted adoptions.
It’s a rant and sweeping generalization so maybe she didn’t have time or really want to polish it but it pretty gross and full of over statements. Hollywood is an industry and a town and just like any industry (tech, fashion, medical, and so on) it takes all kinds of people to make it up. Some get more attention than others or make headlines. You don’t hear all the little things that go on day to day. Or about the really kind people.
She is either talking about the strastosphere of Hollywood (which I don’t think is entirely fair because we could count Steven Spielberg or Tom Hanks or whoever in that and they are pretty regular guys) to Brangelina (however you feel about them). To everyday folks who work below the line.
She comes off as belligerent and biased against specific or a general pocket group. Even if I said I completely agree it’s not coming from a rational place or in an organized manner so I can’t take her seriously. Seems like a vendetta or like she may have lost it for a moment.
I don’t know.
Wow…I love Brangelina, but that was a zinger of a read!
Cindy Adams is a hag. I remember when Jackie Onassis was alive and living next door to her. Adams had her eye through Jackie’s keyhole 24/7 and was constantly gossiping everything, trying to pretend she was close. It was gross then and she’s gross now, thinking she knows all about these people, when all she has to do is look in the mirror for her observations.
She’s made a life long living off of the celebs she’s complaining about. I could understand her ranting against the new crop of totally no talent reality show celebs. I don’t think Hollywood is any different now as far as actors and singers than now. Only difference is the group Cindy is a member of, the Hollywood media. There have always been druggies, undercover gays, celebs who had affairs. Just in Cindy’s early days they didn’t report those things.
lol…kitty has claws
Wow! I RESPECT Cindy Adams. I think she has more courage and character than all of these so-called “gossip” columnists COMBINED! She’s real, she’s honest, and she has INTEGRITY! A great writer and an awesome lady!
The disease of, “more.” More films, more publicity, more homes, more PR, more botox, and more of more.
Cindy nailed it and so do many fellow poster’s.
This is not the first couple to have an international family, but rather than praise others who do, they live in self-aggrandizement as if they are the only ones who do.
More than agree with Adams… in each and every word.
cindy I agree. brad and angie only want good press. Angie dressing better, doesn’t make her a better person. She is still a homewrecker. who has great pr and agent to make her look better than she does. They both have enough money why keep working.The women can’t stay home to care for her own kids, that’s sad.
Oh she will get lambasted right back but she is so, so spot on. Bigger, better, gaudier, more, more, more until everything they do is just gauche and ostentacious. They have to fill up the empty spaces inside with what others can’t have and still it is not enough. They are sad sacks that have been put on pedestals for being neurotic at their core.
I want this woman to write more and keep telling the idiot actors how the rest of us view their entitlement fraught toddler behavior. Two words – Pee Yew!
Seer she’s hardly honest.
Most of what she said is of little substance and just scraps buy on the premise of ‘keeping it real’ when really she doesn’t say much on a topic (fame) that has a lot to say about.
WOW!!! Cindy Adams must have been “kicking back a few” when she wrote her article.
Personally, I have nothing against Brad Pitt or Angelina Jolie and I just think she did it as a “knee jerk” reaction against how drastically society has changed since she began covering celebrity gossip. Shay’s post is right on the money. Much of what is reported today would have never reached a public media outlet because the Entertainment establishment of yesteryear would have prevented it. Back in the day, a celebrity’s sterling reputation was very important; however, today, anything goes. Truthfully, not all celebrities are in the same league with Brad and Angie nor do they make tons of money. The ridiculously overrated reality television stars are simply putting many professionally trained actors and actresses out of business because reality TV is much cheaper to produce. Furthermore, there is really no security in the entertainment business because you’re only as good as your last hit and woe be unto you, if you have a string of flops!
Everything in life is cyclical including the popularity of a celebrity and when one falls out of favor with the public; they’re usually not prepared to deal with it which is very sad.
@ Ben
What I like most about her article, is that it tells you something that for ONCE is not smooching or going along with the Hollywood La La Land game where some people are off limits, because they’re afraid that if they tell the truth, they’ll be sued or harassed or worse. I’ve heard of some seemingly “innocent” celebrities who are well liked by the public, literally WARN a potential journalist that if they DARE to publish what they saw, that they would make sure they would get hurt. One famous actress (who thought nothing of threatening someone’s safety and well-being) sent her flowers the day. That journalist was petrified!
Where do you find REAL gossip anywhere? When they had it on the Internet some time ago, those people had to shut down their website. All traces of it has been wiped out of the Internet. Now, all we hear is lame and cute gossip about how they dress, and what their dogs look like, and are they together or separating? For once, I FINALLY read someone who gave a semblance of reality and told it like it is. I appreciate that, because I think it takes guts. And yes, I think it was honest.
Cindy is hardly a crazy old bat, nor is she the first one to heavily criticize Brangelina, by suggesting the image you see is not who they are. Brooks Barnes of The New York Times (a well respected journalist) wrote a scathing, detailed article about them, a year ago October. He was threatened legally but he stuck by his guns, and prevailed in the end. Look up the story. And the heavy drug abused, (which is common in the industry and commonly concealed) has been brought up before too.
tenks here’s hoping the yt editors and all-powerful analysztics tool pick better clips than last year
kosmodisk kosmodisk kosmodisk
zayıflama hapı
zayıflama
Thanks for text very good.
Thanks for text very good
zayıflama zayıflama hapı
Sex shop, sexshop urunleri
v-pills penis büyütme hapları
zayiflama hapi zayiflama haplari kilo vermek
First of this type of site we provide users the opportunity because of this beautiful and quality we give our respect. thank you.
i wish your continuet success sharing,thank you
Your site has very nice, thank you for sharing.
gögüs büyütücü
gögüs kremleri
gögüs kremi
shares, shares enjoyed a very good site
I love the wonder