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Culture vultures

Are there artists/authors/actors/musicians etc whose private life behaviour/interviews sours your enjoyment of what they produce?

127 replies

Earlybird · 08/04/2008 22:03

Know that title is awkwardly worded, but hopefully the meaning is clear....

I'll start and say (fairly or not):

Hugh Grant - public persona too miserable for him to be believable in comedic/romantic roles
Salman Rushdie - not interested after the hoopla around his fatwah
Pete Doherty - no desire to hear his music
George Michael - sordid escapades leave me cold
Marco Pierre White - no interest in his restaurants after tabloid dirty laundry

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moondog · 08/04/2008 22:04

That is why i am not interested in these people's private lives. It's not relevant.
(Rushdie's a knob though isn't he?)

2shoes · 08/04/2008 22:06

I agree about peter dirtherty. but then i think he is talentless.

Earlybird · 08/04/2008 22:07

So many of them feel compelled to give interviews in order to peddle their 'wares' that it is almost impossible to avoid knowing about them.

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zippitippitoes · 08/04/2008 22:08

nah i dont care but

not interested in the talent of any you mention

i would fuck cristiano ronaldo given half a chance

Earlybird · 08/04/2008 22:08

Not necessarily his fault, but must add Paul McCartney to the list.

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WideWebWitch · 08/04/2008 22:08

Yes. I completely stopped fancying Beckham after Rebecca Loos, (bet he was gutted!) part of the reason I liked him was family man stuff + good looks. And refused to buy boys clothes in M&S

Hanif Kureshi, was tosser to ex wife iirc

MissChief · 08/04/2008 22:10

well VS Naipaul does not sound like he's a very nice man, to be it mildlyu. Ditto loads of musicians, artists etc , all tortured artistic souls or a bunch of oversensitive, over-indu;lged arseholes?
I dated a musician for many years (no-one famous) so bah humbug...

Earlybird · 08/04/2008 22:11

How can anyone take Lembit Opik ( or whatever his name is) seriously after his romantic revelations?

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MissChief · 08/04/2008 22:14

you know after watching that (fairly crappy) celebrity apprentice with him in it, I@m tempted to think that his relatiosnip is a complete pr stunt to generate them both headlines, who'd have heard of him otherwise, outisde of poliutics?

WideWebWitch · 08/04/2008 22:14

Oh yes, eww at cheeky girls

Youcannotbeserious · 08/04/2008 22:17

Jude Law... I find it impossible to take him seriously now....
Kerry Katona - Mums shop at Iceland??? Really???

I do think it depends on whether the image they are trying to portray is just to different to the 'reality'

In other ways, it can work for an artist - Liam Gallagher being the ruffian rebel from Manc.... Amy Winehouse being the drugged up / loved out girl on Back to Black...

policywonk · 08/04/2008 22:18

Jack Nicholson, because he comes across as incredibly unpleasant.

Earlybird · 08/04/2008 22:21

Thanks to newspaper coverage of her 'true' character, I no longer consider photos of Naomi Campbell beautiful - no matter what the setting/clothes, etc.

Not exactly a huge 'creative' loss, but still........

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Earlybird · 08/04/2008 22:23

Yes, Kerry Katona has self-destructed before our eyes.

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Youcannotbeserious · 08/04/2008 22:25

Ooh.. Yes, Erlybird - Naomi C..... Hard to portray a graceful, elegant image when everyone knows you find it totally acceptable to gob in someone's face..... bleugh!!

colacubes · 08/04/2008 22:27

ohhh, my mums best friend lived and worked in LA as an assistant to a director for years, and the gossip shes passed on is mind boggling, about some very famous A listers, who shall remain nameless, but, a few, like to date young ladies, younger than the law allows, one very famous short A lister likes to go out with his buddies, and party with the ladies whilst young wife is at home. Oh and the best is one very famous leading man, the ultimate sex symbol, once had to have a dead hamster removed from his rectum, honest to god, no word of a lie!

Crazy!

skyatnight · 08/04/2008 22:27

Hearing or reading excerpts from (auto)biographies about rock stars on the road and their groupies puts me off. I am thinking about the now aging rockers here:

Mick Jagger, Jerry Hall, Bryan Ferry...
Marianne Faithfull, mars bar, etc.
George Harrison, Patti whatsaface, Eric Clapton...
and all the others

It doesn't put me off the music but somehow hearing about all the shagging makes me lose respect for them as musicians and people. Many young men (and women) sleep around a bit but it is the idea of these sometimes stunningly beautiful, but it often seems slightly thick, women as shag trophies, notches on belt, being passed from one rock musician to the next, thinking they were free and liberated when they were just being used. Oh well I am a boring old feminist.

Earlybird · 08/04/2008 22:31

I don't care how many brilliant versions of Hamlet (or whatever else) he may do, but imo, Ralph Fiennes is no longer appealing as a 'draw' for stage or screen.

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Chuffinnora · 08/04/2008 22:33

The Richard Gere Hamster up bottom thing is an old and oft repeated rumour.

Earlybird · 08/04/2008 22:35

After the separation/messy divorce/whirlwind romance/quick marriage - does anyone take Sarkozy seriously? I confess I know much more about his private life than his public stance on issues....

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Desiderata · 08/04/2008 22:37

You are a boring old feminist, sky! They had songs written about them.

Songs !!!

Youcannotbeserious · 08/04/2008 22:40

colacubes - I heard that one - but I thought he sued (and won) to prove it wasn't true?

Got to wonder if the hamster was alive when it was put up there, though, don't you!!

DANCESwithaMuffinTop · 08/04/2008 22:41

Pete Doherty - I've NEVER EVER listened to anything by him and never intend to.

Bono - worthy but SNOOOOOOOOOOOOORE, still love U2's early stuff but only want to hear him singing, never talking

skyatnight · 08/04/2008 22:44

Yeah, Desiderata. I know that Patti is most famed for being a muse and that Eric C song: 'beautiful tonight', or whatever it is called, is about her but I hate that song, the melody but, most of all, the lyrics. It's all about how she is so beautiful and caring and is the designated driver and looks after him when he is falling down drunk because he was an alcoholic. Yuck, what a doormat she was and he admits he treated her appallingly. I quite like the other one: 'Layla' but even that is over-rated. Just an opinion!

Earlybird · 08/04/2008 22:46

He's been quieter lately about his private life and various endless 'causes', but I enjoyed listening to Sting/The Police when I didn't know about his band fights, his infidelities, his tantric yoga (or was it tantric sex), his lawsuits with disgruntled former employees....and I don't want to hear his Missus banging on about her insatiable sexual appetite and their marathon shag-fests!

So...I no longer want to listen to Sting.

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