“IT'S CALLED GOSSIP AND OF COURSE IT'S AN OBSESSION OF MINE" -ANDY WARHOL

“The other big gossip-magazine trend is for women to be depicted as "mad". Over the past few years we've seen a massive media obsession with women who are considered to be out of control - Britney Spears, Amy Winehouse, Lindsay Lohan and, to a lesser extent, Paris Hilton - and it's hard to avoid the sense that people want to watch these women's story arcs reach the same conclusion as that of their predecessor, the former Playboy model Anna Nicole Smith, who died of an overdose last year. Of course, at one point there was also a massive interest in Pete Doherty's behaviour, but it's notable that this was when he was going out with Kate Moss, and his transgressions therefore reflected on her. Once they had broken up, that interest quickly waned.”

The Guardian
July 1 2008