For some celebs, price of fame getting too steep

Early chroniclers worked with studios
Movie magazines and gossip columns proliferated in the 1930s, but journalists worked hand-in-hand with the studios to publicize stars through fawning coverage, promote phony romances and cover up scandals.

And while early gossip columnists such as Hedda Hopper and Louella Parsons wielded astonishing influence, they were often doing the bidding of the studios. Like stern aunts, they often scolded the ones who violated the studios’ strict morality codes, packed on weight or dated someone the suits felt could damage their image.

When the studio system collapsed in the mid-1950s, a new, aggressive style of celebrity reporting emerged, spearheaded by a salacious magazine called “Confidential.”

It “outed” gay celebs (“Liberace’s theme song should be ‘Mad About the Boy,’” chortled one headline), reported on extramarital affairs, drug use and interracial dating. After a number of stars sued the tabloid for libel, it was financially crippled and, for more than a decade, celebrity scandal went underground.

It didn’t resurface in a big way until “The National Enquirer,” a tabloid previously devoted mostly to blood and gore, refocused on celebrities in 1971 and quickly built one of largest circulations in the country.

When Time Inc. launched “People” in 1974, it brought celebrity reporting back into the mainstream. Other publishers quickly followed.

Television entered the fray in the late 1970s, first with segments and then entire shows dedicated to celebrity news.

Greater reward leads to more risk
The rapid growth of the market upped the ante for photographers and writers who suddenly discovered they could make a financial killing with an exclusive picture or a story about a sought-after star. This led to more-aggressive pursuit on their part and increasing pressure on the stars’ privacy.

In recent years, the issue of how much privacy celebrities have a right to expect has been further blurred by exhibitionistic stars like Paris Hilton, Anna Nicole Smith and Madonna and celebrity reality shows.

Nicole Richie, for instance, has blamed her recent startling weight loss on anxiety provoked by the constant buzz of paparazzi, but she still continues to appear in a reality TV show.

Some stars, including Britney Spears, argue for their right to privacy even as they set up Web sites featuring pictures of them at home and post tidbits about their supposedly private lives.

Others have been known to publicly complain about their loss of privacy while simultaneously leaking their stories to the tabs.

Celebrities like Leonardo DiCaprio and Jodie Foster, on the other hand, routinely refuse to answer any questions about their personal lives.

Nothing underscores the different tolerances for publicity among celebs more than weddings.

Some stars go to great lengths to keep the press away, John F. Kennedy Jr.’s super-secret nuptials to Carolyn Bessette being a famous example.

Others invite the media, though usually with a price tag attached.

Wrong rag bags nuptials
When Catherine Zeta Jones and Michael Douglas sued UK celeb mag “OK!” for crashing their wedding and taking pics, the issue was exclusivity rather than privacy. The couple had sold exclusive rights to photograph the event to rival tab “Hello!”

Some who invite the media behind closed doors later regret it.

Jessica Simpson and Nick Lachey have said that allowing the public to watch their marital spats — whether real or staged — during the reality show “Newlyweds” helped lead to the failure of their marriage.

“I learned it's a real premium to keep some of your personal life personal,” Lachey said recently. “When you're able to ... go home and have a life separate from your job, it's a real blessing.”

Whether burned by experience or simply turned off by the relentless hounding, other celebrities have tried to fight back, with mixed results.

Sylvester Stallone attempted to organize a celebrity boycott of paparazzi. The photographers retaliated by refusing to take his picture when he appeared at press events.

Actor George Clooney regularly assails the paparazzi and the tabloid media.

“George’s philosophy is simple: If it happens in public, then it’s fair game,” explains his spokesman, Stan Rosenfield. “But if it happens in private, it’s private.”

Clooney also has gone underground to fight the likes of Gawkerstalker.com (a celebrity-crazed Web site that reports tidbits such as: “Faye Dunaway is shopping at Duane Reade at 57^th & Sixth right now")  by encouraging others to send in fake sightings. The reason, Rosenfield explains, is that such reports can bring out the crazies.

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