Some might raise the argument that by becoming a celebrity, a person gives up certain privacy and autonomy over their life.
While that might have some truth to it, no one deserves to be exposed and dragged through the mud while they’re going through a difficult time. As of late, Cara Delevingne has been in the eye of the storm.
Last week, the 30-year-old model and actress was seen acting strangely as she made her way to Van Nuys Airport in Los Angeles. Footage and photographs show Delevingne without shoes on and behaving quite oddly as she boarded the plane with her team. However, something occurred that caused them to exit the plane and leave the airport in a black SUV.
What broke the camel’s back was actress Margot Robbie, a close friend of Delevingne, leaving the British star’s home visibly distraught. There are talks in the tabloids of an alleged mental health and substance abuse intervention for Delevingne.
Now that we have some context, enough gossip talk. As much of a media consumer as I am, educating myself to write about pop culture was particularly hard. Delevingne’s media coverage is absolutely disgusting and it turns my stomach upside down.
As uncomfortable as it makes me, I cannot turn a blind eye to the constant mistreatment of women coping with mental health issues. I feel like seeing these kinds of things happening has become so normalized that we don’t even think to react anymore. I decided to shed light on it because this is not the first or the last time it’s going to happen.
People give their unnecessary opinion about how famous women should behave when they’re disrespected, drop some pounds, give their abuser a chance, answer highly personal and uncomfortable questions, smile and perform as they’re told in their little golden cage.
In Delevingne’s case, she has been in the modeling industry since she was 10-years-old, but was officially signed into a modeling agency when she was 17. She was struggling with severe anxiety and depression at the time, according to Harper Bazaar.
In an age where everyone has no idea what they’re doing, I can only imagine how overwhelmed Delevingne must have felt with cameras following her around, doing things that she might not want to do, all while having the media’s critical eye on her the whole time.
In a field of work that expects the impossibility of perfection, aspiring models could be subjecting themselves to anxiety, depression, eating disorders, sexual harassment and financial mistreatment, to only name a few mishaps.
The more a celebrity seems to be making a spectacle of themselves, the more the media enjoys getting a kick out of it. Delevingne is being ridiculed at an extremely difficult time of her life. This is what countless tabloids have done to female celebrities over the years, especially because women are often held to a higher standard than their male counterparts.
Emotional women are a circus, a show you do not want to miss, a loose cannon that will be a good headline and sell because the media sees women as an object. They lay themselves bare for the world to pick and take until there’s nothing left.
Buzzfeed has made a compilation of 15 well-known female celebrities that have been abused by the media. I can assure you those are only some examples of the plethora of women that had to come close to moving Heaven to try to put a stop to the mistreatment against them.
Still, all people in the public eye must bear the burden of being constantly observed, critiqued and shamed for acting of their own free will. We often forget celebrities are still human beings that make mistakes that feel and hurt just like the rest of us.
Our culture has pushed us into thinking that materialistic things and consumerism are the way to achieve happiness. While the goods you are buying could alleviate your negative emotions, they won’t outweigh the internal turmoil you’re experiencing.
Despite all the riches and fame that come with stardom, famous people are individuals that shouldn’t be put on a pedestal because believe it or not, they struggle, too.
