Leave Britney Alone!

Who's your biggest celebrity idol? Jessica Alba? Justin Timberlake?

Now picture them suddenly associated with more scandals in a week than the pairs of undies you go through per year:
Wild parties.
Wardrobe malfunctions.
Drug addictions.
Drunken behaviour.
Nervous breakdowns.
Unexpected pregnancies.
Marriage breakdowns.
Depression.
Weight gain.
Oh, and on top of that, they're now homosexual.

Still their biggest fan? It's funny how human weaknesses most prevalent in western society can alter our perception of public figures. Is that to say, that we only look up to people when they're at their best? Some fair weather fans we are.

But is the aforementioned list any different to what happens to your neighbours, to your friends, to your family members, to your work mates… even to your own self?

Add a shaven head to the equation and you get my biggest celebrity idol: Britney Spears. Over the past few years, it became something like mission impossible to pick up a magazine that didn't splash her across their pages.

Flicking through, I glimpse the trashy pictures and skim the infamous headlines. I see an artist who became a victim of her own success. I am reminded of friends who became mothers and fathers in their teens. I am reminded of my own parent's divorce. And whether or not Britney is really lesbian, I am reminded of my homosexual friends and their constant struggle for respect. I am reminded of my friends who take every opportunity to party hard and drink harder. But most of all, I am reminded that all of these could easily be me.

I believe that every human being is entitled to as many downfalls required for them to make and learn from their own mistakes – even if it's doing them the longest, hardest, most dangerous way possible.

HYPOTHETICALLY, should I ever smoke marijuana throughout my pregnancy and call my child Weed-Girl (even if it's a boy), put on an extra 150 kg yet wear the same size 6/8 clothes, claim to be a witch doctor and start my own cult, try to perform liposuction on myself using a butter knife and vacuum cleaner and shave my head before being admitted into a rehabilitation centre…

In the same way that I anticipate the day Britney Spears comes clean, I'd like to hope that there's at least one blog reader with enough faith in me to know that I'll pull through, and anticipate the blog entry where I can again speak with clarity and wisdom from the traumatic experiences that plagued my troubled years.