Celebrities often have to give up their privacy in exchange for the wealth and fame that celebrity status demands. One thing is certain: Public interest drives the demand for a celebrity’s profession- and where public interest goes, the media follows. Then, is it reasonable for celebrities to blame the media’s spotlight for shining on them too harshly when the spotlight is the very reason they can earn their millions?
I believe that they can. The argument that celebrities should have no privacy whatsoever boils down to the notion that they somehow consented to a Faustian bargain by becoming celebrities. In other words, society gives these stars a wonderful life and vast riches, and demands in return that they sell their soul, be placed in a fishbowl and be watched by ogling eyes for society’s amusement.
However, I believe that the conflict between a celebrity’s privacy and the media’s free expression is not a zero-sum game, but a nuanced balancing act.
Think about Kate Middleton herself! In 2012, topless pictures of Kate Middleton appeared on the cover of a French magazine. The pictures, showing the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge inside a private villa, had been taken from a distance with a long-lens camera. The magazine argued that there was a public interest in the relationship of future heirs to the throne. However, the French court ruled in favour of the Royal couple, stating that a distinction must be made between what the public is interested in and what is actually in the public interest.
While many people may wonder about what Royals are up to on holiday, this is not a valid enough reason to justify the invasion of privacy that the taking of clandestine photos leads to. A certain degree of exposure is indeed unavoidable for celebrities, as swarms of paparazzi follow them. However, there is a fine line between covert photography of a celebrity in a public place, where they can anticipate being watched, e.g. at a restaurant, as compared to a private location, where photographing them is a clear invasion of privacy.
The Human Rights Convention guarantees everyone’s right to privacy, as well as their right to free expression. Human rights are just that – they apply to us all. The question today is not whether celebrities have a right to privacy, but how the balance should be struck between privacy and free expression.
