What it takes to be a Celebrity

IT'S ALL ABOUT CELEBRITY DARLING

NEWS.com.au reveals consumer opinion on celebrities

It's official. You no longer have to be talented or successful to be a celebrity, you just have to be recognisable by the majority of the population.

That's the finding from a survey released today by Australia's leading news website NEWS.com.au. "The survey found that the concept of celebrity has changed from what it was 10 years ago," Andrew Banks, Entertainment Editor, NEWS.com.au said. "Celebrities are no longer just talented and successful people in the entertainment industry - 85 per cent of our readers say that as long as they are recognisable by the majority of the population they count as a celebrity.

"The survey found that our fascination with celebrities stems from the vast difference between our lives and theirs. Over 50 per cent of respondents said that it excites them to see a world so unlike our own."

The strong fascination with celebrities means that a majority of respondents support paparazzi, despite some recent negative attention. Over 60 per cent regard paparazzi as essential and will look at photos of celebrities even if they are private.

"Looking at private photos of celebrities is one way of 'humanising' them to see that even the rich and famous don't have perfect lives," Mr Banks said.

Conducted in partnership with CoreData among 906 respondents the survey also found:

Half of all respondents selected film stars as the celebrities they are most interested in.

Britney Spears was voted the most gossip-worthy female celebrity according to 27 per cent of respondents. Angelina Jolie was a close second with Nicole Kidman voted third.

Brad Pitt was voted the most gossip-worthy male celebrity according to 20 per cent of respondents with Tom Cruise and Prince William second and third respectively

Brangelina (Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie) were voted the best celebrity couple with Australian love birds Nicole Kidman and Keith Urban second.

Almost two thirds of respondents chose Paris Hilton as the celebrity they are sick of reading about. Britney Spears was second.

The majority of respondents said they wish media would stop writing stories about Shane Warne's different lovers. Anything Britney-related was again second.

There aren't many TomKat (Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes) supporters out there. Almost half of all respondents said they want the story of a TomKat divorce to come true.

'Best dressed celebrities' is the most favoured gallery according to 36 per cent of respondents. 'Stars without their make-up' was second (18 per cent). When asked to complete the sentence 'Another day, another...', more than half of all respondents completed it with 'another celebrity in rehab'. This option was chosen above 'another celebrity break-up/divorce' and 'another celebrity pregnancy'.

Mr. Banks said the findings reveal that there are more Britney supporters out there than some may think.

"Her latest album was a huge success and while the survey shows that people are sick of reading about her, they also say she's the most "gossip worthy" of them all.