America's Love of Celebrity Gossip Magazines

Take a Look Inside

America is obsessed with celebrity - tabloid magazines with Britney, Angelina and Jennifer on the cover, proliferate. Tired of reading about the war, about the struggling economy, about the crimes committed, more and more Americans are subscribing to the tabloid or celebrity gossip magazine. Personally I wait with bated breath to receive my weekly subscriptions of People (I read it cover to cover), OK! Weekly, US Weekly, and Star Magazine. These gossipy magazines, filled with juicy details of stars' private lives, allow me to leave the stresses of my own boring life and enter another world - albeit for a half hour interval. While I know that much of what I read is untrue (or at the very least possibly exaggerated), I don't really care all that much. I want to see that Brad and Angelina are enjoying their children while taking a family day at a Parisian park. I cheer on singer Sheryl Crow as she fights breast cancer and feel upset with Lance Armstrong, one of my heroes, for leaving her. I pray that Jennifer Aniston will find peace with her new man, Vince. I smile at the antics of heiress Paris Hilton as she parties all night long, making more enemies each day. These gossip magazines take me on a journey into places that I, the average American, would never be able to enter. This dreamlike exploration is one of the reasons for the success of such magazines.

Let's take a look at what appeared on the cover of these celebrity gossip magazines for the week of March 13, 2006:
Star Magazine: Proclaiming itself the mag that "breaks celebrity news first", Star magazine's cover exclaims that Angelina Jolie hates her new body; how Kevin Federline ruined wife Britney Spears and why she's finally ready to divorce him; asks the question is Jennifer Aniston pregnant already; and wonders where's Lance Armstrong now that ex fiancée Sheryl Crow is fighting breast cancer.