19 Celebs Who Have Spoken About How Much They Hate Being Famous

George Clooney is arguable a very famous person. Yet he told Omega Lifetime magazine that he isn’t a fan, saying,  “Fame can be very dangerous because you can start to enjoy that part of it… And that’s not the good part of what I do for a living. The good part is the making of films. The unpleasant part is the fame part if you’re not careful.”

At the height of the Twilight series, Robert said he couldn’t go to the grocery store due to paparazzi. He told Spanish GQ, “People don’t realize how lonely you are. In any case, I feel fortunate because success didn’t reach me very young, at least, I had the opportunity to have a life before.” 

She told 3voor12 Extra in 2019, “I don’t mean this in a necessarily negative way, but I sort of lost my teenage years because this all started when I was 13. There is no training, there’s no, like, let me go to a school that’s going to teach me how to be famous.”  

While Gomez hasn’t said she hates being famous, she did speak about the downside, telling Interview Magazine in 2020 that everything she does causes a reaction, saying “The sad part is that I don’t remember a time when that wasn’t the case. What has kept me afloat is that I know eventually it’ll be someone else — and I don’t mean that in a negative way.” She said, adding that fame has still allowed her to talk about things that are important to her, “A huge part of why I have a platform is to help people. That’s why I think I’m okay with the magnitude. I mean, I’m not really okay with it — but I’m going to say that I am because it’s worth it.”

She spoke to Esquire magazine in 2013 about the downsides of fame, saying, “I don’t think people understand. They all think we should shut the f—k up and stop complaining because you live in a big house or you drive a Bentley. So your life must be so great. What people don’t realize is that fame, whatever your worst experience in high school, when you were being bullied by those ten kids in high school, fame is that, but on a global scale, where you’re being bullied by millions of people constantly.”  

Ford told WENN in 2010 that there is nothing good about being famous, going on to say  “You always think, ‘If I’m successful, then I’ll have opportunities.’ You never figure the cost of fame will be a total loss of privacy. That’s incalculable. What a burden that is for anybody. It was unanticipated and I’ve never enjoyed it. You can get the table you want in a restaurant. It gets you doctor’s appointments. But what’s that worth? Nothing.”

He spoke to Newsweek in 2009, “It’s everything we didn’t sign up for… There’s this whole other entity that you get sucked into. You have to go and sell your wares… Somehow you’re not supporting your film if you don’t get out on a show and talk about your personal life. It has nothing to do with why I do this.”  

She told Australia’s Daily Telegraph in 2007, “I did not want to be a celebrity … I think fame is just something that comes along when you are in something that is such a success.” Going on, she says,  “Everyone is trying to get into your business. I don’t like people staring at me all the time, and I don’t want people following me around.”

During a press conference for Birdman, Zach Galifianakis talked about how much he dislikes the fame that comes with acting, saying. ”Being a celebrity is…dumb. I’m not interested in it. I like to be an actor and that’s it… I’m just being honest. I would rather do my work and go home and watch Lifetime or something.”  

She told Vogue in 2013, “I am just not okay with [being famous]. It’s as simple as that. I am just a normal girl and a human being, and I haven’t been in this long enough to feel like this is my new normal. I’m not going to find peace with it.”  

The model says fame has caused her to lose friends, telling Harper’s Bazaar in 2017, “I’ve lost a lot of friends because I’ll get busy for a short period of time, and they’re not reaching out, but if I don’t reach out, then it’s like I’ve changed. I’m good with [the friends] I’ve got.”

The artists told Business Standard in 2016, “Being in the public eye is so weird. People want to shame you. It’s not a celebration of a talent.”  Later, telling Zane Lowe on Apple Music 1, “I think it definitely is difficult like when you’re younger and you get so much attention so quickly, it’s hard to be free.”

She told Harpers Bazaar in 2015, “Fame is the worst thing in the world. Especially if it’s pointless. When people say, ‘I want to be famous’ — why? You don’t do anything?” 

She told AP in 2019 that she’s struggled with the ‘famous’ word since she started acting at five years old, going on to say, “The ‘fame’ word was hard for me because it felt like there was a separation between me and everyone else, and I feel like that word alone is so stigmatized and there are so many connotations associated with it that for a long time I refused to even acknowledge it.”

The mega-famous actress has said that rumors can get frustrating, telling Entertainment Weekly in 1991 that it forces her to clear up lies told about her, saying, “That’s why it’s so absurd and frustrating. Why should I have to explain something that’s never been an issue in my life? But I’m forced to because every paper in the country is writing that I’m a drug addict.”

She also told People in 2020, “I used to wake up in the morning, and I would realize I was ‘Lady Gaga’ and then I became very depressed and sad, and I didn’t want to be myself. I felt threatened by the things my career brought into my life and the pace of my life.”

She told The Today Show that being famous comes along with pressure and increased anxiety, saying “It feels like life or death,” continuing, she said, “Your body just goes into fight or flight. The endorphin rush and the dump that happens after the panic attack is so extraordinary. You just feel so relieved and your body is just kind of recovered in a way. It’s so bizarre because it’s physiological, but it starts in your head.”

He told Sam Jones on The Off Camera Show in 2019 that his experience with fame as a kid wasn’t always great, saying, “As a kid, the thing that sucked, and the thing that did, you know, burrow its way in there and was really unpleasant was getting booed. If you would be going into an event and the professional autograph hunters. There are some people who can do it and they go about it in a way that is okay, and they’re not d—- about it and they’re fine, but there are also some people that will boo and shout at a child,” Going on, he mentioned, “If you just hear people booing and shouting stuff at you and about you, that, as a kid, sucked. I do remember that being very disheartening.”

The reality star says being famous has caused her anxiety, telling Interview magazine in 2015, “I wake up every morning with the worst anxiety. I don’t know why. I have, like, a problem,” she shared. “I wake up every morning at, like, seven or eight because I think that there’s a bad story about me, and I have to check. My worst fear is waking up and finding something bad about me on the Internet.”