The constant attention that comes with fame inflates some celebrities' egos. For others though, the effect is the reverse: it makes them so aware of their shortcomings that they may be driven to self-destruction.
Mark Schaller, Ph.D., of the University of British Columbia, has surveyed the works of songwriters Kurt Cobain and Cole Porter and of writer John Cheever to see how often they used the first person singular. With each man, the rate of self-reference jumped after he became famous.
Schaller theorizes that the relentless scrutiny of fans and the media leads some celebrities to become acutely self-conscious. Some develop "impostor syndrome," he observes. "They think to themselves, 'I know that I'm not as great as they think I am.'"
The need to escape this agonizing self-awareness may lead some famous people into alcoholism, drug abuse, or compulsive sexuality, says Schaller. Porter and Cheever were both alcoholics. Using journals and letters, Schaller has found that Cheever's battles with alcohol apparently followed the periods of his greatest renown.
