The Truth About Celebrities
The public has an insatiable appetite for celebrity gossip but magazine writers rarely get the true inside story. So where do we go for the real dirt? How about to the celebrities themselves? The books by ex-best friends Paris Hilton and Nicole Richie take completely different approaches in their telling of the 'truth' but how much of it do they actually tell?
Sometimes it's hard to know where the truth ends and fiction begins. The blurring of the fine line between truth and fiction by Bret Easton Ellis in his recent novel Lunar Park was a work of genius. Neither Paris Hilton nor Nicole Richie has this level of cleverness but nevertheless their books aren't what they claim to be. Paris's book, Confessions of an Heiress, is superficial and sugar-coated while Nicole's book, The Truth About Diamonds, tells all in the guise of fiction.
Anyone hoping for Paris's book to be an honest and revealing insight into her life will be sorely disappointed. Despite using the word 'confessions' in the title, the book is the result of a vivid imagination and is little more than a photo-filled instruction manual for behaving like she does. Very little is actually confessed.
Paris claims early in the book that she 'gets it' but clearly, she doesn't. She glosses over important events in her life and gives an unrealistic interpretation of herself. For example, the only mention of the infamous sex tape is that it was "something I wasn't too proud of, and which had really upset my family". Throughout the book Paris seems to believe that she is surrounded by people clamouring for her attention because she is a talented and interesting person. Wrong! She is surrounded by sycophants. At the end of her book Paris proudly lists her achievements: "a TV career, a modelling career, a book, a start in music". None of this was the result of talent and hard work as she believes. All was made possible by of her famous surname.
People who believe that Paris is a vacuous bimbo born into a life of privilege will, after reading her book, be left with the impression that Paris is a vacuous bimbo born into a life of privilege. Paris did not have the courage to tell her whole story and has instead offered a less than honest account of her life. Surely her fans deserve more than this.
So with Paris Hilton's autobiography bearing little resemblance to reality, I turned to Nicole Richie's supposedly fictional account of celebrity lifestyle for the real story. By changing some names and a few minor details, Nicole has given herself the freedom to tell all and she does. For anyone with even just a passing interest in the world of celebrities, it is obvious that Nicole has based the character Chloe on herself and the character Simone on Paris Hilton. Chloe/Nicole is the adopted daughter of a musician who after, some excessive drug taking, goes to rehab and ends up living happily ever after with her DJ boyfriend. Her best friend is Simone/Paris, a drug taking party girl who is famous for being famous and like to dance on tables and videotape herself with boyfriends. Sound familiar?
In the celebrity world according to Nicole Richie, nothing much happens. The girls live a life of clubbing, drug taking, shopping and obsession with fame and the tabloid media and their friendship eventually ends during the filming of some reality TV spots for a beauty company. As a writer, Nicole doesn't have the talent to develop her characters or storyline beyond the superficial. Nicole/Chloe is portrayed as a good girl who gets led astray by the manipulative and self-seeking Simone/Paris but there is no insight into them as people.
Celebrity party girls are unlikely to tell their stories honestly for fear of being ostracised by their fellow A-listers. The truth is conspicuous by its absence in Paris Hilton's book but, if you are prepared to read between the lines, art imitates life in Nicole Richie's book.
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