Guilty over celebrity gossip

By: Jill Leth

Posted: 10/19/06

I have an addiction. This addiction is a huge guilty pleasure of mine. It is celebrity gossip magazines. No matter what store I am in, when I see a magazine on the shelf with Britney Spears across the cover with a caption saying, "Is she pregnant, again?" and I just feel a need to buy it.

Reading through so many of these magazines, whether it is People, US Weekly, or Star, I have begun to rely heavily on these articles to indulge me with information about Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes' (also known as TomKat) secret baby dramas and the divorce of Nick and Jessica.

It has become an obsession that I just cannot give up. The worst part about it is that I do not even like half of the celebrities I read about. I really could have cared less about Jude Law cheating on Sienna Miller with the babysitter; yet, I saw the headline and was drawn to it.

Friends of mine joke about the fact that I can tell you anything about any celebrity. The truth is I probably could. The amount of time and money I spend on reading and buying these magazines is ridiculous. The worst part is, I do not even read the articles and move on with my life, the articles become a part of my life; I side with the celebrities in their relationship battles (Team Aniston, right here!!) and I engage in conversation about the issues these celebrities are facing, to the point that it seems they confided in me themselves.

My addiction to gossip magazines have become an addiction. It is a bad one, I admit. Nevertheless, the magazines are a form of entertainment, and that is what they are there for. It could be worse, right?