Does Kristen Stewart need to get over herself?

A couple of weeks ago Kristen Stewart and Taylor Lautner visited Australia to promote the latest film instalment of the Twilight series. I am a fan of the Twilight books … but  definitely no Twi-hard, yet on a scale of 1-10, my interest in their visit was around a 7 or 8.

My fascination with these two actors has little to do with my love of the Twilight books and more to do with the different ways they have seemed to deal with their skyrocketing fame. Fame of course comes bundled with two major “perks” - shedloads of money and shedloads of public interest. Public interest generally manifests itself in the form of hundreds of rabid photographers dogging your every move.

Lautner it seems has embraced his new found fame and handles all the attention with good humour. Stewart on the other hands is the poster child for an argument I frequently have with one of my friends. This photo of Stewart flipping the bird to photographers from her  hotel balcony lead to much criticism on radio and tv during her time in Australia. The general consensus seemed to be that “she knew what she was getting into when she decided to become an actor so she should get over herself”.

I am personally a shy and private person except around friends and family (ie people I trust) so watching a Kristen Stewart interview is almost as painful for me as having teeth pulled. Well actually more painful because pulling teeth is endured with a healthy dose of anaesthesia. I really feel for her, and anyone else for that matter, who has been exposed to the excruciating level of fame and scutiny  just because they are good at acting instead of running complex mathematical equations.

My friend on the other hand believes that you can’t accept the lashings of cash that come your way because of fame but then complain about the harsh spotlight of the public eye. She believes if you don’t want the latter you must give up the former.

So are you a subscriber to the theory that if you are a good enough actor (or sportsperson) that you could make it your profession, you should happily accept that the ability to walk down the street unmolested is a thing of the past?