Media Circus, Do the Normal Rules Apply?

Sorry to be all "Jaded by Celebrity" but am I the only person (other than those he had affairs with obviously) that wasn't that shocked by Mark Owen's admission to having affairs?

Erm, I hope not!

I know I do go from one extreme of taking the mickey, to the other, of jumping on my High Horse on this blog, but well, I would just like to ask the question, when it comes to celebrities, do the normal rules for life apply?

Using Mark as an example, as it has ended up as a trending topic on Twitter, this is a guy who was thrust, willingly, into the limelight at the age of 18. He, and the rest of Take That, became one of the most recognisable pop bands of the 90s. I myself was a massive fan (being only 8 when they first brought out music), and even though I was only 13 when they first split up, and hadn't even kissed a boy my own age, I would've given anything to snog (or more) with Mark or Robbie. Hell, some girls who were my friends and fellow fans would have snogged Gary if it meant getting near the others (except my sister who fancied Jason even when he had his mullet).

Now, at the time, between 1991 when they first got noticed, and 1996, when they announced they were calling time on releasing any music, Mark and his cohort in naughtiness Robbie were in their early twenties. 

I'm not making any excuses for Mark's behaviour, far from it, and I'm sure his wife will be making him suffer as we speak, but normal lads in their late teens and early twenties will do anything to pull in a club or bar. So imagine being that age, and having girls of all ages, nationalities and shapes and sizes absolutely crawling all over each other to get within screaming distance of you. You can basically take your pick on any hour of the day, it would be like the girl version of Tesco, basically.

Of course he, and his bandmates, like many others beforehand were going to take full advantage.

I recently saw David Bowie's first wife being interviewed about life with a rockstar. The interviewer asked how she felt about his having affairs.

Well, rather than act like a wounded woman, she laughed. She explained that to her mind back then, it came with the territory, she knew it happened, and had seen evidence of it, and had even been propositioned herself purely because she was Mrs Bowie. 

She made the point that when a person, young or old, is in the public eye, they can click their fingers and make demands which are not possible in the normal everyday lives of you and me. If they want two puppies dressed as clowns, being chauffeur driven at 2am, they can have it. If they fancy a curry from their favourite restaurant  in the UK, when they are in LA, one phone call and its on a private jet.

I can give an example of the lengths girl will go to get near their idol.

When I was 11, I had been a fan of Take That for ages, knew all the songs, had all the albums, posters and merchandise, and never missed them on TV. From 1993 to 1996 I literally kissed a poster of Mark and Robbie good night every night- I had it above my bed, and in it, Mark was pursing his lips in a kiss face.

My best friend Zoe (we have been friends since very young, and still are now) had found out where Mark lived. God knows how, but she had. And so we planned to give our parents the slip and go up to Manchester to stake out his home. 

Now, we were in Gillingham, some 248 miles away from just the centre of Manchester, which neither of us had ever visited before. The only knowledge (if you can call it that) of his house or what it looked like was from the Everything Changes video. Not good really. But to us, at 11, we firmly believed we would get to Manchester after bunking the train ( tee hee, the days when you could go by train with no ticket!) and ask a Mancunian who would just know where we needed to go. I actually think we half expected it to be signposted! On arrival, we really did think that Mark would be indoors just like the video, feeding his Dog, and washing up for his Mum, probably whilst Robbie Dried and Gary made Banofee pie, and Jason and Howard breakdanced for the parents amusement!

So we both told our parents we were staying at each others house, and I couldn't believe my Mum agreed. We were so excited.

Then our teacher overheard us. 

He called my Mum in and, unbeknown to us, told her what was going on. She then told Zoe's Mum, and that was the end of that plan (and I was banned from Zoe's house for about 2 years too by my Mum).

That is what I am saying- if girls our young and stupid age would go to that length, then girls and teens, even those in their early twenties were bound to have. And obviously with a lot more success.

So, no not shocked at all.

Just wish I had of been 16 back then, not 11!