“Never before in history have so many people been under the gaze of so many strangers.”
fame
My Time with Kurt Cobain
“Despite Kurt’s torment—or in a determined attempt to overcome it—Nirvana made life-affirming music. It made me feel better.”
Sinead O’Connor Remembers Things Differently
“The mainstream narrative is that a pop star ripped up a photo of the pope on ‘Saturday Night Live’ and derailed her life. What if the opposite were true?”
Between Jesmyn and Ta-Nehisi
Author Jesmyn Ward sits down with Ta-Nehisi Coates to discuss slavery, superheroes, and how much you have to hate yourself to enjoy being famous.
Wild At Heart
They perform daring escapes from slaughterhouses, zoos, and laboratories. But animals on the run are only as free as we want them to be.
A Clarifying Dose of Reality (TV)
In this personal essay, Valentina Valentini tries out for American Idol and it puts her permanently off fame-seeking.
Grist for the Celebrity Food Mill
Did Rocco DiSpirito sell his culinary soul for a paycheck and some Bertoli frozen pasta?
The Chef Who Wouldn’t Cook
Rocco DiSpirito was once the next great American chef — so why hasn’t he been in the kitchen for the last 13 years?
Reality TV and the Rise of Celebrity-CEOs
Sometimes it seems like everyone’s selling something. They’re selling their jewelry. They’re selling their book, selling their snack line, their natural cosmetics, their Etsy shop and blog and, ultimately, themselves. In The New Yorker‘s 2015 Style Issue, Lizzie Widdicombe writes about Bethenny Frankel, who turned her slot on The Real Housewives of New York City into […]