When celebrity watching turns into a dangerous obsession

We all have one celebrity we like or look up to, which is mostly acceptable, but when that adoration turns into an obsession, we’re talking about what even has a name – Celebrity Worship Syndrome or Celebrity Obsession Disorder (COD). Being a part of a fan base is totally normal and many celebrities appreciate and recognise them by engaging with them.

Tyla has her Tygers, Beyoncé has the Bey-hive, Justin Bieber has Beliebers, and there are hundreds more for all sorts of celebrities out there.

However, it is quite a different thing to obsess over a celebrity, to start mimicking their behaviours or even idolising them to the exclusion of everything else in life.

For instance, we have Kim Kardashian who has drastically changed the beauty standards of women globally with her countless surgeries, multiple fillers and botox.

Kardashian is known for her family’s reality series, ‘Keeping Up with the Kardashians’, but she is widely known for her small waist, flat stomach, perfect looking face and big butt.

Many women around the globe have altered their faces and bodies to look like her or almost like her. We have a lot of lookalikes of Kim Kardashian all over the world because of her being the societal and social media beauty standard.

Many women have now also started mimicking her behaviour, her lifestyle, the way she speaks and her clothing style.

Reasons why people obsess over celebrities

Everyone has a different reason why they obsess over their favourite celebs. Most people use celebrities as their escape, some obsess because of social comparison, or identity and belonging, as well as low self esteem.

According to a study by ‘Very Well Mind’, celebrity worship is mostly linked to maladaptive behaviours and poor mental health. Obsessive-compulsive behaviours, anxiety and depression have also been found to be correlated to celebrity worship.

Dangers of celebrity worship

One of the most widely known dangers of celebrity worship is stalking. Almost every celebrity has found themselves in a situation where they had a stalker.

Celebrities such as Buhle Samuels, Gail Mabalane and Lerato Kganyago have found themselves in situations where they were being stalked.

Stalking is a form of harassment where people end up receiving creepy and scary messages, some are followed around and some receive weird phone calls multiple times per day.

Rihanna is one of many celebrities who have experienced stalking. In her case, her stalker broke into her new home while she was away and spent about 12 hours in her home before he was found by Rihanna’s assistant and got arrested.

How to avoid celebrity obsession and worship

There are multiple things that you can do in order to avoid finding yourself in a scary situation.

The first step should be acknowledging that your obsession is unhealthy and might pose risks and cause harm to your mental health and wellbeing.

According to an article by ‘Psychologs’, you should be aware of what you consume on the internet, how much you consume and what benefit it has on your mental health. Choosing to consume content that is positive and beneficial to your growth is important. – IOL Lifestyle