Not quite on topic . . .
however, there is a celebrity connection in this comment.

Neither I, nor Legless, read the gossip magazines. I may occasionally buy a women's magazine to read film/movie reviews, or look at clothing trends. The "lifestyle" or "true life" stories leave me cold - they get skipped rather quickly. Letters and celebrity news - ditto. I don't really want to know what the A list - Z list do with themselves, and I have a rather cynical view of any story about celebrities as philanthropists (don't get me started on Angelina Jolie and her handbag husband). I must admit even with my selective reading, I now hesitate to buy anything glossy, A4 size with Brad/Angelina/Britney/Oprah/Next Big Thing on the cover.

I have however, the misfortune to spend a lot of time waiting in operating theatre tea rooms, waiting for cases to start. These places abound with donated trashy magazines, from "OK", to "New Idea" to my personal favourite "That's Life" (light reading for pond scum).

My bugbear when leafing through these (at stupid o'clock in an attempt to stay awake), is the continual reference to "friends" or "sources" of said celebrity claiming they are pregnant/divorce is imminent/they're losing too much weight/they need rehab for their drug problem/their spotted outing with generic celebrity 2 is obviously a display of "true love".
It's obvious that 99.9% of the time the "source" is a quotation from the editors who can't think of something interesting to write, and yet there are multitides that *believe* this drivel.
Someone buys this crap; even worse - some believe time and time again, that there are secret "sources/friends/pals/close friends" for each celebrity that have the ear of a maagzine editor and can tip them off about their lives;
I hate the assumption that I (or anyone) would believe such a very bad attempt at journalism - that someone in these places of work assumes we can't see the patterns/formulas in a celebrity report, fromt the false "sources" to the limited vocabulary, the emotive language and the poetic licence used in quotes. Don't get me started on celebrity photos - one week, Miss A is "too fat" - the next, "dangerously thin" . . . a tired strained face or scowl captured by the paparazzi is always attributed to "relaitionship problems," and overindulgence during Christmas for any female 15 - 45 is automatically a "baby bump."

Most of us know how to think and draw conclusions - the popular media seems to have forgetten this.
( Mrs Legless . . . belongs to, well, you know . . . :), Sat 6 Feb 2010, 5:12, 5 replies)

You're on the money there
I once received a phone call from a relative who reads such drivel, telling me about an article in "that's life". Turns out , my ex-wife has scored $500 for a "true story" about my daughter having bulimia at age 6 and how I was the underlying cause. The child in question has never been bulimic, bearing in mind that mum would be a conservative 130 kg and considers that anyone thinner than her is anorexic. After contacting the magazine, they justified their "true story" by using the "as told by" phrase,instead of actual research, so in their eyes they had done no wrong. The worthless pricks then challenged me to write my own story to correct the one told,instead of them issueing a correction. Fuck them, I don't read their garbage, nor will I contribute to their profits.
(M61A1 CUPID- STUNTS, Sat 6 Feb 2010, 5:28, closed)

Yes, that's the magazine down to a tee . . .
Full of stories about men/women who have been wronged, and how these "battlers" (God, I hate that word) have struggled through. Full of utter shit. You're right now to contribute to their ire, but you could also sue them - what they've written is hearsay, but still wrong and poentially damaging. And I'd like the fuckers to go out of business too . . .
( Mrs Legless . . . belongs to, well, you know . . . :), Sat 6 Feb 2010, 8:50, closed)

It gets worse...
"A source close to me" reliably informs me that half of those "real life" stories are made up. (And certainly when you see some of the more ridiculous "My dad beat me with my brother's severed penis while bumming my dog"-style stories, it's hardly surprising.)

Basically, when they're short of a story or two, they ring around various agents/managers and ask if they have anyone on their books willing to pose for a photograph next to some ridiculous story, under a false name, pretending to have had a child following a lesbian affair with their own grandmother. My friend does the odd bit of modelling work and received one such offer from her manager. She considered changing her manager after that one...
(LongJohnBaldry, Mon 8 Feb 2010, 9:45, closed)

My preferred theory
is that "Celebrity X's friend" is actually Celebrity X themselves, or at least their agents, trying to pass off some story, whatever the degree of truth, positive or negative. No such thing as bad publicity, etc.
( Dave McF wrote some words on, Sat 6 Feb 2010, 5:54, closed)

"Friend said" =
Made up...

I've worked with enough tabliod journalists to know this is how it works
( TheMattInAHat has a particular... odour..., Sat 6 Feb 2010, 8:59, closed)