Being extremely famous

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Due to my lack of Theory of Mind, I've always been unable to imagine what it would be like to be extremely famous. But I'm terribly curious about it.

I don't mean the kind of made-up crap you read in magazines about the rich and famous. I mean the reality of their lives / thoughts / feelings.

Same about the extremely rich.

Have you ever had a chance to catch a glimpse into a famous person (but a real glimpse, not a story told about them by others) or do you have any Theory of Mind about famous people?

I don't know why anyone would want the public life of the extremely famous.

Also, imagine the kind of leeches fame would attract?

Last edited by Puppet on 06 Dec 2008, 11:40 am, edited 1 time in total.

They probably have the same thoughts as all NT's. The feeling of being suprior to everyone.

I would not like to be famous. I value my privacy too much.

grumble...grumble...

I don't believe in "Theory of Mind."

Non-verbal communication is a language I don't understand, like most of the other languages in the world. If somebody's speaking Swahili or Hebrew. I don't have any idea what they're saying. That doesn't mean I'm so dumb I don't believe they're saying anything.

The fact that I seem to be incapable of learning to understand or speak non-verbal is irrelevant. The fact that I can hear doesn't enhance my ability to understand what somebody's saying in Swahili.

Being an aspie doesn't make me a solipsist. I got plenty of limitations, thanks anyway. I don't need more. Nobody in the mental health profession has said anything intelligent since the feminists took over.

Wait a minute, wasn't there a topic here? Quite a few people have gotten famous for being writers, and some of them were actually pretty perceptive. I can read their books about their life experiences. Books think I'm the same as anybody else, so they don't mind if I read them.

Mark Twain was funnier than hell.

Well, I corresponded for a few years a decade or two ago with someone who, at one time, had been extremely famous. He seemed to be as level-headed and nice of a person as anyone else I could have hoped to have known. He was a bit careful of the people he associated with (for obvious reasons) and he was a bit sad that he couldn't just go out in public whenever he wanted to do so (but accepted that as the cost that went with the fame). But he was married, had good friends, seemed to be enjoying life.... He wasn't fabulously rich, though. Just famous.


[Agreed about Mark Twain. And vastly undervalued. People think he was only a humorist. Read his other writings.]

I wouldn't want to be famous unless it meant having LOTS of money. Then I could hide away from the world...

People who are very beautiful often don't think of themselves as beautiful. People who are rich often don't think of themselves as really rich - after all there's always someone richer (if not now then in the past). It's possible that fame works the same way - when you're in the middle of it you don't see it very well.

I know people can find the attention stressful. But I'm not sure how different that would be from the kind of attention you get if you're 7 feet tall, or have an unusual skin colour, or have obvious burn scars, etc. Freak show is freak show.

A fair amount of what's in the tabloids is manufactured by publicists. Keeping in the public eye keeps people in show business employable. Heck of a way to get work/sell records. Though of course some people go that route far more than others. And some people attract attention without wanting to or expecting to (Royal family members, for example).

Nan, what field has this person been famous in? And what had changed in him as a result of having been famous?

That's quite a general statement. To suggest that the vast VAST majority of the entire planet all has the same outlook towards others just seems silly to me. Not to mention the ridiculousness of thinking that all non-NT's don't have that feeling.

Since the feminists took over?
Why so sexist?

Simon Baron-Cohen is not exactly a feminist, anyways.

I've met a few famous people because of my job, well not super-duper famous people, but quite a few well-known bands, TV presenters, actors, etc.
A lot of them are pretty easy going, especially the older ones, who got used to it.
They just see it as part of their job.
The ones who are full of themselves are usually very young and fame hit them fast and they have to deal with such an unusual situation..


Lack of privacy freaks me out, too.

The OP wasn't asking whether you thought it would be nice to be famous; but what you thought it might be like if you were.

I would probably be very stressed out because there wouldn't be any privacy; but I don't know whether that would be such a big problem for an NT.

I wonder if they feel like their actions are more important than others', because so many people are watching them?

Thank you, Callista. I was actually afraid of remarking that as I thought people would feel offended.

Kara, what's your job? And what are famous people like? Pray tell!

They aren't all NTs. And not all NTs feel superior to everyone. In fact, few do. Feeling superior to some, sure. But feeling superior to everyone would not be a common NT trait. Only the person at the top of the social hierarchy would feel that way.

Although, famous people might be more likely to see themselves as the top of the hierachy, or at least high up. But that would be a difference from typical NT thinking, actually.

Most NTs do think they are "above average" though

Not that most of them aren't above average in some respect, anyway; there's so many ways to measure people....