''Famous for being famous'' is a term for someone who attains celebrity status for no clearly identifiable reason (as opposed to fame based on

achievement Achievement may refer to: *Achievement (heraldry) *Achievement (horse), a racehorse *Achievement (video gaming), a meta-goal defined outside of a game's parameters See also * Achievement test for student assessment * Achiever, a personality type ...

, skill, or talent) and appears to generate their own fame, or someone who achieves fame through a family or relationship association with an existing celebrity.

History

The term originates from an analysis of the media-dominated world called '' The Image: A Guide to Pseudo-events in America'' (1961), by historian and social theorist

Daniel J. Boorstin Daniel Joseph Boorstin (October 1, 1914 – February 28, 2004) was an American historian at the University of Chicago who wrote on many topics in American and world history. He was appointed the twelfth Librarian of the United States Congress in ...

. In it, he defined the celebrity as "a person who is known for his well-knownness". He further argued that the graphic revolution in journalism and other forms of communication had severed fame from greatness, and that this severance hastened the decay of fame into mere notoriety. Over the years, the phrase has been glossed as "a celebrity is someone who is famous for being famous". The British journalist Malcolm Muggeridge may have been the first to use the actual phrase in the introduction to his book ''Muggeridge Through The Microphone'' (1967) in which he wrote:

In the past if someone was famous or notorious, it was for something—as a writer or an actor or a criminal; for some talent or distinction or abomination. Today one is famous for being famous. People who come up to one in the street or in public places to claim recognition nearly always say: "I've seen you on the telly!"

Neal Gabler more recently refined the definition of celebrity to distinguish those who have gained recognition for having done virtually nothing of significance—a phenomenon he dubbed the "Zsa Zsa Factor" in honor of Zsa Zsa Gabor, who parlayed her marriage to actor George Sanders into a brief movie career and the movie career into a much more enduring celebrity. He goes on to define the celebrity as "human entertainment", by which he means a person who provides entertainment by the very process of living. This topic is also known in German-speaking countries. Terms like "Schickeria" or "Adabei" characterize the media, which on the one hand are also understood critically but on the other hand are an important editorial topic that electronic quality media do not want to do without today for commercial reasons. People's reporting is fundamentally an important area of journalism that functions according to its own rules, especially in the print medium, and according to journalist

Norman Schenz Norman Schenz (born 1977) is an Austrian journalist and moderator. He was program director of the radio station Antenne Wien, founding member of the newspaper Österreich and is since 2011 leading society reporter (Austrian German: "Adabei") of th ...

is characterized as "We no longer just write about an event, we tell stories".

Similar terms

Famesque

'' The Washington Post'' writer

Amy Argetsinger Amy Argetsinger is an editor for the Style section of ''The Washington Post''. A staff writer with ''The Post'' since 1995, she covered the Maryland suburbs, higher education and later the West Coast as an L.A.-based reporter before serving eight ...

coined the term famesque to define actors, singers, or athletes whose fame is mostly (if not entirely) due to one's physical attractiveness and/or personal life, rather than actual talent and (if any) successful career accomplishments. Argetsinger argued, "The famesque of 2009 are descended from that dawn-of-TV creation, the Famous for Being Famous. Turn on a talk show or '' Hollywood Squares'' and there'd be Zsa Zsa Gabor, Joyce Brothers, Charles Nelson Reilly, so friendly and familiar and—what was it they did again?" She also used actress Sienna Miller as a modern-day example; "Miller became famesque by dating and then really famesque when he cheated on her with the nanny—to the point that she was the one who made Balthazar Getty famesque (even though he's the one with the hit TV series, '' Brothers & Sisters'') when he reportedly ran off from his wife with her for a while."

Celebutante

Celebutante is a portmanteau of the words " celebrity" and "

debutante A debutante, also spelled débutante, ( ; from french: débutante , "female beginner") or deb is a young woman of aristocratic or upper-class family background who has reached maturity and, as a new adult, is presented to society at a formal " ...

". The male equivalent is sometimes spelled celebutant. The term has been used to describe heiresses like Paris Hilton and

Nicole Richie Nicole Camille Richie (; born September 21, 1981) is an American television personality, fashion designer, socialite, and actress. She came to prominence after appearing in the reality television series ''The Simple Life'' (2003–2007), in whic ...

in entertainment journalism. In 2016 Time magazine described the Kardashian-Jenner sisters as ubiquitous celebutantes for being the highest earning reality stars. Also during an interview in 2011 with the Kardashian family, interviewer

Barbara Walters Barbara Jill Walters (born September 25, 1929) is an American broadcast journalist and television personality. Known for her interviewing ability and popularity with viewers, Walters appeared as a host of numerous television programs, including ...

said, ''"You are all often described as 'famous for being famous'. You don't really act, you don’t sing, you don’t dance. You don't have any - forgive me - any talent."'' The term has been traced back to a 1939 Walter Winchell society column in which he used the word to describe prominent society debutante

Brenda Frazier Brenda Diana Duff Frazier (June 9, 1921 – May 3, 1982) was an American socialite popular during the Depression era. Her December 1938 debutante ball was so heavily publicized worldwide, she eventually appeared on the cover of '' Life'' mag ...

, who was a traditional "high-society" debutante from a noted family, but whose debut attracted an unprecedented wave of media attention. The word appeared again in a 1985 '' Newsweek'' article about New York City's clubland celebrities, focusing on the lifestyles of writer

James St. James James St. James (born James Clark; August 1, 1966) is a television personality, author, celebutante, frequent collaborator with Mathu Andersen, and former "Club Kid", a member of the New York City club scene in the late 1980s and early 1990s. St ...

, Lisa Edelstein and Dianne Brill, who was crowned "Queen of the Night" by Andy Warhol.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Famous For Being Famous Popular culture language Celebrity concepts Popularity Socialites Social influence Pejorative terms for people Matthew effect