The Life Of A Celebrity

What a life it must be - you're showered with gifts from your sponsors, you don't have to queue for your favourite restaurant and you get paid a fortune, doing what you love to do. Surely the life of Celebrity must be all roses?

Working Overtime For Deals

It may seem that celebrities get 'money for nothing' but the fact of the matter is that many have their 'day job' and then have to work more to land lucrative sponsorship deals. Take for instance a Premiership footballer like Michael Owen - Mr Owen spends most of his time training and playing football in the toughest league on the planet yet still has the time to land lucrative deals with companies such as Tissot, who have even created a mens Tissot couturier watch in his honour. Not that we all wouldn't love an opportunity to have our very own limited edition timepiece, but what most don't see is the enormous amount of work which goes on behind the scenes to land these type of lucrative sponsorship deals.

Branded And Badgered

Celebrities who endorse products are in effect branded and bound by contract to display those products whenever possible. You can see this whenever you watch any major sporting event on the TV - motor racing, tennis, golf and football especially are especially full of totally branded sports celebrities who are paid to advertise. There's a reason the winner of the latest F1 race puts a hat on when on the podium and it's not because his head is cold... you'll probably see a main sponsors logo right above the winner's eyes in prime position on your TV as soon as he steps up onto the top spot!

Even worse than this, it seems that endorsements and celebrity status stop celebrities from doing things in their 'private' lives which they would want to do - Ewan McGregor, celebrity biker and film star has previously complained that contracts had stopped him from enjoying his motorcycles and celebrity car nut and star of numerous movies recently Chris Bana has found that movie contracts have interfered with his love of motor racing, stopping him from competing on occasion.

Privacy? What Privacy?!

Celebrities don't enjoy privacy like the rest of us - try walking down to Tescos if you're David Beckham and see what happens... infact this lack of privacy is now so prevalent for any sort of even 'minor' celebrities that a trip to an amusement park, to the gym or golf club can mean being 'papped' on even the shortest trip.

In the UK, our privacy laws are at best 'relaxed', which means for major celebrities the UK is probably the worst country on the planet to visit. Visitors to theme parks such as Thorpe Park will have seen crowds gathering around minor celebrities from time to time and because of this celebrities who attend places like this for pleasure are more or less required to take with them 'minders' to protect their personal space. Even 'z' list celebs like the 'stars' of 'The Only Way Is Essex' get hassled at places like this, so just imagine what it would be like for major movie stars like Tom Cruise or Harrison Ford!