What is the driving force behind the decision to become a celebrity? Fame seems like such an unhappy state of affairs, with so many drug addicts and alcoholics crawling into rehab many times over, and yet so many people chase after it, some in horrific ways, others finding it through no fault of their own. Once arrived at the top of the heap and securely ensconced in the public eye, different people handle fame differently.
Author J. D. Salinger became a recluse, as did the painter Georgia O'Keefe, and for that we can never thank them enough. Then there's Whoopi Goldberg, who is quite famous these days for nothing much, unless you count being ugly, having bad hair and wearing silly outfits reason enough. This morning, barely able to face the world yet glad to be alive considering a string of misfortunes I have suffered of late, I logged on to my computer and was slammed in the face with Whoopi being interviewed by Marlo Thomas and her new face.
Marlo asked Whoopi how she got her stage name, since she was born Karen Johnson. "I'm a farter," she answered, a habit which garnered comparisons to a whoopee cushion, that popular rubber toy used in "flatulence humor" that makes the sound of a fart when you sit on it. There's more to the story but that's really all you need to know, except maybe that she almost went with the name Whoopi Cushion but instead used "a family name" suggested by her mother. I can't be sure, but if I were famous and I were also, as Whoopi so brazenly put it, "a farter," I would not want that to be part of my legend. But hey, that's just me.
Author J. D. Salinger became a recluse, as did the painter Georgia O'Keefe, and for that we can never thank them enough. Then there's Whoopi Goldberg, who is quite famous these days for nothing much, unless you count being ugly, having bad hair and wearing silly outfits reason enough. This morning, barely able to face the world yet glad to be alive considering a string of misfortunes I have suffered of late, I logged on to my computer and was slammed in the face with Whoopi being interviewed by Marlo Thomas and her new face.
Marlo asked Whoopi how she got her stage name, since she was born Karen Johnson. "I'm a farter," she answered, a habit which garnered comparisons to a whoopee cushion, that popular rubber toy used in "flatulence humor" that makes the sound of a fart when you sit on it. There's more to the story but that's really all you need to know, except maybe that she almost went with the name Whoopi Cushion but instead used "a family name" suggested by her mother. I can't be sure, but if I were famous and I were also, as Whoopi so brazenly put it, "a farter," I would not want that to be part of my legend. But hey, that's just me.
What? Marlo Thomas has a new face now? Show me!
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