[Z]

What do you think of this phenomenon? Is it justifiable for celebrities to have fake relationships in order to protect or advance their career interests? Although the term beard is generally applied to closeted homosexual celebrities pretending to be romantically linked to someone of the opposite sex, I'd like to open the discussion up to other career enhancing fake relationships (or rumoured fake relationships) too. Do you think there's no harm in it; it's mutually beneficial for all involved? Do you think it's damaging to the people involved; are there wider ramifications for other people, like if one or both of the people in the fake relationship wants to pursue a real relationship? Can it affect an entire group of people (e.g. the LGBT community) if people are perpetuating fake relationships?

[Firewire]

it's not a good thing that people still need to hide who they really are, it's 2014 for goodness sake

[Marsh.]

I think it is justifiable if they're protecting their career but it is also damaging, like a vicious circle. They hide because they fear the rejection but by hiding they're not exactly helping to change attitudes.

Simon Cowell's surrogate is a very obvious beard.

[Z]

What do you think about the people who accept the role? Is it any different from acting in a film? They're being paid to play a part, technically, but then there's the issues of lying and it could be seen as immoral - what do you think?

[Marsh.]

I think it's very different to acting in a film. People believe it's real for starters.

[Z]

What do you think about fake relationships more along the lines of 'showmances' that we'd see in Big Brother for example - C-list celebrities pretending to date each other in order to secure magazine deals and boost both of their profiles; do you think that's harmful or do you think it's different from 'beards' because while there are elements of lying and profit making involved, it's fundamentally different? Or do you think both practices are similar enough that both should be condemned/both are okay?

[Marsh.]

I feel like I'm in a job interview and I'm under qualified.

[Z]

Originally Posted by 08marsh

I feel like I'm in a job interview and I'm under qualified.

Sorry marsh! I find it a very interesting subject... because it combines greed, deception and shame into one famous package

[Marsh.]

Errr... I think the showmance stuff is wrong too in general but not as harmful in the sense that they are not necessarily covering up something about themselves which causes a great deal of pain for people in general.

So for example the lack of gay people in the public eye leads to self conscious teens not feeling "normal" and not having role models to look up to and leads to society not accepting it as a part of life but a showmance isn't really contributing to that unless it's to cover something else up.

It's 2.12 so I'm rambling here. It makes sense in my head.

[Z]

No I totally agree with you, makes perfect sense! But then I also think with showmances, they can be harmful in the sense that they're trying to sell this idea of perfect love to people when it's a complete lie - these are the sorts of fairytale relationships that get marketed to young girls in particular that can potentially influence young minds and set ridiculous, unattainable standards - canoodling on a beach pretending not to see the half dozen paparazzi guys and releasing joint statements about how they're going to have kids even though they've only been together for 2 months and having photo shoots for Hello! magazine...

But then that is, of course, different from lying about the nature of the relationship to 'protect' someone's sexuality... like boy band members - people get trapped in the closet because the PR machine makes money out of them being marketed as single and heterosexual and available, so perhaps they decide to hire a 'beard' so they can at least make some kind of profit out of their situation, except that makes it worse, as you said, because they're trapping themselves in this cycle... it's very sad to see how these people come out in later life and 1) nobody's shocked and 2) nobody cares... e.g. Lance Bass. Why didn't he admit it when he was at the height of his fame when he could have been influential and a good role model? Probably for a variety of reasons... but now he looks sad and desperate to keep his name in the headlines.

[Marsh.]

Yeah, it's another section of the fame game that is just sad and desperate and really show how a "harmless lie" can have awful consequences. You can't live life a second time and spending it living a lie must be exhausting.

[Ammi]

..hmm, I'm not sure that I understand the need to do it..I know 'back in the day' of glamour movie stars, 'Hollywood heart-throbs' were presented and promoted in a certain way, so many were forced to hide their sexuality and also to hide marriages as well in case they lost some of their popularity and saleability for the movie companies if they were either homosexual or married..they had to fit a Hollywood stereotype...but there is no stereotype of a Hollywood movie star anymore, I don't think...so I don't understand why there is a need to hide who they are..unless maybe, it's something that they themselves are not comfortable with..?...

...BB housemates etc...one of my pet hates in BB is showmances, it really spoils it for me because it takes up so much airtime...but I guess that I do understand it in a way because most BB housemates have a very limited popularity/celebrity/publicity time after they leave the house, so a showmance will probably be the way that they can make the most out of it in terms of earning etc...

[arista]

Originally Posted by Z

What do you think of this phenomenon? Is it justifiable for celebrities to have fake relationships in order to protect or advance their career interests? Although the term beard is generally applied to closeted homosexual celebrities pretending to be romantically linked to someone of the opposite sex, I'd like to open the discussion up to other career enhancing fake relationships (or rumoured fake relationships) too. Do you think there's no harm in it; it's mutually beneficial for all involved? Do you think it's damaging to the people involved; are there wider ramifications for other people, like if one or both of the people in the fake relationship wants to pursue a real relationship? Can it affect an entire group of people (e.g. the LGBT community) if people are perpetuating fake relationships?

This is not a Serious Debate Zee.
What the Feck are you playing at?

[thesheriff443]

this is the way I see it,
celebrities advertise brands and goods, some take a big mouthful of cow piss and tell you how they never felt better after discovering it!

if you then want to believe that than more fool you.

I don't live my life by what so called celebs are doing.

[thesheriff443]

Originally Posted by arista

This is not a Serious Debate Zee.
What the Feck are you playing at?

this is not zee's thread
what the feck are you playing at?

[arista]

Originally Posted by thesheriff443

this is not zee's thread
what the feck are you playing at?

It Fecking is
Zee is Z


he is a former mod so got a fast tracked name change


But the Point is why post it in this section?

[Jake.]

I thought that this was going to be about actual beards

[Kyle]

To be honest I'd like to know who even gives a toss who celebrities date whether it's fake or not.

[LeatherTrumpet]

I think Simon Cowell went too far with the baby tho

[Shaun]

Originally Posted by LeatherTrumpet

I think Simon Cowell went too far with the baby tho

[Iceman]

Originally Posted by arista

It Fecking is
Zee is Z


he is a former mod so got a fast tracked name change


But the Point is why post it in this section?

It's fine in this section.

[Ninastar]

I love talking about this because its something i know quite a lot about... I don't know about others, but i can spot a hollywood 'it couple' and know straight away if its real or fake (tbh its not hard, 95% of the time it's fake)

People wonder why these actors/singers/whoevers need to beard... Well it's mainly because a lot of the world is still pretty homophobic (and this isn't even just the redneck southern states... we're talking about places where it's illegal to be gay) and it's to protect them from abuse. People who have come out have received death threats for inspiring people to do the same. Its not pretty and tbh I don't blame them for not wanting to come out.

Another reason is quite simply... Hollywood, the most awful, sexist, racist and homophobic industry to ever exist and it's sad because people look at it and think it's a city of dreams. WELL IT'S NOT! How many main roles are played by women of colour? Or older than 50? or women who aren't straight? Think of all the films and all the options possible for main characters/relationships and how many of them are your typical white/young/straight female... Producers don't hire 'controversial' (aka big gay) actresses because they don't want the chance that they could affect the success of the film/whatever it is

you're probably wondering why i'm only talking about women and it's pretty simple. a guy can take off his shirt in a film trailer and millions of people will want to watch the film. It's harder for women in hollywood, never mind the non-straight ones, and a lot of the time they beard to get more well known.

Bearding isn't just about hiding the gayness (but it mainly is, lets be real) it's also for people to get more well known/out there

one of my fave (ex fave actually, she's a hoe now) actresses is getting 'married' to a guy she's known for less than a year. It's embarrassing and sad to watch because she used to be a big supporter of the gay community.

[Marsh.]

Which actress is this?

[Ninastar]

****ing massive photo

but here

http://blacksportsonline.com/home/wp...aya-rivera.jpg

[Roy Mars III]

i would kill to be her beard