twitter.comWhy is Miley Cyrus constantly posting photos of herself, many of them showing off her abs or legs, or just her latest style? Does she really need to be told over and over again that she looks good? Or is there some other goal in mind?
—L&M, via the inbox
The future Mrs. Liam Hemsworth does seem to love her own gams. And if a shirt don't show off her belly, she don't wanna wear it, y'all. How do we know? Because she makes sure we do. Over and over again. On Twitter.
But if you think this is a case of extreme celebrity megalomania, I have news for you.
Experts disagree with you.
"To some extent that's normal teenage narcissism and flirting," psychiatrist Dr. David Reiss tells me. "It could be because she's naive and thinks this is good for publicity, for her career."
Or maybe she's not naive, and knows this is good for her career. After all, every time she posts a photo, folk like me write about Miley and wonder, for example, why she wants to look like Draco Malfoy.
"She's doing what a lot of 19-year-olds do: showing off her new look," says Manhattan psychotherapist Jonathan Alpert, author of Be Fearless: Change Your Life in 28 Days. "Given the fact that she is a celebrity, there's also a secondary gain that is part strategic. Anything that draws attention to her sells her brand."
In other words, Miley's incessant Twitpic-ing is part of her job, almost like attending red carpet events or filming movies. She's keeping her image out there—whether she overexposing herself is another issue—so that people keep her in mind.
"The very nature of celebrities is they're showy," Alpert affirms. "She's doing what she should do. Perfectly acceptable. If she were boring, isolated herself, and withdrew, then we probably wouldn't like her."
Amen to that.