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Could Whitney Houston Have Been Saved?
- And other great mysteries of Hollywood, beheaded for your pleasure in our weekly podcast!
Does Uggie the Dog Ever Have to Work Again?
- And other great mysteries of Hollywood, beheaded for your pleasure in our weekly podcast!
Does Jim Carrey's Daughter Have an Edge on Idol?
- And other great mysteries of Hollywood, beheaded for your pleasure in our weekly podcast!
Could Brad Pitt Wear Jeans and a T-shirt to the Oscars?
- And other great mysteries of Hollywood, beheaded for your pleasure in our weekly podcast!
Ask A Question
Why would stars photograph paparazzi?
Why do stars sometimes take pictures of the paparazzi? Can they use the photos to their benefit?
—Tabetha, Nashville, Tennessee
The B!tch Replies: To show those oppressive paparazzi harpies just how torturous it feels to be followed around day and night, being made more and more and more famous every waking second. It's really, really hard, being adored like that! Why can't anybody underst-ee-und?
"Sometimes they're upset, and they want to say, 'Hey, look how it feels,' " explains Frank Rohmer of the news and photography agency X17. "Cameron Diaz likes to do that."
Too bad none of those celebrities' gazillion minions have managed to tell their precious clientele that the strategy does not work.
"Reese Witherspoon, when she was divorcing and she was upset at the paparazzi, and she was filming them with this camera," Rohmer recalls. "I passed by and said, 'You have a nice camera—we are looking for that camera, where did you get it'?"
Reese laughed that time, Rohmer says. But more often, the relationship between paparazzi and celebrities tends to run somewhere between a light skirmish and the Battle of Bull Run.
Enter a second reason for stars wielding cameras: potential criminal evidence. Photographers who don't know the law tend to get themselves arrested, see, and most celebrities would love to send a paparazzo to jail using a snapshot that indicates trespassing or stalking. Like, the irony!
So far, that strategy has yet to pay off in a big way, Rohmer says, but the stars keep on trying.
"Drew Barrymore likes to do that," Rohmer says. "Lots of stars do it."
One last reason why Renée Zellweger, Tom Cruise, Jessica Biel and other stars have been photographed with cameras in their hands: They want to remember a moment.
"Brad Pitt is special, because he likes art—photographic art," Rohmer dishes. "So, he often has his camera out, not to fight back against paparazzi but because he might like to take an interesting picture.
What kind of picture?
"Well, sometimes you have so many guys taking pictures even the stars can't believe it," Rohmer says. "Once, Nicole Richie was out at a restaurant, and there were maybe 35 guys with cameras taking photos—this one skinny little person in front of 35 guys with cameras, it was just impressive."
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