Star and Celebrity Confessional

In this book the different manifestations meanings and processes of the star and celebrity confessional will be explored. The confessional is taken to be any moment in which a star celebrity or fan engages in revelatory acts that are considered to be authentic heart-felt and honest. These confessional encounters can take place in an interview through performance and presentation events online and in ‘unscripted’ encounters. A star may break down in tears or reveal a previously unknown truth about their private life. However this authenticity is often found to have been manufactured or is timed to occur against a new release or product launch. Alternatively the desire to confess may be seen to draw attention to the centrality of pseudo forms of emotion in contemporary culture and the obsessional behaviour it produces.  In this book authors consider acts of confession by celebrities such as Tom Cruise Michael Jackson Jade Goody Britney Spears Sarah Jessica Parker Tracey Emin and Russell Crowe.