As speculation around Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce’s wedding reaches fever pitch, Jenny Sanders asks why celebrity romances captivate us so deeply. She argues that while famous love stories may inspire us, Christians are called to look beyond the headlines to find their true role models and lasting hope.
Ever since Taylor Swift and NFL star Travis Kelce got engaged last October, social media has been awash with speculation about their wedding. While they haven’t given anything away in the intervening months, the topic has generated innumerable column inches, scrutinised by the ever-watchful ‘Swifties’. Rumour and counter-rumour, speculation, intrigue and wild guesswork have kept this story rolling for months.
American Independence Day on Saturday could prove to be the perfect date for the nuptials of the all-American sweethearts.
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What is certain is that someone has booked Madison Square Garden this weekend. That’s an impressive 22,000-seat arena. There’s also been an application for a permit to close the surrounding streets for three days, filed at the beginning of June, along with a great deal of activity around the venue over the past week. So, this is either an indication of the scale of the wedding about to take place or an elaborate ruse to throw people off the scent and give Taylor and Travis the space to enjoy a celebration somewhere significantly more private.
There certainly won’t be any tickets on sale for this show; fans will have to wait to see photographs of what may or may not have taken place. That won’t stop hordes of people turning up for a glimpse of their heroine or to do a bit of celebrity spotting among the potential guests. Why is it that we’re so obsessed with celebrities?
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High-profile figures, including the Royal Family, have always attracted eager crowds.
High-profile figures, including the Royal Family, have always attracted eager crowds. There’s something in us that’s drawn to people in the limelight. In fact, the media is largely responsible for continually fuelling the cult of celebrity watching. Film stars, rock stars and sports stars have all had their day in the media sun. It was Andy Warhol who claimed in 1968 that “everyone will be world-famous for 15 minutes.” It may have been an overstatement, but the turnover of stardom is well documented.
Social media means that ordinary people can feel as though they have a personal connection with someone who is famous. We’re given glimpses of their lives away from the spotlight and behind the curtain, giving us the impression that they’re not so different from us after all. They also shop, watch television and invite their friends over. Celebrities offer us romantic, relatable and aspirational fantasies, an escape from the mundane routines that are the bread and butter of everyday life. Fictional social bonds are created that feel real but actually aren’t.
We see some celebrities as role models: Simone Biles for her athleticism; Malala Yousafzai, the youngest-ever Nobel Peace Prize winner, for championing girls’ education; and, yes, Taylor Swift, whose creativity has produced a phenomenal body of work. Stars graft for years and become household names by accident or design. They give us hope that our own dreams could become a reality if we keep pressing on, reach beyond our current circumstances and find fulfilment just as they have. Perhaps, by following them, we hope that some of their success will somehow rub off on us.
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We don’t like to dwell on harsher truths: the extraordinary pressure on those who live in the public eye to keep succeeding and to appear to live happily ever after. But life is no fairy tale. Celebrity stories involving depression, addiction, relational betrayal, marriage breakdown or suicide may sell newspapers and garner clicks online, but they are not where we like to focus.
As people of faith, perhaps it’s time we looked elsewhere for our heroes and heroines.
As people of faith, perhaps it’s time we looked elsewhere for our heroes and heroines. Which biblical figures do we hold in the same sort of high esteem as we do celebrities? How about Abigail, the only woman in the Bible described as both intelligent and beautiful? Her wisdom helped avert terrible bloodshed. Or Ruth, who left her homeland because she saw something in her mother-in-law’s faith that drew her. Then there’s Rahab, Deborah, Esther, Elizabeth, Anna, the Marys, Lydia, Dorcas, Phoebe and Junia.
Whatever Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce’s wedding plans, we wish them every happiness. But rather than being dazzled by celebrity, let’s nurture contentment while focusing on becoming the people God has called us to be.
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