The Difference Between Fame And Celebrity

Nixon was never a celebrity. Elvis was/is forever.

Our recent post about the celebritization of the presidency has prompted a lot of discussion about the nature of celebrity and whether or not there is a distinction between fame and celebrity.

Well, there is. And we're here to explain it.

Fame simply means that you are well known. Celebrity came about with the emergence of modern mass media. It happens when you are not simply well known but you are celebrated via the media for because of some talent, characteristic, personality trait, achievement, distinctive appeal, etc. Maintaining celebrity status means that you must sustain the media attention you've been accorded and that can be an ongoing challenge.

True, the media attention can have its peaks and valleys but if it ebbs for too long, then celebrity is lost. Sometimes people achieve celebrity and sustain it over so many decades that it becomes part of their persona. People like Elvis, Sinatra and Streisand come to mind. Icons! 

But you don't have to be an entertainer to become a celebrity who achieves legendary status. Business people such as Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and housewares diva Martha Stewart have achieved that status. More recently Tesla's Elon Musk has entered that domain. They're not only famous but they have cultivated the media spotlight and have managed to retain that attention over a significant period of time. Indeed, Stewart remained a celebrity even as she was convicted of a crime and served time in jail.

To further distinguish celebrity and fame, think of the following: Pope Francis is famous but you'd hardly call him a celebrity. The same could have been said of Margaret Thatcher. In the political realm, obviously, Joe Biden was never a celebrity. He's just not interesting enough -- not to the media and not to the average consumer of media. Politicians have a hard time becoming celebrities because, well -- public policy just isn't very sexy. 

If you're already a celebrity (like Ronald Reagan or Donald Trump) you can bring that celebrity with you into the political arena. And if you're already rich, famous and debonaire (think FDR and JFK) and you become a public figure, you're likely on your way to celebrity, especially when you add power to the mix. 

Muhammed Ali? Yeah -- he was famous and a celebrity. Joe Frazier (a nice guy and a champ) was not. On top of all this, you can appear to eschew celebrity and still be a celebrity. Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis and Greta Garbo come to mind. Ditto, JFK, Jr.

Interestingly enough, even royalty does not automatically convey celebrity. Queen Elizabeth wasn't a celebrity but in her day, her sister Princess Margaret was. Then Prince Charles (now King of England) was/is not a celebrity but Princess Diana was. 

Even with all the inescapable surveillance that accompanies it, celebrity has its charms. Henry Kissinger (one of the most unexpected celebrities ever) put it best: "The nice thing about being a celebrity is that, if you bore people, they think it's their fault."