Celebrities are not "just like the rest of us." Celebrities have used this deceiving axiom to make themselves appear more approachable and likable to the public. But behind those warm, open smiles and "from the block" or "down-home roots" facades, celebrities are a completely different breed of human. They have money, calculated good looks, hopelessly glamorous lives and hair extensions.
As a result, celebrities also have far more interesting things to say than the rest of us. Nobody wants to listen to his next-door neighbor drone on and on about his glory days fighting in the Korean War, but we all desperately need to know the products that go into Justin Bieber's effortlessly shaggy bowl cut. Unfortunately, we will have to wait a few torturous months for First Step 2 Forever: My Story to hit - and then immediately fly off - the bookshelves before we learn the truth behind the 16-year-old's no doubt intoxicating and illuminating life so far.
Not to worry, though, because in the meantime, we can fill that gaping whole in our lives with the insightful musings of myriad of well-coiffed celebrities. In fact, Paris Hilton can probably be thanked for starting the celebrity memoir trend all the way back in 2004 with her much-touted Confessions of an Heiress. Jam-packed into the book's 208 pages are several useful tips on dating and dressing, along with witty stories of her friends' classy adventures in St. Tropez. With the book's unsurprising success, Hilton could finally silence her critics, who had been spouting off for years about how the heiress was only famous for being famous.
Of course not all celebrities had it so easy right from birth. Some of them lived through difficult and traumatic experiences. Look no further than girl next door Kendra Wilkinson, who describes the gory details behind her teenage meth addiction and stripping career in her book Sliding into Home. Just when the reader's heart might break at the constant tragedy unfolding on the pages, Wilkinson meets her prince in shining armor in Hugh Hefner, and the rest is shockingly graphic sexual history.\nBut Hilton and Wilkinson's memoirs are only the beginning. Nearly all of Hollywood's most intelligent and adored stars have taken the proverbial pen to paper to unveil their stories. From Naomi Campbell to Fabio to Tila Tequila, no controversial topic or heartwarming moment goes unmentioned. No library, personal or public, is complete without at least one copy of each star's work.
Perhaps our fascination with celebrity memoirs is a product of dissatisfaction with our own lives, for we never truly believe those stars when they claim to be "just like us." We look upon the glitz and the glamour, the mystery and the intrigue, and we know acutely that we will never be an heiress, be intimate with Hugh Hefner or be shirtless on the cover of thousands of respectable romance novels. Without these memoirs, we would all just be boring, average people with no interesting thoughts to fill our heads. With them, we are presented a bit of that celebrity's special something and we feel like the stars - if only for a moment.
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