Celebrities have their own lives, too.
You may have heard about the statements Chappell Roan has made that have recently gone viral. Before I started this article I had heard about her statement, but I hadn’t looked that deep into it. I had heard a lot of discourse, with what felt like half of the public having negative thoughts. As a Chappell Roan fan myself, I just assumed whatever she had said was probably justified. After examining all her statements, and other people’s responses to them…I’ve decided that I still think that and I’ll break down why.
From what I understand, the first post she made was on her Tiktok on Aug. 18, a video that is still up on her page. To summarize, the statement is an analogy for how she feels in her situation. She asks the viewers to imagine seeing a random woman and harassing her in public or getting offended if she doesn’t have time to talk to them. She then states that she is also just a random woman, and asks fans to respect her and her privacy. One of the common negative opinions about this situation were along the lines of, “Well you’re not a random person Chappell, you’re a celebrity.” That statement in particular is the biggest problem with this whole situation.
When people think of the situations celebrities go through, they usually think what they go through is normal because it happens so often. However, “common” does not always, and especially in this situation should not, mean “normal.” Celebrities may be famous, but that doesn’t mean they’re not people, which is why Chappell’s first statement made so much sense to me. If people yelled at you out of a car window, harassed you in public, stalked you, followed you around or assumed you were a specific way based on a short blip of your life, it wouldn’t be normal. So why should this be normal for a celebrity to go through?
On the same day, a second video was also posted to her Tiktok, which I could only assume was a response to the comments on her first Tiktok. The second video was a lot more straightforward. She addressed that celebrities should not be expected to deal with creepy behaviors just because of their status. These situations being common doesn’t mean that they’re okay or normal. The part people had the biggest problem with was when Chappell Roan had said, “I don’t want whatever the f*ck you think you’re supposed to be entitled to whenever you see a celebrity. I don’t give a f*ck if you think it’s selfish of me to say no to a photo, to your time or for a hug. That’s not normal, it’s weird how people think they know a person just because you see them online or listen to the art they make. That’s f*cking weird. I’m allowed to say no to creepy behavior.” A lot of people that find a problem with this seem to think that she doesn’t want to interact with her fans at all or that she’s ungrateful for the support they’ve given her, which is not the case at all.
Her third statement, and final one that I know of, was on her Instagram on August 23. This post was seven screenshots from her notes that essentially reiterated what she had said before in a more thought out manner. Where she talked about the separation of her personal and work life. When she is performing, in drag, at a work event or doing press, she is Chappell Roan. When she isn’t though, she is Kayleigh (Roan’s legal first name). Kayleigh is a woman we don’t know, a woman that doesn’t owe people a random picture, her time or anything else. Everything that people may or may not know about Chappell’s personal life is irrelevant because Chappell Roan is a persona. She wants to have a life outside of her work, have time herself, time to be normal, to not be judged or watched like her whole life is a performance. A direct quote form her being, “There is a part of myself that I save just for my project and all of you. There is a part of myself that is just for me, and I don’t want that taken away from me.”
Setting boundaries isn’t something that is super common among celebrities. What Chappell is doing isn’t only important for herself as a person, but also for celebrities as a whole. A famous woman setting boundaries about her life shouldn’t be weird or cause controversy. Thankfully, a great majority of the public realizes this, though the part that doesn’t is likely also the group that is involved in causing this discomfort. Will this help Chappell Roan? I’d like to hope so, but unfortunately I don’t think people that would understand her situation would cause her so much difficulty in the first place.