It was written in the stars. It was mulled over by psychics. It was predicted by body language experts. Yes, Beliebers and gentleman, Justin Bieber and Selena Gomez are done. It’s as over as late 80’s wallpaper and fondue parties at the Smiths. We were waiting for the bomb to drop, we were waiting for that bright white flash before the shockwave, and we were waiting for the extinction level event that would rock Hollywood to its core. The biggest break-up event of 2012 went to Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson, and while we were all hoping that Hollywood would keep itself intact until post-Christmas, the latest Hollywood break-up makes Stewart and Pattinson pale in comparison.
There’s never anything good that comes out of a celebrity break-up. Fans love choosing sides and slinging mud at the other camp to diminish responsibility. We witnessed an outpouring of interest in the Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson scandal – with fans forming cliques and drawing up petitions. In Stewart and Pattinson’s case, the last Twilight film was the collateral, but in Bieber and Gomez’s case, the fans will suffer the collateral damage. The more stalker-like Beliebers have already expressed their support for Bieber and hatred for Gomez, without knowing the full story, nor showing any interest in reading more about the situation. Once a Hollywood power couple destroys itself by implosion, there is no need for fans to break apart their pre-made cliques, but they do, and many fans have flame wars on the forums, Twitter, and Facebook. In actual fact, recent statistics have shown that a celebrity scandal/death/break-up shows an increase in sales/viewership/box office attendance for that celebrity. While this might be the case in most celebrity scandals, there have been several exceptions, most notably Chris Brown’s Rihanna-beating scandal.
The rest of the Hollywood power couples took to the sidelines to watch Gomez and Bieber take a seat on the throne of King and Queen of young Hollywood, but we knew it wasn’t going to last, didn’t we? We knew the Bieber and his woman would eventually become page six remnants in a regional newspaper, because fame yields power, and power deserves an iota of responsibility – something young Hollywood is not well acquainted with.
Could Gomez’s foundation be rocked to its core by the recent break-up? Will Bieber be overlooked for his actions? Will fans take to Twitter and destroy either/or? What will the future hold for Bieber and Gomez? In the end, a celebrity’s career is not based on how well they act/sing/speak, it’s based on how many fans they’re able to accumulate in a certain amount of time. Unfortunately for Gomez, Bieber is in the lead.
