An anonymous writer for a “trashy” celebrity magazine has revealed what truly goes on behind the glossy pages we read.
Unsurprisingly, it’s a world of brutality, embellished stories, and employees left sitting in tears, as confessed in Broadly.
The writer admits that from their high school days, they had always dreamed of being a published celebrity reporter. There was always the expectation to work on “frivolous gossip” and “silly interviews” but the writer was shocked when most of their pieces didn’t’ have an ounce of truth.
“Beyond excited to be assigned my first story during my first week, I was pretty surprised when I realised that stories weren’t commissioned based on what was newsworthy—or even true,” they wrote.
Watch Amy Schumer slay women’s’ magazines. (Post continues after video.)
Their first article centred around Victoria Beckham, and rather than being an article, it was more like a work of fiction.
“That week, I found myself writing a story about Victoria Beckham almost as fiction, occasionally pausing to rip off quotes from interviews she or her husband David had given in the past 18 months, then peppering it with details emailed over by a senior editor about life ‘chez Beckham.'”
Unlike we would all like to believe, celebrity reporters don’t live the high life, regularly having cocktails and cheese with A-listers.
In fact, the budgets are so tight that the magazines can never afford to send their reporters to events, so most research was done online.
“Gossip was often emailed over by media agencies, complete with quotes from sources. They had a network of contacts, and they would email daily round-ups of what their little birds had been telling them. Some were personal trainers or actual friends, but much more often it would be someone who once worked on a film with the celebrity as an extra.
“In the story, the quotes would be masked as having come from “a friend close to the star.” Dutifully, I would then pay the agency or tipster up to £500.”
Check out some Magazine covers: are they just pretty on the outside? Images via Facebook. (Post continues after gallery.)
People Magazine covers.
So, that “close source” who KNEW Jenifer Aniston was pregnant was probably just someone who saw her at the gym.