To the Editor:

Re “Why a Fallen Angel Is a Centerfold”(Sunday Review, Nov. 6):

I first met Lindsay Lohan in 1997 when she was 11 and I was the casting director of the film “The Parent Trap.” I was struck by her talent, joie de vivre, and fresh charm and innocence. She was, and remains, a gifted actress and a good human being.

It is not for me to judge Ms. Lohan’s choices, or whether fame has been less than kind to her, butI have been greatly saddened by the way the media have chosen, with all gloves off and with seemingly unbridled glee, to catalog her travails and setbacks. She is a sentient being: not a thing, not a commodity, not a punchline.

Charles McGrath makes several salient points in his news analysis about the insatiable public demand, in a 24/7 news cycle forever changed by the Internet, for gossip about, and nearly complete access to, celebrity lives. Perhaps people do indeed feel better knowing that wealth and fame do not confer a perfect life on anyone. Perhaps we need to idolize celebrities only to mercilessly reject them when their behavior disappoints us.

I find it ironic that Ms. Lohan’s decision to pose for Playboy for monetary reward is deemed morally dubious, while journalists and photographers profit by writing about and capturing images of her and other celebrities.

Perhaps when reporting on, and reading about, celebrities who have lost their way, we will remember that these are very human people who, like us, make mistakes, endure misfortune and have a chance — media coverage notwithstanding — to begin anew tomorrow.

ILENE STARGER
Brooklyn, Nov. 7, 2011

Source:The New York Times