Wu Dan-ru's 'alias-gate' shows the paradox of local celebrities

The problem began when a gossip magazine reported that a pseudonym was used when Wu registered at Taipei Medical University Hospital, where she delivered her baby girl. Both Wu and the hospital denied wrongdoing while blaming each other for coming up with the alias. According to Taiwan law, the use of false patient identity is illegal.

Even before the “alias-gate,” Wu had been making headlines with her pregnancy. The media focused on her age and her so-called “eclectic” behavior as an expectant mother, such as hosting TV shows and bathing with unpurified water. Obstetricians were quoted by media as frowning upon Wu's lack of preparation as a 44-year-old mother-to-be. Some even tried to imply that such carelessness contributed to the premature death of one of her twins.

It is easy to point fingers, but it is simply illogical to regard Wu's failure to stop working during pregnancy as a bad example to women, many of whom would also have to work in their expectant months.

Celebrities have long been subjected to paradoxical double standards. On one hand, people expect celebrities to act as role models for the public and chasten them for failing to do so despite the fact that their lifestyles, working schedules and incomes are utterly different from most people's. On the other hand, the world routinely denies the celebrities the privacy most people enjoy. It would be difficult to find any “normal mother” if all women were subjected to the same scrutiny Wu has faced.

It is not, however, a defense for celebrities. It can be argued that such paradoxical dual identities of people/stars are often played into the celebrities' favor. The famous use their fame and public interests for personal gains, willingly bombarding the public with their images and life pieces to the press to gain clout. Yet once things turn bad for them, they conveniently rediscover their sudden need for “privacy.”

Celebrities share the same basic rights granted by the law as everyone else does. However, they are not normal people. Once the spotlight shines on a person, it makes him different from others in the dark. That's what spotlights are for — to distinguish. Celebrities are a group of people whose life experiences differ hugely from most people's, due to their talents, beauty or simply because of that spotlight, which comes with both glory and a burden.

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