Admiration for an ideal person, a role model or a celebrity goes by such names as hero worship,

idol worship and celebrity worship. There is nothing wrong with admiring successful people,
who show the best of their talents and virtues. People can learn from their success or seek
inspiration from them. However, problems arise when this admiration becomes excessive,
obsessive or abnormal. Scientists believe that there is a correlation between mental health and
celebrity worship. People who suffer from depression, anxiety, low self-esteem and other forms
of mental disorders are more vulnerable to mild to extreme forms of celebrity obsession. 
There are many reasons why people admire, love, worship or even become obsessed with
famous film stars, singers and other celebrities. These are admiration of a person (or their
appearance or talent in particular), their entertainment value, someone’s desire of finding an
example of a lifestyle (this reason is enhanced if they have some common traits or similarities
with the celebrities so they start feel deeply connected to them at a deeper level), low self-esteem
(for such people finding an idol is like a relief from their own failures and shortcomings which
helps them overcome the hidden feelings of anxiety and low-esteem by vicariously taking
pleasure or pride in the success and achievements of the celebrities) and last but not the least
obsessive love (many people fall in love with celebrities, although they know that it is
impossible to carry it through). Of course, one may find much more reasons for fanaticism, but
in my opinion these ones are the most important.

Many people, especially those from older generations, believe that being a fan of someone is a
very bad trait. Perhaps some of them still strictly live by church dogmas, one of which is "Do not
create an idol for yourself". I absolutely disagree with them. First of all, it is worth paying
attention to the fact that the love of fans can manifest itself in different ways and with different
degrees of intensity. Yes, I will not argue that very many (especially teenage girls) completely
lose their heads in the worship of their idol, seeing absolutely nothing in life except for HIM,
forgetting that an idol is primarily a person with his PERSONAL life and with his own
boundaries, beyond which it is not worth crossing. I'm talking about those who pursue their idol,
search for the maximum amount of information about him, search for his relatives/friends/just
acquaintances in social networks and stalker or even threaten them. It sounds ridiculous, but such
people actually exist.

All my adult life, I have always been fan of some celebrity. For me (as for many other
ADEQUATE people), an idol is a person who gives positive emotions and inspiration. Looking
at someone's example, looking at how someone was able to fulfill their dream, achieve just
incredible heights despite the difficulties, you begin to believe in yourself and start working on
yourself.

Of course, we should not miss the fact that the celebrity itself is of great importance in this
situation – there are those who treat the fans simply as an opportunity to earn more money, as a
screeching faceless crowd that has no value other than financial. Fan love in this case is one-
sided, but behind the wall of blind love for the idol, people can not understand it. However, there
are also those who see fans primarily as people.

Personally, I was lucky. The person I can proudly call my idol now is an actor who is quite well-
known in the Russian show business. He has a lot of respect and love for his fans (and he prefers
not to use this word, considering that "fans" carries some negative connotation), enjoys (even if
only on camera) even the most insignificant gifts that are given to him after concerts, and always
tells his fans that he loves and appreciates us all very much. I was very surprised and touched by
the moment when on tour around the cities of Russia, he left small gifts to fans in different
places (chocolates, autographed photos, etc.), and they had to guess the place shown in
Instagram where the surprise was hidden and find it as soon as possible.
This attitude of the idol makes the fans understand that they are important, that you need to love
and respect yourself, because everyone deserves it. And the example of how a celebrity goes
through the difficulties of real life and gets into a big movie and serious projects right before
your eyes gives you a very great motivation to fight, develop yourself and do what you love,
even if right now it does not give any advantages. Personally, looking at my idol, I became more
interested in theater and cinema, began to visit various exhibitions, which he talks about in his
interviews, significantly expanded my horizons and began to look at life in a new way, now
seeing much more bright moments in it. For me, he is a great example of a person that I want to
find in my life, of personal characteristics that I want to find in my future boyfriend and husband.
That is why, in my opinion, it is impossible to unequivocally call fan love a bad phenomenon. In
everything, first of all, there must be a measure. And everyone should remember that their
personal boundaries end where the boundaries of another person begin. You can not interfere in
your personal life, if the person does not want it and deliberately does not expose it. You can not
pursue someone and forget that every celebrity is first of all a person, with their own problems
and desires. Of course, everyone should remember about real life, about people that surround us.
Obsessive fanaticism will never bring any good. We should not try to BE our idols, we should
see them only an example, as someone to keep up with, an inspiration to move on. We must
respect and love each other, and then life will become much easier.