Rape, demolition, and rocket fuel: 8 bizarre metaphors for fame

"Fame is like being raped," Twilight starlet Kristen Stewart says in this month's issue of Elle UK. "What you don't see are the cameras shoved in my face and the bizarre intrusive questions being asked ... a lot of the time I can't handle it." Stewart's stark comparison has received plenty of attention, but she's not the first celebrity who's struggled to describe the predicament. Here, 7 more of the most memorable attempts:

Fame is like:

"... cigarettes with no surgeon general warning," rapper Kanye West said in a 2009 prepared statement when Wendy Williams crowned him the "new King of Pop" after Michael Jackson's death. "I've stopped chasing and buying into fame. It destroys most people ..."

The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

"... rocket fuel," said Lady Gaga, who came in first in Fast Company's 100 Most Creative People in Business 2010. "The more the fans like what I'm doing, the more I want to give it back ... . I haven't slept for three days."

"... a ton of bricks," said Eminem in 2000. "I was pulled in every direction. I got caught up in the drinking and the drugs ... just wilding out."

"... having Alzheimer's," said actor Michael Douglas, according to The Telegraph in 2007. "Everybody knows who you are, but you haven't the foggiest who they are."

"... chocolate cake," said movie producer Ken Burns in 1991. "It's good tasting, but if you eat too much, you get sick."

"... a giant demolition ball," Britain's Got Talent superstar Susan Boyle told Meredith Viera on The View in 2009. "Anyone who has that kind of impact finds it really hard to get their head around it."

"... currency," said Bono, on a 2006 trip to aid relief efforts in Africa. "I wanted to use mine effectively ... . I see [this work] as an opportunity to put this ridiculous thing called celebrity to use."