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Burbank, California Andy Warhol got it wrong when he said, "Everyone will be famous for 15 minutes." Warhol confused fame with celebrity, activity with accomplishment. Fame is defined by honor and acclaim. A celebrity is someone who is widely known. Eleanor Roosevelt was famous. Paris Hilton is a celebrity. Colin Powell is famous. "The Rock" is a celebrity. Celebrity is like a David Blaine illusion. It may seem real, but in no way should perception be confused with reality. Celebrity is akin to a diamond-like trinket Joan Rivers sells on the Home Shopping Network, or Near Beer. Now, there are famous celebrities. Tiger Woods is a famous celebrity. So is Hillary Clinton. They are people of great accomplishment who also court and embrace the limelight. That's the catch with celebrity and those who buy into it. It's a full-time job. One that needs to be fed and nurtured. To many, it is like a drug that courses through their veins. And like any addiction, the need for it can often become all-consuming.  General Colin Powell is famous. Many who have fame thrust upon them are never comfortable with its accompanying demands. Ultimately, they learn to grudgingly co-exist with it, or like Garbo and J.D. Salinger, they withdraw completely. For others it's a curse. All Charles Lindbergh ever wanted to do was fly an airplane across the Atlantic. Fame cost him a son. In July 1969, Buzz Aldrin became famous when he walked on the moon. In the ensuing 40 months, ten other men would follow in his footsteps. In the years after their return to earth, Aldrin and a majority of the others underwent uncommon depression. I once asked Aldrin during dinner why so many of the "moon men" had endured such personal problems. "It's simple," he responded, "NASA prepared us for everything that could happen on our way to the moon, but for nothing that would happen when we got home." In short, they could not deal with the celebrity that fame brought them. Golf made John Daly famous. Celebrity denied him a shot at golf immortality. Don't kid yourself. Drugs didn't kill Elvis. Celebrity did. It consumed him. It consumed Betty Ford, and it consumed River Phoenix. Fame, and its stepbrother infamy, endure. Celebrity doesn't. OJ was famous for his exploits on the football field. He became a pariah for his exploits off the field. His infamy will be written about and spoken about as long as history is documented. Kato Kaelin is already a faded footnote to the sordid Simpson tale.
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