coronavirus

Self-Isolation Is Very Different When You’re a Celebrity

Photo: @ladygaga/Instagram

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As the coronavirus continues to spread across the globe, celebrities have been encouraging their millions of followers on social media to stay home and self-isolate. In general, this is a good thing. If Diplo can do it, so can the rest of us — and in lieu of government-issued quarantines, it’s fallen upon citizens, especially those with a platform, to help emphasize the importance of social distancing. (Without, of course, sharing misinformation in the process.) As we’ve already begun to see, the coronavirus spares no one, (Idris! Tom Hanks! Oh no!) but if you’re a healthy celebrity in self-isolation, your surroundings probably look very different than most.

At first glance, it might not. We’re all on the same Netflix, right? Khloé Kardashian watched Cake Wars. Emily Ratajkowski watched Love Is Blind, followed by Sunday night’s Democratic debate. Ariana Grande, too.

Others played with their pets, embarrassed themselves by joining TikTok, and took up baking. (Maybe because their at-home chefs are also in self-isolation.) Kourtney Kardashian made heart-shaped waffles. Chrissy Teigen made a cake even though she doesn’t like cake. Timothée Chalamet, meanwhile, showed us how beautiful he looks when he’s bored.

When you’re jolted out of your feed and back into your own apartment, though, you’re reminded that you don’t have a triple-waffle iron in the shape of a heart, nor a king-sized bed to watch Netflix in. Heck, you probably don’t even have cable. Unless you’re Arnold Schwarzenegger, you also probably don’t have two miniature ponies at home, (and a room big enough to invite them into??) “We will get through this together,” he wrote.

Celebrity children also seem to have it better. Lauren Conrad’s family “fort,” for example, seems nicer, and probably more spacious than my entire apartment. Last week, the Kardashian-West kids also built a fort I wanted to rent instead of my current two-bedroom.

For some celebrities, this moment away from the public eye has been a much-needed break. They’re not going to say they’re enjoying it, because that would be insensitive. But, well, it seems like they’re kind of enjoying it? “I can’t remember the last time I stood outside in New York City without thinking about where I needed to be in the next 30 minutes,” wrote Naomi Campbell this weekend, while on a walk with her godson. No more wiping down first-class airplane seats for her. “I’m learning what it means to put my busy or complicated life on hold and just be still for a while, in one place, with hyper awareness of the people and spaces directly around me and the moment to moment actions I am making,” she added.

Lady Gaga had a similar moment of reflection. “This is reminding I think a lot of us what it is to both feel like and be a human being,” she wrote in an Instagram post. So, perhaps this is a reset button for celebrities. Or, maybe it’s just time for celebrities, like the rest of us, to figure out how to be alone for a while. Regardless, I hope all celebrities (and their miniature ponies) stay healthy and safe in their mansions, and I look forward to welcoming them back into the human race with open arms on the other side.

Self-Isolation Is Very Different When You’re a Celebrity