celebs and staged paparazzi moments
There is something I find so hilariously fascinating about staged paparazzi moments.
Yes, I know quiet a few paparazzi moments are staged; celebrities calling in tips on themselves so they get photos looking fantastic on their coffee run. But those are not the stage moments I’m talking about today. (Nor do I think is it a good idea to believe all paparazzi photos are staged) I am talking about when a celeb is in some form a crisis, and calls a paparazzi on themselves to get distant shots looking sad or to set up the chance for them to give a few sound bites.
The images that inspired this post are actually from a video from TMZ. But they reminded me of two other staged moments that always make me giggle whenever I am reminded of them.
I have not watched Vanderpump Rules since I was in highschool, I am not at all invested in the Scandoval situation in any real capacity. But do to my own online activity and the amount of Real Housewives content I consume, the affair and subsequent drama has been FLOODING my feeds on all platforms. Including the TMZ interview Raquel Leviss gave outside of a nail salon in San Fernando Valley.
Now I am not saying Raquel called TMZ and told them where she would be if they wanted a quote from her, I am saying I would not be surprised if someone else told TMZ where she would be and then told her TMZ was coming.
Apparently Raquel had finished her nail appointment at this time and was sitting in an odd lone chair outside of the salon. In the throws of Covid time, a chair or three outside a salon would not be weird. Now? It’s pretty weird. So much of the TMZ clip is odd to me. I get she’s on a reality TV show, but even if thats the case are you not slightly wary of a guy coming up to you filming if you are just waiting for a ride after a nail appointment? Instead she’s smiling and immediately answering his questions. The stock answers that were def prepared by a publicist. The whole thing screams setup it’s hilarious.
Next is a newer one to me at least. This actually happened in 2008 but I only just learned about it and I have no idea how I lived this long without knowing about these photos.
So apparently Hiedi Montag’s music video “Higher” had gotten bad reviews. So in response she (allegedly) called the paparazzi on herself to get photos of her crying with a chair. (What’s with the chair theme???) I don’t know what about these photos is my favorite part, the chair in the middle of the sidewalk, the very 2000s electric blue pumps, the gold jacket, holding the CD in her hand? All of it is phenomenal.
Hiedi Montag and Spencer Pratt have a long history of over the top paparazzi photos. If you want to kill a few hours with some giggles, give their 2000s pap escapades a google.
And finally my absolute favorite paparazzi photos in the last five years: Demi Lovato’s ex fiance Max Ehrich crying on the beach.
(Fun fact I think I saw this guy at the Grove once.)
Long story short: Max proposed to Demi after only dating for four months in 2020 which even by celebrity standards is quite fast. But lockdown lead to a lot of speedruns of divorce and proposals so I will let that slide. They were engaged for only a few months when posts from before they were together surfaced of Max saying Selena Gomez was better than Demi, and Demi said they were fake. However it wasn’t more than a week or two later that it was announced the engagement was off.
Now the photos.
Basically one of two things happened here. Someone happened to see Max crying dramatically at the same beach he proposed to Demi at and sold the video to TMZ, or Max let someone know where he would be. Regardless of how we got the photos, they are still the funniest paparazzi photos I have seen in years, and blow all the other obviously staged Covid-era paparazzi shots out of the water.
Just absolutely immaculate. Nothing says heartbroken like laying in the sand or soaking your pants in the waves while wearing a hat wrong.
Do you have any favorite paparazzi photos that you believe are staged? Let me know!