Are celebrities responsible for their fans well-being?

The massive outpouring of pain that was the result of Zyn Malik leaving the musical group One Direction and the level of disturbing behaviour that has resulted from it is pretty unbelievable.

This is not the first example of celebrity mania and it's certainly wont be the last. From women fainting at the sight of the Beatles to Justin Bieber fans threatening to kill people on twitter. Extreme fandom is here to stay.

But do the celebrities bare any responsibility for the welfare of their fans?

I can understand the deep connection we can each feel to a piece of music, so I guess that connection can be translated into a deep connection to a band or singer. Pop stars and their fandom’s have become the virtual families of so many young people today. Lady Gaga has become a sort of mother figure to her “little monsters” dishing out caring advice and connecting with many of them on a personal level. Taylor Swift “stalks” and surprised fans she feels are deserving of some kindness and love from their favourite celebrity, and seems to have taken a very real interest in their everyday lives. She knows as much about some of them as they do about her.

But I have some very real concerns about the lengths young girls are going to to express their sadness over the Zayn Malik news. Shortly after Zayn posted his final twitter message “cut for Zayn” started to trend on twitter. Girls all over the world started harming themselves in an attempt to make this poor man reverse a decision I bet wasn't easy to make in the first place. They posted pictures of their broken skin on Instagam and on Twitter, where these posts were re-tweeted, mocked, vilified and copied for hours.

This band, like so many other big celebrities these days, have been the focus of so much excitement that I imagine it must be pretty overwhelming for them. But I don’t think that they truly grasp the impact they have on these young lives. After a day and a half of silence from the band, they each started tweeting messages of thanks to their fans for their support, I have yet to see a single one of them reach out and ask their fans to stop harming themselves.

I know that these people are no psychologists and certainly aren't responsible for all of the madness that surrounds them and their fans. But I do feel that they have accepted the good parts of this fandom and maybe the bad parts need to be something they acknowledge too.

There is a fine line between supporting a person in a tough time and giving out advice better left to professionals. An example of this is Selena Gomez, a few months ago she reached out to a fan with a personal message of support after the girl seemed to be expressing suicidal thoughts. Selena was criticised by some for intervening in a situation she is not trained or equipped to handle, but I don’t totally agree with this criticism. These celebrities have a very real power of their fans, who seem very willing to be led by their favourite obsession and what they say and do. So is it plausible to think that Selena’s message of hope and support was received, heard and made an impact?  

Maybe there is a way to educate these celebrities or their PR teams on the best ways to interact with unstable fans; maybe approaching the problem with love, support and good intentions is enough, but probably not.

There is obviously another dimension to this issue, the families and friends of these obsessed fans. Where are the parents of the girls who are cutting themselves? Where are the people around them who see this, know it is wrong, but say nothing? If anything our communities and family are the ones who should be regulating our behaviour and giving us the support and love we need. What makes these teens feel as though the most important person in their lives is a pop star who probably doesn't have a clue who they are or how their decisions will be received?

Who knows if any celebrity truly cares about what happens to their fans? I like to think they do. But in a world of virtual connectivity and personal isolation, where teenagers are locked in their most vulnerable and extreme period of life, the responsibility placed on the shoulders of their celebrity obsession/ crush/ love is a weightily burden that should be taken very seriously.