Celebrity News:

As a self-confessed celebrity gossip junkie, I keep track of Hollywood celebs like a shark can smell blood from miles away. Now I spend most of my days online while finishing up my thesis and looking for a full-time job, I look at perezhilton.com and people.com several times a day......Okay, I'll just be honest; I look at Perez' site every friggin' hour, hoping for another celebrity drama of an apocalyptic scale. I'm not ashamed (or maybe just a little) to admit that seeing celebs struggle with life makes me feel better; "phew, they are humans after all!" And "wow, I thought I was a mess last Friday, but look at Britney!" Ah well, at least I quit smoking.

Now the most interesting part of closely following celebrity gossip is the Hollywood trends you can notice. Those celeb-induced hypes vary from chihuahua's to sex tapes and "auto"biographies, but one thing is clear; you have to participate in it to make it to the front page. I'm not sure whether the trends are set by the celebs themselves, or by the paparazzi who decide to put a certain "theme" to their reporting, and for the delight of the reader it really shouldn't matter.

For a good couple of months "rehab" was hot stuff; Lindsay Lohan went in and out a couple of times, English super talent Amy Winehouse scored big with her hit, and America's tv channel VH1 just started airing the reality show "Celebrity Rehab". VH1 is behind though, and rehab is SO yesterday!

Psych Ward is the new big thing. Ever since Britney threw a manic tantrum and was first admitted to a mental hospital, celebs have been queueing up to follow her example; after all, she IS dominating every magazine's front page now. Actors Justin Chambers and Delta Burke are already in, and I just can't wait till VH1 starts producing "Celebrity Psych Ward". And what will come after that..."Celebrity Death Match"?

Don't get me wrong: I am all for getting psychiatric treatment out of the "let's not talk about it"-corner. I have been there myself for depression and anxiety, and all too often people who are very close to me refused to talk to me about it because it made them uncomfortable. I just don't think that treating psychiatric hospitalization as a hot thing to do could ever normalize the subject as a topic of conversation.