This week Bristol Palin and Levi Johnston announced that not only are they back together, but they are also (again) engaged to be married. Unlike most couples, Bristol and Levi didn’t relay the exciting news to their families first. Instead, they landed an Us Weekly cover and told the world.
The news set off a media firestorm, with everyone from CNN to David Letterman reporting. Soon after the announcement, rumors began swirling that the couple’s rekindled relationship was really just a ploy to drum up excitement for a new reality TV show.
Bristol and Levi certainly wouldn’t be the first to use media excitement to land a job. In an age in which celebrity gossip runs rampant on blogs, Facebook and Twitter, C-list and D-list celebrities desperate for the spotlight (and an extra buck) have gotten savvy about personal branding and the free PR opportunities at their fingertips—in other words, they’re working the media to their advantage.
Love them or hate them (okay, mostly hate them), Spencer Pratt and Heidi Montag have made courting the media an art form. The couple is known to stage its own photo shoots for the paparazzi, with the resulting photos inevitably landing them coverage week after week in the myriad celebrity weeklies. The duo even published a book relaying advice on how to be famous! In fact, many news sources are questioning whether the current rumors of divorce swirling around the couple are just another stunt to help land a post-“Hills” TV deal.
My advice to Bristol would be to keep her lawyer on speed dial. Reality TV romances notoriously end in divorce. Just ask Jessica Simpson. Or Kate Gosselin. Or any of the stars of “The Bachelor” or “The Bachelorette” (besides Krista Sutter). Or Hulk and Linda Hogan. Or…you get the picture.
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