In many cultures, fame has been described as a “poisonous cup.” At first it intoxicates you, warms you, makes you feel immortal. But every sip you take brings you closer to the poison it hides within.
Fame has existed since the dawn of civilization. Ancient writers, poets, and philosophers knew it was a dangerous force—alluring but also terrifying. The Romans called it Fame and imagined it as a winged woman who spread with the speed of the wind, the bearer of news, rumors, and legends. In Greek mythology, Hesiod described it as an evil creature, easy to arouse but impossible to stop. Once it took off, no one could bring it back. It seems that humanity has always had a love-hate relationship with fame. We admire it, we desire it, we covet it—but once we achieve it, we realize that the price we pay is much higher than we thought.
WHEN FAME IS LIKE FRIES WITH HOT CHEESE SAUCE
A great metaphor describes fame as “chili cheese fries” – that dish that looks amazing on the menu: cheese, sauce, crispy fries, everything that can make you happy for a few minutes. But once you try it, you realize it’s too heavy, too loaded, too much to handle.
In the end, you wish you had stuck to plain potatoes. Fame is the same. At first, it’s wonderful – every look you get, every applause, every article that mentions you. But then the saturation sets in. The stream of attention turns into a flood, and what once gave you an adrenaline rush now causes anxiety.
FAME AS A POISONOUS CUP
In many cultures, fame has been described as a “poisonous cup.” At first, it intoxicates you, warms you, makes you feel immortal. But every sip you take brings you closer to the poison it hides within. At some point, the world’s attention becomes like a bright light that burns wherever it shines. In the age of social media, this poison has become easier to drink. Anyone can have “five minutes of fame,” as Andy Warhol predicted, but that fame often comes without preparation, without filters, without measure. A video, a post, a quote, can turn you into “famous for a day” – and then, into oblivion for life. The network is unforgiving: it lifts you up quickly, but it knocks you down even faster.
WHY DO WE LOVE FAME?
Perhaps because fame gives us the deepest human feeling: that of being seen, heard, important. At its core, it is a consequence of the desire for love and acceptance. But like anything that feeds on lack, it grows until it consumes us. An actor once said: “At first I wanted fame so that people would love me. Then I realized that they loved me not for who I was, but for who they thought I was.”
This is the tragedy of many famous people: losing yourself in the public image. Shortly before turning a gun on yourself and ending your life at the age of 27, Kurt Cobain, the leader of the band Nirvana, wrote: “I’d rather be hated for who I am than loved for who I’m not.” The moment you become famous, your life may no longer belong to you. It becomes the property of the public, of comments, judgments, rumors. Instead of being a person, you become a “figure.”
THE ERA OF FAME FOR EVERYONE
Today, fame is no longer the privilege of artists, politicians or athletes. It has become a form of social currency. The number of followers, the number of likes, the number of shares – these are the new currencies of the digital age. But even here, when “value” increases too quickly, it becomes unstable. Online fame is like a wave – it lifts you up for a while, and then leaves you crashing on the shore. And one of the great ironies of our time is that no one is anonymous anymore, but everyone feels lonelier than ever.
RETURN TO “Plain Potatoes”
At the end of the day, many of those who have tasted the heights of fame talk about the desire to return to normality. To walk down the street without being followed by cameras. To eat breakfast without thinking about how we look on Instagram. To make mistakes without being judged publicly. To live without a stage.
This is the most beautiful twist of the paradox: when you realize that it is not fame that makes you feel alive, but the freedom to be yourself. In the end, perhaps Hesiod’s ancient lesson remains just as valid today: do not wake Fame, because you will not be able to stop it.
