Celebrity Crush

I was never much for the "stick his poster on the wall" thing as a teen. While my friends were tearing out the You centrefolds of Johnny Depp (21 Jump St!) and Madonna, I .. well... didn't.

Perhaps it was growing up in Zimbabwe that did it - where life was more about your 12 speed bike, the ice-cream shop on Samora Machel ave and who had the biggest and baddest knife. Barely saw a TV, and the bike had no radio (though we'd always catch Springbok radio on a Sunday night for "Men from the Ministry"). By the time I moved to South Africa I was 12 and had largely been unaffected by any kind of materialistic city-kid upbringing. Rock stars, film stars, famous folk were all news to me. I had to do some quick learning and catching up.

Still, I never really got the whole idol-worship vibe. Way too practical and realistic to go off crushing on someone out of complete and utter reach! :-)

And yet...

There are certain celebrities that garner a second look - an afar-admiration if you will. George Clooney's looking better as he ages - and talking of age, Sean Connery has to be the hottest old bloke out there. Jean Claude van Damme has a butt that is nail-rake worthy (the rest of him isn't too bad, but I'm kinda put off by his real-life personality!).

But the funny thing is this. The more I think about it, the more I realize I'm not at all into the best-looking lot. I prefer the folk who have their character shining through, even if the exterior is less than perfect. People that make me laugh, or show up as real. Unpretentious, not puffed up with pride and a sense of entitlement. Don't spend hours admiring themselves, or looking out the corner of their eye for others who might. Sure, I can appreciate a chiselled set of abs (and fight a tinge of envy over Angelina's physique) as much as the next red-blooded woman, but I'm more interested in the whole than the part. The real person rather than the act.

Perhaps that's why I never really succumbed to the celebrity crush bug.