Celebrities make up a huge part of popular culture. They’re apart of movies, TV-shows, music, sports, politics, and many more forms. Many celebrities go on to become household names and role-models for younger people. We all know them as entertainers, but there’s a personality attached to that individual that may be invisible to the public. That personality could add to their talent or take it away. For me, musicians who are too blunt with their political stance leave a sour taste in my mouth, but seeing my favorite bass player out finishing the rivers and lakes of Idaho makes me like him even more. These celebrities that we look up to leave a mark on us. Any celebrity doesn’t mind the spotlight being on them. In fact, they might mind it when the spotlight isn’t on them. A common mental-health condition between celebrities is Narcissistic Personality Disorder (NPD). Many people know a narcissist and can agree that they are hard to be around. When these people are the celebrities that we look up to, more and more people are comfortable with the idea of being narcissistic themselves. This is not a healthy attitude. In this paper, I will be examining Kanye West, Oprah Winfrey, and Donald Trump as high-status role models and their history of NPD.
NPD is a “mental condition in which people have an inflated sense of their own importance, a deep need for excessive attention and admiration” (Hall-Flavin). These people tend to have a fragile self-esteem and cannot handle criticism. I’ve had interactions with people who suffer from NPD and whenever their actions or character is questioned, their response will be some attack or a simple, “screw you!” According to Hall-Flavin of MayoClinic, NPD is caused by two things; genetics and “mismatches in parent-child relationships with either excessive adoration or excessive criticism that is poorly attuned to the child’s experience.” According to Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition, there is nine common symptoms from NPD, and if a patient expresses 5 of them, they are professionally diagnosed as having NPD (Chichminski). Some of these symptoms are expectations of special treatment, seeing themselves as being incredibly unique, obedience from others, manipulative for their own gain, and jealous of others and that others are jealous of them (Barber). There’s also a psychological exam that focuses on “questions pertaining to childhood, relationships, and goals to identify long-term patterns of thinking, feelings, and other behaviors demonstrating how the person with NPD interacts with other people,” (Cichminski). You could see if a celebrity has NPD based off of an interview if you know what to look for.
Kanye West is notorious for having an inflated self-value on interviews. In his interview on BBC Radio One with Zane Lowe on September 23rd, 2013, Kanye West said, “…I’ve got to a point that Michael Jackson did not break down. I have reached the glass ceiling as a creative person, as a celebrity.” In the next part of the interview, West goes on to say that rap is the new thing and that he’s the biggest star of them all in a very aggressive tone. “I’m the number one rockstar on the planet,” (West) is how the video opens up. 
The first time I ever heard the name Kanye West was when he interrupted the 2009 MTV awards (Kluger). A funny event where West stole the spotlight from the recipient of “Best Female Video,” Taylor Swift, and said that Beyonce should’ve won. He was trying to play it off like he was promoting Beyonce but he brought more attention to himself. Four years have gone by since that incident and he’s still focused on himself. Down in the comment section of the video was an endless line of comments that fit into this “Kanye is crazy, but he makes amazing music and should be respected,” mold. He’s easily a household name; known for either his music, his crazy narcissism, or both. Sociologist Rachel Kitson has declared Kanye West as, “a narcissist, an egomaniac, suffering a God-complex, and/or delusional and out of his mind— and those are the kinder comparisons.” Did you know that Kanye West once demanded an entire audience at his concert to stand? He wouldn’t perform until it was a standing crowd, which included a man in a wheelchair and a woman with a prosthetic limb. West started to verbally harass the two for not standing and the crowd even began to boo these people (Kluger). Is this the kind of person we want people looking up to? Dare we even talk about Kanye West and his connection to Trump. Instead, let’s talk about someone so well-known and well-liked that she has her OWN network.
That’s right, I’m talking about Oprah Winfrey. Now you might be thinking I’m insane, “Oprah Winfrey is the sweetest person in the world, how could she be a narcissist.” I agree that Oprah has done a lot of great things, she’s a very important force for great change, but hear me out. Actor Gene Wilder has a theory that celebrities with NPD come from a dysfunctional home with unhealthy family habits. For example, parents not giving their child enough attention and support. In return, said child would put on these “performances” to earn that attention and support. As the child grows and encounters new people, they continue these “performances” to continue the attention (Gluck). Oprah spent her childhood wearing potato sacks and “shuffled between family members,” (Elkins). She’s had quite the childhood before finding some form of success at the age of 14. She fits into Gene Wilder’s theory. Doctor Gad Saad provides us with the theory, “Take a narcissist, and feed his or her ego in such a manner twenty-four hours a day, and it is not difficult to guess that Tom Cruise starts to actually believe that he is a superhero (rather than playing one in the movies).” Oprah had her talk show for 25 years. Now, even if Oprah was a narcissist, she isn’t hated. She’s a “good narcissist.” That doesn’t mean she’s off the hook though. A specific example of when her narcissism got bad was in 2009 when Oprah promoted a book written by actor and self-proclaimed health guru Suzanne Somers called “Ageless: The Naked Truth About Bioidentical Hormones.” This was a book specifically for women and to help “stop the aging process.” Oprah preached the hell out of the book. Thing is, bioidentical doesn’t have any medical meaning (Parikh). “‘Bioidentical’ is supposed to refer to drugs that mimic a woman’s endogenous hormones,” (Parikh) but there’s no evidence that this is true. When Oprah was interviewing Somers about her book, she wasn’t trying very hard. She wasn’t asking hard-hitting questions to make sure this product is foolproof. Oprah scored big ratings on this episode, and this is where she falls short. Whether or not she she lied for ratings, she’s preaching bad medicine to people who could need it, like a life-or-death situation. Oprah has also made false claims about thyroid disease in 2007, once again preaching someone who has no idea what they’re talking about it (Parikh). Oprah has a lot of power, she has millions of viewers and her words are made of gold. If she was in a quest for ratings and was spouting out fake news just for the attention, there will be major consequences. She has a lot of responsibility.
Speaking of responsibility, here’s a celebrity with a lot. Donald J. Trump is going to have one hell of a biography. From businessperson, to actor, to president, he’s changed a lot in the public eye. During his campaign, Trump was notorious for verbally attacking other politicians He attacked Marco Rubio and his hands for being small and then hinting that something else is small. Trump then said that his hands, “have nothing wrong with them,” (Shapiro). Trump also likes to brag in very inappropriate places. He was bragging about himself during the VP announcement, saying a few thousand words with such inspirational quotes as, “I’ve been a very, very, very successful businessperson… I won in landslides…I dominated with the evangelicals,” (Milbank). Trump won’t ever admit that he’s brash, full-of-himself, or a narcissist regardless of how many facts you throw in his face. He’ll boast that he’s a very humble man, and then boast about how people says he’s going to go down in history (Milbank). In his own words, “I’m much more humble than you can understand.” During his presidency, Trump stayed home on Veteran’s Day because of rain (Colvin), gave a half-hearted speech on Hurricane Florence (McMillan), and has used millions of taxpayers’ money to play golf (Kessler).
This is the POTUS, and he’s focused on himself. Not everything Trump has done is bad; some attempt to address Hurricane Florence is better than none and he was rooting for his fellow Americans, but we should expect more selflessness from our leader. Trump has a big role to play and his narcissism isn’t allowing him to play it. Dr. Nigel Barber writes that, “[Narcissists] do not feel the need to build consensus, which is why most are screened out by democratic systems of government.”
One person that I’ve met who has shown a lot of signs for NPD was a coworker who we will name Paul. Paul knew all the best stuff, the best singer, the best artist, the best movie director, and they were all his favorites simply because they were the best. Mariah Carey could hit the highest notes so she was the best singer. Kanye West was the best artist because he could produce, write, and rap. Paul loved Kanye West and said that “Kanye is just misunderstood. He’s on such level that you can’t understand.” In context, this was me telling Paul I don’t like Kanye and his response was basically, I am an idiot. And who did Paul vote for. Donald Trump, yessir. Paul wants the wall to be built, doesn’t see Trump as a racist, and would argue with you until closing time that he was right. He was extremely difficult to work with. Part of the blame is him, but part of the blame is on the people he looks up to. If we allow people like Donald Trump to run our country while he’s playing golf, we are setting an extremely bad example for our country. Kanye West should not be what kids look up to. Progression isn’t going to happen if we’re all focused on is us. Paul wasn’t all bad though, he did have empathy for others, which is significantly different than most narcissists. Oprah Winfrey cares about her audience and feminism, but she does let herself get in the way of what she’s trying to create here and there. Narcissistic Personality Disorder has multiple possible symptoms, and not everyone portrays the same symptoms. Out of nine symptoms, you need five. The more celebrities we see with NPD, the more it seems normal. The people who are considered above us should portray positive qualities for us to look up to. This way, we can move forward as a society and stop focusing so much on ourselves. I’d like to leave you with one of my favorite Kanye West quotes I read while researching this paper. For context, West is responding on his blog to Entertainment Weekly’s grade on one of his concerts. “What’s a B+ mean? I’m an extremist, its either pass or fail! A+ or F-! You know what, f**k you and the whole f*****g staff!”
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