Which sold more copies of People magazine? The “sexiest men alive” or lovely young women with problems?
It’s the women — particularly Princess Diana, who graced the cover more than any other person, says Landon Y. Jones, a retired head editor of People.
“The frailties of movie stars, rock stars, sports superstars and royals are central to their appeal,” Jones writes in his new book, “Celebrity Nation.” “We gain a seeming intimacy that makes us comfortable judging them.”
When Diana’s marriage problems were highlighted in one issue in 1992, Hillary Clinton grabbed the magazine from Jones’ hand, saying, “Oh, she never should have married so young!”
“Celebrity Nation”
By Landon Y. Jones, published by Beacon Press, 207 pages, $26.95
Jones uses the anecdote as an illustration of how celebrity gossip is “the world’s backyard fence.” And of the irony of Clinton’s comment, considering how many times she’d be the object of news, gossip and scandal over the following decades.
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