In a recent tabloid photograph Ms. Richie, who in the last few years appears to have transformed from a jolly imp into a gaunt urchin, is shown leaving an office building in Los Angeles, a pink smoothie in hand, wearing a thigh-length, gathered T-shirt-dress. The image invites speculation on multiple fronts: Would that be a fetus-harming caffeinated drink? Or a calorie-laden one? In which case, does that mean Ms. Richie is eating again? And if so, is the pregnancy confirmed?
Similarly engrossing photos appear almost daily of Britney Spears, whose rather stockier and more off-balance figure in slovenly summerwear suggests master narratives about her maternal and filial shortcomings, as well as her fall from fit superstardom. Lindsay Lohan, who seems to have altered her ethnic inheritance entirely in becoming a suntanned blonde, appears in disguise even when barely dressed.
No question is too small or insignificant for Web sites like TMZ, X17online, PerezHilton, idontlikeyouinthatway, justjared, egotastic, wwtdd, dlisted and pinkisthenewblog, where the sites’ hosts post photos with commentary (“Parasite Hilton: Her Face Is Growing Stuff”), and invite others to do the same. “She has the weirdest stomach,” reads one comment on idontlikeyouinthatway. “I can see in his eyes that he’s not ‘perfectly normal,’ ” reads another, about a celebrity’s son, on x17online. Scrutinizing pixel after pixel of sharp clavicles or vulnerable underbellies, we have come to treat these bodies like Sanskrit manuscripts.
