Many fans end up with unhealthy obsessions for the celebrities they respect, admire, or simply find attractive. But it's a phenomenon that has only accelerated in the 21st century, with the photos taken by paparazzi and others easily spread across the internet, bringing every detail of the rich and famous' lives to our screens through a click or two.
While this can often be the innocuous (but still, pretty weird) habit of fan blogs posting photos of actors they like heading out for their morning coffee, or walking down the street with their new partner, sometimes it can take a far darker route.
You no doubt remember the event in 2014 which was later referred to as "Celebgate", wherein hundreds of celebrities, primarily women, had their nude photos leaked to the world after a breach in Apple's iCloud service. Gained through targeted phishing attacks and exploits found in the company's online storage platform, a collection of almost 500 private pictures were made available online.
This wide range of photos, usually involving nudity, were leaked or put up for sale on August 31 of that year, including many celebrities including
and Kate Upton. The FBI launched an investigation and a number of arrests were made, including a 36-year-old American who plead guilty and received 18 months in prison.
"Just the fact that somebody can be sexually exploited and violated, and the first thought that crosses somebody’s mind is to make a profit from it," Jennifer Lawrence said at the time, "It’s so beyond me. I just can’t imagine being that detached from humanity."
Now, a similar fate has befallen Sia, the Australian singer-songwriter known for such hits as Chandelier and Cheap Thrills. At least, it nearly did, as she found an inventive way to get ahead of the leaks.
Now, we think Sia deserves all the traction she gets from this body positive message, so
Sia revealed a nude photo of herself, on Twitter no less, after finding out that someone was trying to sell the photo to her fans. The photo was taken from afar with her back to the camera, rather than the selfies that were leaked in 2014, but rather than see a subset of her fans buy into the scheme, she released a screenshot of the photo to her 3.38 million followers.
"If you make the purchase it will be unblurred and you receive and additional 14 images," the seller's message read. As part of her reply, Sia wrote: "Someone is apparently trying to sell naked photos of me to my fans. Save your money, here it is for free. Everyday is Christmas!"
Part of the appeal that people find in these thoughtless invasions of privacy is the taboo aspect, so putting out there in such a outrageous way shut the seller down, and Sia's fans absolutely loved it:
[[twitterwidget||https://twitter.com/AdeleUnion/status/927726740272594944]]
[[twitterwidget||https://twitter.com/steenfox/status/927733554603106306]]
[[twitterwidget||https://twitter.com/CGGuy44/status/927731486714773504]]
[[twitterwidget||https://twitter.com/bolaji_0/status/927730392408494080]]
After seeing so many of these photos getting out there just because some hacker wanted to make a little money or have a laugh, it's great to see a response like this. Good on Sia!
