How is election time like dating? We think of love bombing as something to look out for on a first date. But are politicians learning to love bomb us? Or more likely, are we increasingly choosing those leaders who love bomb? If so, does it matter? I’m going to start with why it matters on a first date ..read more

Of the entertainers, it was the rock star who first fell from grace. It was a long time ago. We were shocked, but then we realised that he had been on the road. He had performed night after night. And part of that lifestyle was drugs. It was a different life to ours. One we don’t understand. Drugs take their toll. He was alone in the world, on the road, when he fell from grace. Then the film star had their private life exposed. We were shocked. But then we realised how tempted he must have been. The teenagers thought he was a god. We thought about the pressures, and how young he was. There was ..read more

There are a lot of people online talking about the stigma attached to a diagnosis of personality disorder, ‘PD’. Some warn that the effect of this diagnosis is that their trauma will go unrecognised. They warn that a person asking for help will be treated as if they are more or less to blame for their problems. They tend to make a distinction between this stigmatised ‘PD’ diagnosis and another diagnosis that seems to take into account trauma: PTSD ..read more

If we were to go back to 1970s London and see a Queen concert, we might find a man in his 20’s trying excitedly to get backstage after the encore. The man is from India and was a school friend of the lead singer Freddie Mercury. They haven’t met since they were both 16. He can’t wait to see Freddie’s face when he greets him. He makes it to the dressing room. There are a lot of people around. When the man finally gets face to face with his famous school friend, ‘Bucky’ Bulsara, he gets a shock. He will later tell another school friend Gita what happened: “Freddie just looked right through this ..read more

(Singer, songwriter, artist 5/9/1946-24/11/1991). If we were to go back to July 13th 1985, and London’s Webley stadium, we would find a crowd of 70,000 people clapping in synchrony on the beat of a song. The clap alternates with a two-arm salute towards the singer, repeated. Across the world two billion people are watching live on TV. The singer is Freddie Mercury, frontman of the rock band Queen who will sell 300 million records worldwide. This is the greatest moment of the historic Live Aid concert with its all star line up. And it’s the greatest moment of Freddie Mercury’s career. A journal ..read more

In the photograph, Elizabeth Taylor is crouched down, looking up at her co-star, a young and rugged James Dean, next to a roof-down convertible with whitewall tyres. A copy of this picture hangs in the executive offices in LA of Warner Bros who produced Giant. Getty images list the photo as being from a scene that “was not used in the final version of the movie”. But there was never a scene like this in the movie script. And there was never a scene like this in the book by Edna Ferber ..read more

Warning: this post contains references to trauma, abuse and neglect Elvis Presley’s official Bureaux of Narcotics ID. Thanks for reading Narcissism, Trauma and Celebrity! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work. This is the third of three posts trying to sum up some of the patterns I have found so far in the lives of nine iconically famous people: Marilyn Monroe, John Lennon, Charles Chaplin, Michael Jackson, Marlon Brando, Jimmy Savile, Tupac Shakur, Elvis Presley and Elizabeth Taylor. In part A, I looked at the part played by trauma and unsafe vulnerability in their ..read more

In my introductory post a year ago, I said that I was writing under a pen name for a particular reason. This post is about why I have decided to drop this pen name, Marcus Morris. And so, this post will contain a tiny revelation: my real name, which I will then use going forward. But dropping a pseudonym – which might be a kind of persona - in a newsletter about narcissism and persona, cannot be done without asking myself a question or two. I have been writing about other people for a year now. Is it time to look at myself? I have been looking at the lives of the iconically famous. I have foun ..read more

Warning: this post contains references to trauma, abuse and neglect Marilyn Monroe shooting the iconic ‘flying dress’ scene for The Seven Year Itch. I am a year into this experiment about narcissism, trauma and fame really grateful for all the interest, recommendations, comments and questions! I am starting to feel like it’s not just me. The popular narrative about fame covers over something that psychology has come to understand as narcissism – something that has benefits but also costs that are sometimes tragic. This is the second of two posts trying to sum up some of the patterns I have ..read more

Warning: this post contains references to trauma, abuse and neglect Elizabeth Taylor and Marilyn Monroe both reached incredible heights of fame at a similar time A year has passed since I started this experiment, and it is time perhaps to pause and see where I have got to. I have been compiling a small list of people who have achieved iconic sustained fame and who have been written about widely. So far, I have explored the lives of nine incredible people: Marilyn Monroe (actress, singer), John Lennon (Singer songwriter, actor), Charles Chaplin (actor, writer, director), Michael Jackson, (si ..read more