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Posted: 2017-08-31T14:10:13Z | Updated: 2021-03-15T18:25:02Z

A young woman heads to the gym. Beyond the gates of the private car park where she steps out of her vehicle, you can hear the clicks of cameras stirring in anticipation of getting the money shot the one everybody will surely be talking about tomorrow. Instead of putting one foot in front of the other, however, the woman faces away from the cameras. As she walks nearly backward to the entrance of the building, photographers desperately scramble to get another angle, scaling walls with ladders brought for this express purpose. But, theyve already missed her. Shes outsmarted them.

Still, its only a matter of time before she lands in their targets again.


This is a scene familiar to most celebrities today, but the young woman in question isnt a pop icon, an actress or reality TV star. Shes the princess of Wales.

In the weeks leading up to the 20th anniversary of the death of Diana , her name was sprawled across television screens, news chyrons and magazine covers. She once again became regular fodder for morning talk shows and the subject of an impressive number of documentaries. The madness that surrounded the peoples princess in the 1980s and 90s was back in fashion.

The particular marriage of patriotism, fairy tale and tragedy surrounding Diana bears no present day comparison. And yet, the paparazzi culture that cut its teeth camping outside her Earls Court apartment has only evolved in the decades since her death. For so long, Diana suffered under the worlds gaze, battling mental health issues and a severe eating disorder in private, while beaming for the cameras. The demand for photos, scoops and exclusives superseded any notion of privacy in fact, her private life was what kept the tabloid industry booming at the time. Diana might have been a princess, but she was the paparazzis queen.

Celebrities like Taylor Swift , Kim Kardashian and Robert Pattinson have certainly inherited the privacy issues that so plagued Diana, but not to the same extent. Whether youre a royal or a mailman, everyone is entitled to their privacy. Yet during Dianas era the paparazzi couldnt, and never did, understand these boundaries, and it ultimately cost her her life.

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