How To Handle Fame? 17 Effective Ways (2024)

Fame comes with a considerable amount of responsibilities and challenges. When you get there, it will help to know how to handle fame. 

It can be a challenge for any famous person with a big following to deal with the responsibility to handle fame wisely and have solid boundaries between public and private life. 

Keep reading for effective ways for how to handle fame.

1. Know Yourself

Most importantly, know yourself and your capacity emotionally and mentally. When you have people who follow you, having insight into yourself is a crucial step.

You can truly help others when you know your own capacity. Knowing your position and inner self will assist you in constructively handling fame. 

2. Deflecting Judgment And Criticism

A huge challenge in dealing with fame is criticism. There will always be people who want to share their opinions with you.

It helps to remember, their opinion is based on their experience and situation and it definitely doesn’t define your true identity.

Accept that people have different opinions related to you, your work, or your character.  Cultivate this acceptance by laughing off criticism as part of the game, rather than internalizing it.

The goal is to consider the source and know where you stand.

3. Have Your Boundaries Set

Knowing how to handle fame is to have your boundaries set. Being a famous individual, you have to know what you require to keep filling your cup as you give your energy to many, or your well being and have boundaries in place to protect that.

Being a leader, be clear about what you want to achieve in your personal and professional life.

4. Communicate

When you’re done with the step mentioned above, the next one is to let your loved ones and friends know about it. Communicate your goals and requirements with your inner circle as they will be your support system.

Also communicate with your followers your goals, success story, and other essential things about your life. It will help you maintain a realistic connection with your followers.

5. Stay Consistent

In order to not compromise your beliefs and values, be consistent in what you’re preaching and how you’re living your daily life. Your followers won’t take you seriously if they see a change in your ideas and actions. 

6. Release Expectations

Unfortunately our society has set standards for famous people so high that it’s almost impossible to achieve them and makes it so much harder to handle fame well. 

So admit your flaws and vulnerabilities. Let them know, you know you can make mistakes as well.

Or set your own standards. Now, these standards are those that you define for yourself to follow. They can be similar to those you already followed before becoming famous.

7. Maintain A Supportive Inner Circle

Your friends and family will serve as your support system to help you handle fame. They’re essential to you, and they can help you succeed in how you deal with fame. 

  • Fame can put your close relationships to the test, and this is something to be prepared for. Some people in your life will be very supportive and excited about your career, yet others may end up jealous and competitive for your time.
  • Spend time having one-on-one conversations with your loved ones, explaining to each person your goals, values, and intentions to strengthen your relationship and answer questions or concerns they may have..

Fame brings fans that can be hot and cold – here one minute and gone the next. So, do not neglect your close relationships while you are at the heights of fame. Know their worth, and create some time for them.

8. Ask For Help

You may feel some pressure as responsibilities that come with being famous grow. So, it’s important to tackle any mental health issues.

Ask for help from family members or supportive friends. Be honest with yourself if you require a mental health professional counselor. These people can teach you how to cope with stressful conditions.

9. Learn From Your Mistakes

Mistakes in life happen for a reason. Everyone makes them and during your celebrity, if you make a mistake, don’t lose hope – learn from it. 

It’s a learning experience to know how to manage your personal and professional life to deal with fame. So remaining humble is an integral part to know how to handle fame..

10. Keep Up Your Regular Routines

Only let them change when it’s really required(according to new responsibilities and commitments).

Continue using healthy outlets for stress, like spending time alone, eating well, resting, exercising, and meeting up with loved ones. This will keep you grounded when life feels chaotic.

How To Handle Fame
Photo by Dayne Topkin on Unsplash

11. Stay With The Art That Got You Famous 

Stay centered on the gifts that earned you recognition rather than getting lost in the trappings of fame itself.

Remember it’s these specific contributions that really inspire your fans.

12. Keep An Eye On Your Ego

Your talents are a gift given to you to share with the world. Be proud, enjoy them, and stay grounded. Don’t buy into your own hype or celebrity status.

It can become very seductive for the part of us that loves power to see ourselves as inflated compared to others. This attitude can make you treat people poorly without even realizing it.

13. Spend Time With People Who Aren’t Famous

By dating or socializing outside of the pool of celebrities, you can avoid sparking intense gossip and public interest in your personal life.

Being in a relationship with someone who’s not famous will also help keep you grounded with an outsider’s perspective of fame.

14. Address Fans With Kind Consideration

It’s very easy to negatively affect your image with just one misstep, harsh word, or thoughtless action.

Take a minute or two to be friendly with a fan (or a group of fans); most will be respectful of your private time if you provide some openness when in public. Many fans may end up pleasantly surprised to find that celebrities they like are actually nice.

15. Be Aware Of Opportunists

Opportunists are people who seek a relationship or working partnership with you in order to have access to your popularity by association or your financial resources.

If someone you don’t know asks you to involve him in your fame, and he doesn’t seem to be interested in your work itself, proceed with caution.

16. Social Welfare

Instead of soaking in the adulation and getting lost in self indulgence, consider using your money and influence to bring about a beneficial change in society.

Know your values and act on them. Involve yourself in selfless voluntary community service and be aware of the integrity of the charities you choose to be involved with.

17. Be Of Service

Remember, your fame has nothing to do with you. It’s because of the gifts and opportunities you’ve been given. So, to keep that good energy in flow, purposefully be of service wherever fame takes you, spread kindness, compassion, and love.

Is Fame Hard To Handle?

Fame brings with it a mixed bag of predicaments. Some wonderful, some daunting, some terrifying and some soul-stirring.

Opportunities that come with fame can be very exciting, but there are also some negative aspects. It becomes problematic when fame is thrust upon someone who’s not prepared for it or doesn’t enjoy it.

Here are some things that make fame hard to handle.

1. The Attention Can Be Intense

Fame is a lot of fun for a while. Although as your fame grows, the attention can become overwhelming.

Being the center of attention may be very new to you. You may feel like people know you and have an idea of what you’re like before they’ve even met you. This can be interesting and exciting at first, but after a while, it can become exhausting.

2. Knowing Who To Trust

When you become famous, there are a lot of people who suddenly want to be your friends – but not all of them have your best interests at heart. Be on your guard and decide who you can trust.

Ask yourself: “If I lost everything tomorrow and had no more money or fame, Would this person still want me as a friend then?”

3. Keep Up Your Work Ethic

Now that you’ve made it big, it might be tempting to slack off. You’ve already proven yourself. There’s no reason to keep up with your peers, right? Wrong!

Your behavior sets the tone for your team or fans. Keep the ball rolling and make sure your creativity doesn’t dry up by being disciplined and staying true to yourself and knowing what you want to accomplish next.

Why Is Fame Toxic?

You might believe successful people either have lots of money or are very famous. Preferably both.

Unfortunately, fame can be a psychological drug. It’s addictive and fleeting and always leaves you craving more. Like enough money is never enough. Fame is sometimes the by-product of success. 

These are just some celebrities who had a difficult time handling a famous life:

  • Michael Jackson
  • Marilyn Monroe
  • Lindsay Lohan
  • Justin Bieber
  • Lady Gaga
  • Kristen Stewart
  • Kanye West
  • Amy Winehouse
  • Britney Spears

The reason fame is so toxic is because it’s based on how others perceive you. Like the approval of others, fame is never under our control. Young people especially have a very difficult time dealing with all the negative things people say.

It’s completely dependent on the ever-changing whims and opinions of others. Your followers’ opinions are always under their control. They either choose to like and admire you or they don’t. You’re never in charge of others’ choices.

The toxicity comes in when you depend on their approval, or fame itself, to validate your worth.

Focusing on fame and whether you’re getting enough, always leaves a void for more. There’s never enough of the “fame drug” and wanting more discredits your past accomplishments and diminishes any joy you might experience in the accomplishments of others.

This is where the ego comes in. If you haven’t learned the good sense of taming your ego, you could fall into the slippery slope of fame toxicity.

Focus instead on sharing the gift that was given to you to uplift others in some way. 

Fame Toxic
Photo by Vincentas Liskauskas on Unsplash

How Do You Deal With Haters And Fame?

Anyone on the path to fame has haters and must learn to stay motivated, despite the criticism or discouragement.

Try these methods:

1. Be Fueled By Criticism, Not Broken By It

It’s all about your perspective. If someone says you aren’t smart enough, tell yourself, “I can’t wait to prove you wrong.”

Negative feedback can either be an anchor you drag through the desert, weighing you down, or the wind behind your sail. Build your self confidence to protect your mental health.

2. Turn It Into A Compliment

You’ll probably inspire envy and criticism if you’re successful at what you do. That’s just par for the course. Criticism is the best proof that you’re bound to be wildly famous.

3. Be Curious

What someone says reflects how they feel. If someone says something offensive, ask yourself, “What’s this person going through? Why do they need to say something like that to feel better?”

Like the bully in the school yard. That somehow makes them feel superior, or they’re filling something they’re lacking. Then let it go.

4. Dissipate Their Hate With Kindness

Worrying or retaliating against your haters leaves you bitter. It’s easy to be resentful and feel justified — but instead, make a list of the haters you don’t like.

Wish each one well by name, and practice sincerely forgiving them. Speak kindly about them to others. Go out of your way to help them. In time, this breaks down many barriers. Even if it doesn’t, the effect on you will be resounding.

5. Support Your Mission

Ask yourself, “How can I use haters to support my mission even more?”

  • First, understand that what you feed grows, and what you starve dies. Don’t react to the haters – it only feeds them. 
  • Second, realize their words are more about something unresolved within themselves – not you. What they’re seeing in you is a reflection of what’s in them.
  • Third, be grateful. Hate, love, critique and praise are all acknowledgements. You’re no longer ignored or unseen; you’re lifted into the spotlight where you can make a sizable difference.

Are you getting hate even though you’re doing good work? Congratulate yourself, you’ve made it to the next level.

6. Don’t Respond

If the criticism is a harsh, open attack, don’t respond with another attack. Social media makes this far too easy. It doesn’t inspire growth when two keyboard warriors are on social media attacking one another online. Their tempers flare and egos are damaged – no growth.

7. Hurt People, Hurt People

Haters often communicate out of a cry for help. Hurt people hurt people. By tearing others down, they reveal more of their true character than ours.

It exposes their thought process, insecurities, suppressed emotions, and how they judge people. If feedback has any merit — regardless of whether you consider it constructive — be humble and openly consider it with gratitude and love.

8. Remember Your Convictions

History is full of examples where technological or scientific breakthroughs were once met with resistance.

When you begin to disrupt an industry, dissenters will gather. People are naturally skeptical of change and reluctant to accept things they don’t understand. Don’t let that sway you!

When you know you have a better way of doing things, you can overcome all naysayers. Stay true to what you believe in.

A famous life in the public eye is the same all over the whole world. 

Some just want to be famous. Some just want the money. Others want to be known for something good they’ve done. And others yet, want to use their fame to pursue other activities they love (writing, acting, etc.).

Enjoy every bit of your success. You are the owner of your life, so follow your heart. Handling fame can be a bit of a tricky thing. 

Hopefully, the tips mentioned above will assist you ✅. If you know someone else who could benefit from these tips, we invite you to share ✅ this article with them.

About The Author

Bijan Kholghi is a certified life coach with the Milton Erickson Institute Heidelberg (Germany). He helps clients and couples reach breakthroughs in their lives by changing subconscious patterns. His solution-oriented approach is based on Systemic- and Hypnotherapy.

Bijan