The celebrity family: A clinical perspective

Based on families seen in treatment, the authors identify characteristics of the celebrity family, which include issues of confidentiality and trust, family boundaries, parenting roles, unrealistic expectations of and for the children, and family isolation. The family is described as entering into a tacit contract enabling the celebrity to pursue his/her career by relinquishing the parental role to the spouse. A symptomatic child enters a parentified or “spousified” role, providing emotional support to the mother in the absence of the father. The child's position serves the needs of the system yet interferes with the child's own developmental tasks. A composite case study is presented as an illustration, and treatment recommendations are delineated.