Celebrities have psychological problems - Lecturer

Erinn Ransom-Ofori, Writer and Lecturer at Webster University, Ghana-campus has cautioned celebrities against the consequences of being in the limelight, which they must be ready to leave with it.

According to her, the life of a celebrity status came along with a lot of psychological problems, which the individual celebrity needed to be aware of and learn to manage.

"Fame does psychological things to you (celebrities) and so you need a psychological adviser to help you manage that. For instance; If you come from poor home and all of a sudden, you have wealth, then, there is something mentally that you need to know how to mature and manage," she said.

"If you have women throwing themselves at you all the time, even if you are not a sexual predator, you can get yourself into trouble because, it is possible that you can get trapped in a situation that will land you in hot water. So I think that it is necessary for celebrities to have a lot of advice and psychological advice should be a standard."

Mrs Ransom-Ofori said this in an interview on the side-line of a public lecture organised by Webster University-Ghana in Accra under the theme; 'Celebrity, Complicity and Community: Making Sense Surviving R Kelly'.

She said celebrities must take a cue from R Kelly's predicament and needed to be aware and be conscious by ensuring that, the people around them were honest with them and not just yes-men.

"You should be careful of people would treat you like their source of money and let you destroy yourself. In the end, that would destroy your career and destroy you as a person."

Mr Eli Tetteh, Writer, Editor and Lecturer at Webster, Ghana, said, the skill and talent that individuals had in the arts industry were not enough to make them excel.

"We need to have the right character, the right moral fibre that is going to carry us through because, being a predator, being a molester, somebody who assaults people and yet being a talented artist, is not going to take you very far and eventually things are going to deteriorate," he said.

Mr Tetteh said it was important for artist to be morally upright, and urged them to take responsibility, by working to conquer their own personal demons since they would be held solely responsible for whatever happened to them.

Mr Kobina Ankomah-Graham said artist and celebrities must be aware of the power they had and not to abuse it. He said R Kelly’s issue was huge and had brought into focus the discussion of black masculinity, how people fed into issues, and the issue of celebrity and power.

As part of its commitment to creating platforms for intellectual discussions, Webster University periodically, organizes public lectures to foster discussions on issues of importance that impact society.

The public lecture discussed and debated lingering questions about collective complicity in failing to hold celebrities to account; about whether it was possible (or right) to separate artists from their art; the value of black female bodies; the responsibility of communities to address sexual violence; and the relevance it had on 21st century masculinity and gender relations in Africa and its diaspora.