celebrityshame

As I write, social media is ablaze with furore over multiple sexual allegations against movie mogul Harvey Weinstein. Until just a few days ago Weinstein was in a seemingly untouchable position in an ivory tower at the pinnacle of Hollywood. Now he’s a toxic figure that the industry is rapidly spitting out (in the PR […]

The 2017 Wimbledon Men’s Singles tennis final was a date with destiny for Marin Čilić. His first Grand Slam final. Pitted against Roger Federer, one of the best players in the history of the game. Federer was bidding to win a record eighth Wimbledon title. Čilić was clearly the underdog, but he had beaten Federer […]

While unconscious shame is by definition invisible, there are a number of highly visible situations where the stamp of shame is so powerful – for those who recognise its clues – as to be unmistakable. It surfaces in the lives of some celebrities, some criminals – particularly sex criminals – and, unfortunately, in the lives […]

In this blog I have sometimes used real-life examples as case studies of unconscious shame, from public figures such as Amy Winehouse and Michael Jackson, to others such as Vincent Tabak and Private Lynndie England who would have remained unknown except for their shame-based misdeeds. Curiously, Donald Crowhurst, the subject of this post, fits somewhere between the two. At the moment […]

Last Friday, the eve of Valentine’s Day, red roses spontaneously appeared in the windows of many of the shops lining the Chiswick High Street. The roses marked the passing of a local vagrant, 77-year-old Anne Naysmith, who notably lived for over two decades in a clapped-out black Ford Consul. What marked Naysmith out from a […]

On 5 September 2010, as the England football team prepared to face Switzerland in Basle for a vital 2012 European Championship qualifier, revelations emerged in the Sunday press regarding an alleged liaison between the team’s star player, Wayne Rooney, and a prostitute called Jennifer Thompson. The Mirror struck a relatively neutral tone and focused on Rooney while […]