[soundwave106]

There's a level of fame, the more superstar type level, where simply walking by yourself in public is much less feasible because of the tendency to get mobbed or attract unwanted attention. This is probably the level where problems like stalkers are much more serious. I'd guess that this is the level where it isn't "as nice". You no longer can do things without considering potentially crazy fans or overly uncomfortable levels of recognition.

A long time ago, I remember the difference being illustrated at a Dragoncon in the early 2000s. Guests on the fame level of, say, Babylon 5 cast members, could walk around the convention just fine. They could do standard things like, say, go to the restaurant and have a meal without being heavily interrupted. Walking around they'd maybe get some hellos and photo poses and whatnot but it didn't seem terribly intrusive.

And then there was Alice Cooper, who walked around the main convention floor one day and instantly got mobbed by a huge crowd.

My hunch is that Taylor Swift probably is at the fame level where she needs security of some sort merely to walk around in public. That's a negative in my mind.

[icebraining]

Babylon 5 is probably a bit too obscure, but you don't even need to be a Taylor Swift to get that "treatment"; I'm guessing anyone playing a main character of, say, Grey's Anatomy is probably getting constantly interrupted in public (meals, gym, parks, everywhere can be fair game for shrieking fans to badger you and demand you act like the character). At least that's my experience living with someone who got such a part (although at the scale of a small country, not worldwide like Grey's).