Latest news with #fame
Daily Mail
a day ago
- Business
- Daily Mail
What happened to the ultimate noughties party boy Fran Cosgrave: Reality star was left bankrupt and on verge of being homeless after party days with Calum Best - now he's unrecognisable after huge career shift
From winning the first ever series of Love Island to his bromance with Callum Best, not to mention his links to Westlife And Atomic Kitten, Fran Cosgrave was like a walking emblem of noughties pop culture, all the way up to his frosted tips. While influencer culture means that so many of today's celebs don't have an immediately recognisable talent, the nightclub owner from Dublin was the original 'famous for being famous' reality star with nobody quite sure why he was suddenly all over their screens. His first claim to fame was being a bodyguard for boyband Westlife and his engagement to Natasha Hamilton forged the second major alliance between the Irish group and Atomic Kitten - with Brian McFadden, of course, married to Kerry Katona. When his relationship with Natasha ended, he got together with Jodie Marsh and their memorable PDAs were as numerous as Fran's reality stints, but things ended acrimoniously when she accused him of cheating with her friend and blasted his party lifestyle with close pal Calum Best. By his own admission, things were spiralling out of control for Fran, who told 'I woke up one morning, bankrupt, five stone over weight, on antidepressants, jobless, on the dole and on the verge of becoming homeless – in short, the most miserable I had ever been in my life.' But 20 years on from when he first entered the limelight and Fran Cosgrave looks a world away from his reality TV days, after ditching fame to become a DJ and launch his own coffee company. From A-list scandals and red carpet mishaps to exclusive pictures and viral moments, subscribe to the DailyMail's new Showbiz newsletter to stay in the loop The former nightclub owner, 47, has put his party days behind him and when he's on the road, he said there's 'no drinking, no partying. 'I'm eating well, training and exercising at every port, meditating and making sure that I get as much sleep as possible.' He now focuses on running his business, RUUD Coffee, which he founded this year after launching his own bespoke coffee blends and brand, Concrete Coffee, in 2024. Fran has also turned his back on TV to pursue his passion for house music, going by the name Futuristic Polar Bears, and becoming an international DJ. He has produced hit tracks like Running Wild and Damaged, with his Instagram bio stating he has 90 Million streams on Spotify. The Irish star often shares his music and shows to his followers, and has gone on tours to perform around the world, including Thailand, Ibiza, Germany, United States, Canada, Russia and Brazil. While Fran is almost unrecognisable from how fans will remember him from the early noughties, having ditched his mohawk and packed on even more muscles, as well as adorning his impressive biceps with a wide assortment of tattoos. He appears to be a big fan of keeping fit and training in the gym, sharing topless selfies on X of his chiselled physique. His first claim to fame was being a bodyguard for boyband Westlife, ahead of his TV debut on I'm A Celebrity in 2004, where he ended up in third place behind Joe Pasquale and Paul Burrell. The following year, he appeared on the inaugural series of Celebrity Love Island, going on be crowned the first winner alongside Jayne Middlemiss. The pair's romance would prove to be short lived and they soon went their separate ways, but Fran remained close with fellow Islanders Callum Best and Paul Danan. The trio reunited in 2006 for a short-lived car-crash reality show called Calum, Fran and Dangerous Danan, which saw them ravel from Texas to Los Angeles on Route 66. He also released his autobiography, Reality Check, the same year, following his life from growing up on a Southern Ireland housing estate to climbing to fame. Fran then made a failed attempt at pop stardom after signing with Skint Records and releasing the single Jetsetter in August that year. While he also took part in Channel 4's reality show, Fool Around With, where he was tasked with discovering who out of four girls was single. And his love life also ended up in the headlines, with him enjoying relationships with Atomic Kitten star Natasha Hamilton and glamour model Jodie Marsh. Fran and Natasha dated at the height of her fame in 2001 and welcomed son Josh, 22, in August 2002, before splitting the following year, then briefly reuniting in 2005, only to break-up again. Explaining their split at the time, the singer said: 'We were young and he worked until 6am. It was bound to fall apart.' Fran also had a relationship with Jodie from 2003 to 2004, with the pair often seen making raucous and attention-grabbing public appearances together. The former page 3 girl slammed him after their split, claiming that she dumped him because he was drinking heavily, reliant on Viagra in bed and cheated on her with her friend. In an interview with The Sunday People in 2004, Jodie also claimed to have discovered she was pregnant with his child a week after their split, but that when she called to tell him the news he 'screamed' at her and insisted she was lying. She said: 'I never wanted to get back with Fran - as far as I was concerned our relationship was over. I thought that, as the father, Fran had the right to know and should have a say in the matter. But he screamed down the phone at me, calling me a f***ing liar, saying I was attention seeking and making it all up. 'I felt so hurt that a man I had once loved could speak to me like that. I wouldn't have wanted to have a baby with a bloke like him. He was a boozer and a womaniser and if he treated me like that, what kind of father would he be?' Jodie went on: 'In the beginning he was loving and protective. Then he became aggressive and controlling but I turned a blind eye to it because I loved him. 'I paid for everything - the roof over his head, his clothes, his food, his drink, weekends away. I spent pounds 60,000 on Fran - but the most he ever bought me was a bunch of flowers from a garage for my birthday. He had no shame or pride.' She claimed Fran 'left me with no confidence' and that he would go out every night, sometimes coming home so drunk he was 'shaking and vomiting'. After he confessed to sleeping with one of her close pals, she said she ended it, saying: 'For me that was the ultimate betrayal and I kicked him out of my house. Something in my head just clicked and I realised what a complete and utter doormat I'd been for this man.' Jodie added to The Telegraph in 2005: 'I felt like I couldn't live without him. But it was only him sleeping with my mate that turned a light on in my head and I said, "Wake up you stupid girl!" After turning his back on fame, Fran went on to become the proud father of daughter, Patience Elisabeth, 15, and son Elijah, 14, with partner Elle Crawforth. He has said that he's happiest when at home with his family, admitting that he no longer mixes in the party circles he was frequently surrounded by in his younger years. Fran has admitted that his time in the spotlight was full with as many lows as it was highs, having battled depression and bankruptcy when his nightclub business went bust. In 2019, he reflected on his rapid rise to fame after Love Island, recalling: 'I was on Oxford Street and people were screaming in the streets, running out of shops to get an autograph - it sounds unbelievable now but it was absolutely insane. 'I did a DJ show up North and they had to take me off the decks as there was a huge crush at the front. I'd spend 20 minutes signing autographs in Tesco.' However, he admitted there was also a lot of harsh comments from people 'being ridiculously horrible', making him become depressed and turn to food for comfort, resulting in him putting on four and a half stone and losing much of his hair. In an interview with The Daily Mail, Fran admitted: 'I went through a time where I didn't look like me. Everyone was slagging me off, and I really felt I just had to take it.' While he explained that the duty of care protocols set up by ITV to protect Love Island contestants' mental health didn't exist when he did the show in 2005. He said: 'God, there wasn't anything like that, and I think some people on the show had really challenging days - which is only to be expected if you're somewhere for 11 or 12 weeks. 'You'd go have a chat with someone in the hut or whatever, but there was no awareness [of what challenges might arise] afterwards. That's the thing with fame. I always tell people not to get to wrapped up in it.' He struggled with continuing his career as he got older and said he became fed up of the industry by 2008, saying: 'For me and Calum, the whole thing was party, party, party. I just felt I couldn't go on after a point. 'There were a lot of younger people moving into the scene, and I just felt it wasn't the place for me. I needed to figure out how to make my next move and ended up facing massive personal challenges. 'It was extremely hard going from one stage to the other and I tried to step away and go back to normal life. A lot of the stuff I'd done in the club industry, I just needed to move away from it.' Fran previously told Jennifer Zamparelli on RTE 2FM, that he began to reject TV offers and pull away from the celebrity scene. He said: 'You can't take it [fame] too seriously because it's gone as quick as it comes. As it came towards 2009, things just started to spin out of control a bit, as it does. 'I was kind of finished with the whole celebrity thing. I started saying, "no" to loads of programmes and I just wasn't interested in it. 'My manager, rightly so, was like, "Mate why won't you do any of these things?" I was just like, "I'm not there anymore".' He sold his last nightclub to Peter Stringfellow in 2009 and turned to studying and finding his passion for personal coaching, claiming that 'it saved my life'. Though he previously admitted he would return to reality TV 'in a heartbeat', he was the 'happiest I've ever been'. Fran told the Mail: 'If something came up, I'd do it in a heartbeat, but genuinely, it's okay if it doesn't. I'm now the happiest I've ever been in my whole life - I've managed to turn my passions and dreams into my everyday life. But I know I'm one of the lucky stories.' While he issued a wise word of warning to today's reality stars and the pursuit of fame, saying it was 'artificially inflated' and that 'very few people can make it last'. 'When things go wrong, people look around and wonder why it's happening and who is doing this, but the biggest lesson I learned at that time was to look at myself and realise that I was the one making bad decisions. 'That was the real changing point for me. You learn very quickly not to get caught up in it. It's a disillusion bubble, and pretty soon you adjust to what negative stuff people are saying. 'The problem with today's reality stars is that you are taking kids out of normal jobs like working in Tesco, and then thrust them into a celebrity bubble. It's artificially inflated. 'The experience comes and goes but the danger lies in thinking, "I've made it now". Very few people can make it last. The expectation of kids when they see this stuff on TV radically changes their expectations of being famous.'
CNN
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- CNN
How Rotimi and Vanessa Mdee are redefining love and faith in the entertainment industry
In their first joint interview, Rotimi and Vanessa Mdee open up to CNN's Larry Madowo about their journey through love, fame, and purpose—and how they inspire a new generation.
Forbes
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- Forbes
The 4 Phases Of Fame, Broken Down By A Psychologist
Everyone has wondered what it would be like to be famous at one point or another in life. Even if it's not something you actively crave, the lifestyle of a famous person can be fascinating. Unless you are famous, you can never truly know the experience of having your name on everyone's lips, your face plastered across billboards and having every move of yours scrutinized by millions. Like most things in life, the reality of fame is not what most people fantasize about. There is more to living a celebrity lifestyle than red carpets and adoring fans. It's a complex psychological journey that can take a person on a wild ride through their inner emotional world. Famous people often experience different phenomenologies throughout their highly publicized careers. As explained by a 2003 article by Brown University, the word 'phenomenology' describes 'a philosophy of experience.' This means that throughout their time in the spotlight, many singers, actors and public figures relate to the lived experience of fame in different ways at different points in time. Here are the four different phases of fame. Chappell Roan is this generation's 'it' girl, and her recent rise to fame is a textbook case of fame's love-hate phase. While she is arguably one of the most relevant stars at the moment, Roan herself has admitted that when it comes to fame, it's not all glamorous. In a recent interview with The Guardian, she compared fame with the sensation of 'going through puberty,' noting that there are emotions she has never felt before and now has to deal with. It's easy to see why a star whose fame saw a meteoric rise like Chappell Roan would struggle with the consequences of fame. On one hand, she deeply appreciates the platform it has given her art. She is free to express herself and gets paid to do it — a dream she has harbored, by her own admission, since she was a child. On the other hand, fame can also be abusive. The pressure, scrutiny and invasiveness can be overwhelming and violating. Many young celebrities often liken their early careers to being touted around like 'show ponies.' This is an experience unlike any other and one that requires firm boundaries if the celebrity wishes to survive in a cutthroat environment. In a 2009 study published in the Journal of Phenomenological Psychology on the experience of fame, a celebrity interviewee stated, 'I have been addicted to almost every substance known to man at one point or another, and the most addicting of them all is fame.' Fame opens doors to a lifestyle most average people can only imagine. The society we live in treats celebrities like royalty, and the non-stop inflow of adulation and appreciation can be difficult to detach from. Pop culture news is rife with stories where celebrities indulge in degrading and potentially dangerous things to cling to relevance and status – celebrities who will do anything for the next 'hit' of fame. A 2013 study from Personality and Individual Differences correlated the 'need' to be famous with feelings of vulnerability and narcissism. People often want the power associated with fame, and many will do anything to achieve it. Fame can be a psychological drug that, if not handled with care, can wreck individuals the same way any drug addiction can. Like anything in life, fame can be adapted to as well. Celebrities like Keanu Reeves seem to have cornered the market on how to be a household name while keeping some semblance of normalcy about them. Of course, none of us can ever know their true nature, but there is a small and rarified group that has navigated long, illustrious careers with little to no scandals. This is the phase of adaptation. Celebrities who enjoy this experience are the rare beings who have conquered the beast and come out relatively unscathed. Considering the nature of the fame 'monster' and the ever-growing world of cancel culture, this is no easy feat. The study mentioned above in the Journal of Phenomenological Psychology shows that celebrities who achieve this phase have a fame protocol that helps them overcome the pitfalls of being well-known. One celebrity stated, 'You don't make eye contact, or you keep walking . . . and you just don't hear (people calling your name).' While these patterns can contribute to reclusive behaviors, many of them help celebrities keep their sense of sanity in a world of chaos. Remember when J.K. Rowling, the author of the beloved Harry Potter series, could do no wrong? Fame, however, can be fickle, and public opinion can turn on a dime, especially when your values are strongly in contrast to the fan base that once adored you. As one 2006 article in The New York Times eloquently puts it, 'Fame eats its own.' This is what most celebrities eventually come to accept. The reward of being a household name comes with the pitfall that, eventually, the media will turn on you, and that will be a wave you have to ride. As an antidote to this, many celebrities choose to focus on the job rather than fame itself. The New York Times' article also states that many celebrities choose to take solace in the work they produce and how that affects people. For these celebrities, this is the trade-off for being famous. While most of us feel like we own our favorite celebrity, we must remember there is a person behind the glitz and glamor; not a God, but also, not an object. Fame might look enticing from the outside, but it comes with a hefty price tag — one that's most often paid in the currency of mental and emotional well-being, and frequently without consent. Do you empathize with the celebrity experience or do you need to dial back your parasocial connections? Take this science-backed test to find out: Celebrity Attitude Scale.
Telegraph
5 days ago
- Entertainment
- Telegraph
Why on earth would you want your child to be the next Harry Potter?
Until Tuesday afternoon, very few people had heard of Dominic McLaughlin, Arabella Stanton or Alastair Stout. But now they are the most famous children in Britain, perhaps in the world, since all three have been cast as Harry Potter, Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley in the new TV series based on JK Rowling 's septet of novels. The words 'life-changing' don't begin to cover it. These three kids are going to be discussed on TikTok til kingdom come, their suitability for these hallowed roles analysed by fans who probably feel they own the characters. Then there will be the keyboard warriors voicing their opinions on anyone who has an association with the gender-critical Rowling. It makes you wonder whether it is really such a golden ticket after all. Of course, I would not want to trample on a moment of glory for three talented youngsters, but you do worry if their parents realise what they have signed up for. The previous three Harry Potter stars – Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson and Rupert Grint – were all subjected to the harsh glare of fame from a very young age, but at least in the early stages of the series' cycle, did not have to deal with the fiery pit of social media (though Radcliffe has said the pressures of fame led him to alcohol abuse). By the time the last film came out in 2011, the landscape had irrevocably changed. The cliché about child actors is that they end up damaged in some way by the experience. Certainly there are many casualties: Judy Garland, River Phoenix, Corey Haim, Gary Coleman, Jack Wild – all of whom endured difficult lives that were often linked to their early experiences (Garland, for example, was put on pep pills during the making of The Wizard of Oz, the consequences of which ultimately led to her premature death). Then there are the survivors, the ones like Corey Feldman, Tatum O'Neal and Macaulay Culkin who, to me, always seem like ghosts of their former selves, in desperate need of a hug. An interesting case is Drew Barrymore, who had developed a drinking problem by 11 and drug addiction by the age of 12, and is now unashamedly honest about what happened. She has even said that being put in an 'institution' for a year and a half at the age of 13 gave her the discipline she needed. Those are just some of the high-profile cases. I remember reading about Stephen Archibald who, aged 13, was cast in Bill Douglas's My Childhood (1972), the first of an acclaimed trilogy which reflected on Douglas's impoverished upbringing in 1940s Scotland. While Douglas escaped his past, Archibald wasn't so lucky. He died young, at 38, having spent time in prison. He barely learned to read. Admittedly, the case of Stephen Archibald is an extreme case, and indeed he was cast by Douglas precisely because he came from hardship and could so effortlessly convey an emotional truth. But I think it does show that success as a child actor does not provide a stable building block – either for a future acting career or for a secure future life. There is also the fact that child acting is not necessarily all jolly japes. Those that started out young in the industry often talk about how they were expected to behave like adults, had their youthful exuberance kept down by harassed directors. In an industry where time is money, the emotional welfare of a child performer is not necessarily going to be a priority. I once knew somebody who worked regularly as an extra on Grange Hill, Phil Redmond's provocative and much-criticised school soap which ran for 30 years until 2008. She told me that the overwhelming feeling on set was one of boredom, that there was a lot of hanging around in green rooms, or catching up on schoolwork with on-set tutors. When I asked her whether she felt it was worth it, she said it wasn't: she had sacrificed her education and, most importantly, that sense of freedom, that all-important sense of simply being a child. I know that things have changed in the past couple of decades. There was a time when the British stage school was a major part of the entertainment industry. These tended not to be gleaming beacons of excellence, but rather rackety institutions for talented tots – often working-class kids who were able to pay the school fees through appearances in West End shows, and on TV in advertisements or dramas which, in the 1970s and 1980s were enjoying a golden age. While the stage school model has not exactly been discredited, there are very few left today (and those that are, such as the Sylvia Young Theatre School in London, have upped their game academically), with parents realising that a mainstream education is probably the sensible option – unless their child has a yen for a career in cruise-ship entertainment. Now, the shift is to part-time performing arts schools such as Stagecoach and the Pauline Quirke Academy, both of which have many bases throughout the UK. The pushy stage mother, I suspect, is becoming a thing of the past. So far, the young cast of the new Harry Potter series have met with a very positive reaction, with the overwhelming sense that they should all be given a chance to settle into their roles. I hope this kindness prevails because, as we know, the modern world is unsparing – even towards those who are very young.
Daily Mail
5 days ago
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
Todd and Julie Chrisley's gilded lives were shattered by jail... now a reality check awaits them despite Trump's pardon
They had the glistening teeth, honey-colored perma-tans, perfect hair and a portfolio of multi-million dollar mansions. And, of course, the fame. In fact, they had it all.
