"Turning one's back on stardom might be the highest form of common sense. One that I would aspire to be more complete with. … I don't think it's an overstatement to say that it's an obscene disease of celebrity that's taken over far too much of the life that we do live. I think it's a disease. I think that it's diminished the quality of life. Not particularly for the people who are the focus of it, though that is clearly something that I've been compromised by. 
But for the culture at large."
—actor Sean Penn, who plays an aging pop icon trying to leave fame behind in his latest film, This Must Be the Place [AP, 1/22/12]
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