Stephen Colbert Quotes

Unfortunately with the media, the red tops, and all the celebrity weekly magazines, the ones who were once loyal - well, when I say loyal, this is a game; this is a game that we're in. If it's your time to get picked on, then you get picked on, and, you know, I'm used to that.

I never really got any attention until I was on MTV. I became a household name because I was on every day from 3-4 P.M. I wasn't prepared for it - how mean they can be in the press.

If I look at a ref funny, I'm getting a tech. If I say anything wrong on the street, it's on Worldstar or TMZ.

Visibility is dangerous because if a guy cuts you off in traffic, you can't call him a name - it might get to the press.

Most of us who got into film industry in early 2000s weren't prepared for the constant vigilance that being a celebrity requires, and there's no school for learning how to handle it well or gracefully. It's a hard thing to figure out. A lot of people don't deal with it well because they're either too paranoid or they're doing things they probably shouldn't be doing in public.

When you're so out there in the public eye, people are constantly criticizing every aspect about you.

It's unbelievable that people have the time and inclination to be as negative as they are on a public platform about people who accomplish whatever they do in the public eye.

I've noticed a pattern in stars that start acting out in public. Every one of them felt like they grew up without love.

I feel like I need to start wearing a T-shirt saying 'This is not a photo opportunity'. People are so lovely but you do find that when you're out you spend 40% of your time posing for photographs.

Newspapers and magazines didn't want pictures of musicians behaving badly back then. Now, because of the Internet, that's all the media wants.

I didn't read the book on how to be a well-adjusted celebrity.

I really love 'America's Next Top Model.' I'm always tweeting about it, and people are like, 'You need to get a life!'

You start noticing that people are noticing how you look, and it is a profoundly alienating experience when it first happens, where you go on TV and you say something about some topic of the day, and on the Internet people are like, 'What was up with that shirt?' 'What was up with your hair?' And you think, 'Oh, that's kind of a bummer.'

I did not want to put myself on the line, as an Australian playing Britain's greatest comic actor. The fans of Sellers are obsessive, possessive - and aggressive. I did not want to risk their anger - or my own reputation.

I've never really spent too much or put too much gravity or placed too much importance on being a pop star. It's like, OK, great, does that mean I don't have to do anything anymore except walk around and be a pop star?

I think anyone who is famous is a moron if they're on Twitter. It's just stupid.

I think we live a culture that's obsessed with people, you know, 'Celebrities are just like us!' Everything I do except my job is critically analyzed online.

I'm still coming to terms with what it's like to have people follow your personal life as well as your public life. It gets amusing.

The media will build you up in a hurry but then, just as fast, will bring you down.

Nobody cares about your autograph. There are cameras everywhere, and there are media outlets for them to 'file their story'.

Even if you're not being chased by paparazzi, there will be someone doing selfies, so everybody has to be camera-ready all the time. Whoever you are, everybody has to be ready now!

Back when I was competing I had a lot of fans wanting my autograph, wanting to take my picture, but nothing like what my son is dealing with.

I realized that I didn't think I could stand the psychological battering that actors have to withstand. I just felt I wasn't cut out for that kind of self-promotion.

As fame becomes more democratized, we might all have to start struggling with the powers, anxieties, and responsibilities of being a minor celeb.

Actors devote a lot of our time and energy to the work that we do, but there shouldn't come a sense of entitlement from fans that we owe them every second of our lives.