Who Are Tabloids Calling “Crazy”?

Short answer: women.

Using Jezebel's Midweek Madness feature, BuzzFeed examined tabloid headlines over the past two years to see who the magazine covers are calling crazy.

In order to make the cut, celebrities and reality stars on the covers had to be described in terms generally accepted as code for mental instability — like "crazy," "meltdown," "out of control," "spiraling," "bizarre behavior." Terms like "drama" or "sad" are considered here to be insufficiently tied to mental health connotations. Coverage of celebrities considered troubled who had died (i.e. Whitney Houston) were also excluded.

We found that the answer is, almost exclusively, women. These findings speak to the kind of narrative tabloids prefer: ones that hand-wring (and obsess) over the supposed emotional and mental instability of women.

Below, the stars most frequently called crazy on covers over the past two years:

Demi Moore, 8 covers

Demi Moore, 8 covers

Demi Moore was called crazy (in so many words) on 8 tabloid covers between May 2011 and May 2013.

Via: additiontolife.com

Amanda Bynes, 3 covers

Amanda Bynes, 3 covers

In the past two years, Amanda Bynes has (so far) appeared on three tabloid covers that suggest the star is mentally unstable.

Via: cdn.hollywoodite.com


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