Erma Bombeck once said, “Some say our national pastime is baseball. Not me. It's gossip. Every day, Americans buy magazines like US Weekly, People and Star or visit websites like Hollywood Gossip and omg! to get their fix of celebrity gossip. For the sake of clarity, rather than distinguishing between celebrity news and celebrity gossip, which would arguably be an impossible task, we will consider all material presented in the media about celebrities to be gossip. The vast amount of celebrity gossip in the media may seem impossible to apply any logic or classification, but celebrity gossip can generally be classified based on the content or topic it discusses. One category of celebrity gossip is romance. This is such a big topic in entertainment news that terms have been coined for major celebrity couples; The fact that "Brangelina", a combination of the first names of Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie, and "TomKat", the combination of Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes, are expressions in the common American vernacular demonstrates the great interest of Americans in the lives romantic. stars. There are entire sections of magazines and websites devoted to gossip about celebrities dating, getting engaged, breaking up or getting divorced. Although love-related gossip is often unreliable, there is no doubt that there is a market for this type of celebrity gossip. The public is not only interested in couples, but also in the fruits of these unions: the offspring of celebrities. As any celebrity gossip follower can attest, pregnancy is very “in” right now. Articles and programs speculate about which Hollywood stars are pregnant or wish they were; Jennifer Aniston and her Friends co-star Court... middle of paper ...... the media is telling us which celebrities will star in this movie and maybe even which actors missed out on the lead role. Recent examples of professional celebrity gossip include the recent breakup of alternative band "Fall Out Boy" and speculation about what's next for Conan O'Brien, who recently left NBC when his time slot was returned to Jay Leno. , some celebrity gossip covers more than one category, such as Tiger Woods' recently revealed infidelity that led to separation from his wife, legal issues, and negative effects on his golf career. However, despite the fact that almost nothing is "off limits" to the tabloids, almost all celebrity gossip falls into the categories of romance, children, appearance, legal issues, and career. Works Cited “Erma Bombeck Quotes”. Smart quote. Brainy Media, and Web. February 7. 2010.