The 8 Stages of Having a Celebrity Crush

Anyone who's had a major infatuation with a famous actor knows that dealing with a celebrity crush is a whole different ball game than your average schoolgirl crush.

When you're crushing on an actor, all of the rules about what it means to have a crush go straight out the window, and the accessibility of their work and life details makes the whole process feel like it's moving in fast-forward.

If you've ever had a massive celebrity crush, you've probably gone through these eight stages.

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1. Discovery and Denial

You're watching TV or a movie when an unfamiliar actor catches your eye. Something clicks, but you don't know it yet. "They're okay," you might mutter to yourself, but you let the thought pass, or even push it deep down, but the feeling keeps bubbling back up. Maybe you won't recognize your true feelings until the end of the movie or the next episode, but this denial is like your mind is prepping itself for the approaching storm.

 

2. Acceptance

You can't deny this new crush for long, because this person refuses to leave your thoughts. The more you think about them, the closer you get to fully embracing what's happening to you. You Google them for a little more insight, completely unaware that you've just opened Pandora's Box.

 

3. "Research"

You reason that if you're going to accept this new crush, you'll have to know a little bit about them—but you go way overboard. You go beyond learning their birthday and their most popular roles and wind up knowing everything from their hometown and their parents' names to their favorite foods and music to their deepest fears and—gasp—whether they already have a girlfriend. If you looked this deeply into your school crush's habits it'd be super creepy, but because it's a celebrity it's okay, right?

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4. IMDb

The Internet Movie Database has become your best friend, because it lists every tiny weird role your new favorite has ever played. You watch everything from their A-list films to minute-long cameos on TV procedurals to old, straight-to-TV movies featuring horrible haircuts that don't reduce their crush on them in the slightest. Depending on the type of person you are, you might even have a spreadsheet for keeping track of which parts of their filmography you have and haven't seen.

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5. Daydreaming

Your celebrity crush starts taking over your life even when you're not gazing at them onscreen. You start fantasizing about what your life together would look like and daydreaming about all the ways you could meet. It doesn't make a ton of sense that one day they'd show up at your school, but you've come up with half a dozen scenarios as to how that could happen, and any time you visit anywhere where a celeb sighting is even remotely likely you get your hopes up far too high that you'll run into them and become their bestie on the spot.

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6. Heightened Standards

Considering your celeb crush is pretty much perfect, it's become harder to develop a crush on anyone else. Cuties at school just aren't catching your attention the way they used to, and even the school crush who's been invading your thoughts for who knows how long hasn't been on your mind. For the time being, you've only got eyes for that one person.

 

7. Sharing & Community

To the annoyance of your family members and friends, you feel like spending every minute of your waking existence talking about your celeb crush. You simply can't keep these feelings to yourself, but you soon discover that they're not interested and it would be much more rewarding to talk with someone who did care. If you're lucky enough, you do have a friend or two who shares your devotion, but inevitably you turn to the internet to discover your people. Soon, you're wrapped up in the world of fansites and social media pages, fan art communities and fanfiction sites—and you might even get involved in creating some art or writing yourself. With tons of likeminded people around sharing and nurturing your enthusiasm, you've got a feedback loop that means there's no end in sight for this crush.

 

8. Spreading the Joy

Once you've established a community of people with whom you can unreservedly share every outrageous feeling about your celeb crush, you get a better handle on not constantly blabbing about them to the outside world. However, there are still those occasions when you can perfectly slip them into a conversation to make a relevant comment, and when someone expresses any interest in them you jump on the opportunity to be their experienced guide to the world of your crush. Educating people on the joys of your crush is a lot of work, but it's worth every second.

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Speaking of crushes, click HERE to find out the five things you should never say to your crush.