Why do celebs lose their cool? Status-linked ego, say experts

Celebrities ko gussa kyon aata hai? That's the big question, given the recent cases of Saif Ali Khan's scuffle with an NRI businessman and Shah Rukh Khan's brawl with Shirish Kunder. With status comes aggression and ego, say experts."Anger is present in each and everybody, but as people grow up and excel in their field, they become more egoistic. The aggression within them also increases. It just depends on how one handles that aggression," Neelesh Tiwari, chairman and managing director, World Brain Center, told IANS.

Earlier this week, Saif became the 'bad man' for getting embroiled in a brawl with Iqbal Sharma, an Indian-origin businessman from South Africa, who filed a police complaint against the actor for allegedly assaulting him at Mumbai's Taj Mahal Hotel.

All this over an apparently trivial issue of lowering voices!

Saif admitted he could have avoided the brawl.

The incident saw two days of non-stop coverage. Similar was the case with the Shah Rukh-Shirish spat, as has been over incidents involving other actors like Salman Khan, Govinda, Abhishek Bachchan and Sanjay Dutt.

This is just a result of "attributional thinking", explains Samir Parikh, chief psychiatrist, Max Healthcare.

"We all have a tendency to bring down celebrities. We indulge in attributional thinking, wherein the basic thought in our head is always that the celebrity must be in the wrong.

"Picking up from the recent case (involving Saif), one has heard both sides - the celebrity's and the non-celebrity's. Whatever they may say, nobody has evidence of what transpired; so how can we believe that only the celebrity was at fault?

"Once we have clarity over who was wrong, the matter can be discussed as an anger issue. But anger is a universal phenomenon after all, isn't it," Parikh told IANS.

Public spats or misdemeanours are not restricted to just entertainers.

Last year it was reported that a Punjab-cadre senior IAS officer, Sujata Dass, created a ruckus in an upscale Chandigarh market when she thrashed a nursery student in full public view in reaction to a minor scratch on her Honda City car.

"Celebrities alone do not get angry. It happens with everyone. We just tend to single out celebrities and whatever they do is highlighted. The menu at my wedding won't make news, but it surely would for a Bollywood actor, who has the spotlight on his head all the time," added Parikh.

Even sportsmen and politicians were under the scanner for either losing their cool or hurling abuse!

Like if Harbhajan Singh hit S. Sreesanth during an Indian Premier League match or Andrew Symonds and Harbhajan got into the "Monkeygate" scandal.

Uruguayan footballer Luis Suarez was hurled a racist slur when he got into a verbal spat with French footballer Patrice Evra.

One of the most horrific celebrity-anger incidents was when former boxing World champion Mike Tyson bit off Evander Holyfield's ear during a bout.

It's the same case with celebrities across the globe. Last year Hollywood actor Nicholas Cage was arrested in New Orleans for roughing up his wife and yelling at a policeman.

Former supermodel Naomi Campbell, known for her hot temper, pleaded guilty to assaulting two police officers at London's Heathrow Airport. She was even guilty of a physical dispute with her personal assistant and other women. Naomi was also accused by her maids Gaby Gibson and Ana Scolaino of reckless assault.

Mel Gibson had a verbal argument with his instructor about his name tag during the first day at an anger management class after his rant at a police officer; Russell Crowe admitted he has an anger-management problem and publicly apologized for throwing a telephone at a hotel concierge; Chris Brown was arrested for attacking his girlfriend (now ex) Rihanna and making criminal threats against her.

Anger stems from many reasons, said World Brain Center's Tiwari, adding: "Besides the siutaion, your upbringing, childhood experiences and intensity of aggression play a key role in it."