I am a gossip columnist.
And I am tired of pretending that gossip is something to apologize for.
The word makes people uneasy. It suggests cruelty, carelessness, the cheap thrill of someone else’s embarrassment. But after years of writing about public figures, I have come to see gossip not as sleaze, but as cultural reporting with urgency. It is storytelling at the speed of power.
The late great Liz Smith once told me, “Gossip is news running ahead of itself in a red satin dress.” That line captures the tension perfectly. Gossip is not necessarily fabrication. It is often movement before confirmation — the tremor before the press conference, the fracture in an alliance before the official statement.
The red satin dress matters. Gossip has drama. It arrives with personality. But beneath that flair is often something real: a shift in influence, a recalibration of status, a public image beginning to crack.
Critics argue that gossip is invasive and unnecessary. They are not entirely wrong. Gossip can wound. It can exaggerate. In a digital world where stories travel faster than verification, a rumor can harden into narrative in hours.
I know that risk.
Every week, tips flood my inbox. Some are explosive. Some are flimsy. Some are clearly planted by rivals with agendas. I reject more than I publish. Verification is not optional in this business — it is survival. Credibility, once lost, does not return.
But dismissing gossip altogether misses the point.
Barbara Walters once observed, “Show me someone who never gossips, and I will show you someone who is not interested in people.” Gossip at its core is curiosity about human behavior — ambition, rivalry, reinvention, collapse, redemption. Much of what later becomes “serious reporting” starts as a whisper. A signal that something is shifting behind the curtain.
And there is an old newsroom truth once captured perfectly by Gawker: “Today’s gossip is tomorrow’s news.” That line is not cynicism. It is observation. Cultural shifts rarely arrive with a press release. They leak. They murmur. They surface in fragments before becoming undeniable.
The people I write about are not private citizens ambushed by attention. They are actors, politicians, executives, influencers — individuals who cultivate public personas and monetize visibility. Image is currency in their world.
My job is to examine the distance between the image and the reality.
When someone sells relatability while behaving otherwise, that gap matters. When a powerful figure’s private conduct contradicts their public messaging, that contradiction deserves scrutiny. In that sense, responsible gossip can function as cultural accountability — not courtroom accountability, but reputational clarity.
There is also something democratic about gossip columns. They are accessible. They are written in a language people understand. They invite readers into the conversation rather than lecturing them from above. You do not need insider access to recognize a feud. You do not need a media badge to understand ambition.
Yes, there is entertainment. But entertainment is not emptiness. Stories of comebacks, betrayals, romances, and reinventions reflect universal dynamics. Celebrity culture is simply humanity with brighter lighting.
Oscar Wilde famously quipped, “There is only one thing in the world worse than being talked about, and that is not being talked about.” Public figures often resent scrutiny — until the spotlight fades. Attention signals relevance. Conversation is the oxygen of fame.
That does not justify cruelty. But it does expose the paradox: visibility and gossip are inseparable.
I do not see my role as tearing people down. I see it as interpreting influence — who rises, who falls, who reinvents, who fractures. I highlight resilience as often as scandal. And when stories involve genuine pain — illness, family crisis, private trauma — I weigh relevance carefully. Not everything that is true belongs in print. The discipline of omission is as important as publication.
The digital age has complicated everything. Anonymous accounts spread unverified claims with no accountability. Manipulated screenshots ignite outrage in minutes. In that chaos, professional gossip columnists serve a stabilizing function. We attach our names to our work. We can be questioned. We can be corrected. We can be held responsible.
Gossip without accountability is dangerous. Gossip with accountability can illuminate.
So is gossip good or bad?
It is neither by default. It is a tool. In careless hands, it corrodes. In disciplined hands, it contextualizes. It reveals how power moves before power admits it has moved.
As long as there are public figures crafting images, there will be writers examining them. The challenge is not to silence gossip. That is impossible. The challenge is to practice it with verification, proportion, and empathy.
I am a gossip columnist.
And when done with care, gossip is not shameful. It is culture, running slightly ahead of itself — sometimes in a red satin dress — but with its eyes wide open.
Rob’s latest exclusives and insider reporting can be found at robshuter.substack.com
His forthcoming novel, It Started With A Whisper, is now available for pre-order. The book follows four ambitious entertainment insiders who land coveted jobs on a struggling D-list cable morning show built entirely around celebrity gossip. Hired to expose the secrets of the famous, they soon discover the real story is inside the studio — because each of them is hiding something explosive. In a world where “today’s gossip is tomorrow’s news,” the biggest scandal may be their own.
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