What if stardom isn't all it's cracked up to be?

[Susan]

But I loved him ...

Dawnette Knight was obsessed with Michael Douglas. She claims to have met the actor in 2002 at a party in Florida. She knew he was married to actress Catherine Zeta-Jones, and she didn't like it.

Zeta-Jones, who won an Oscar in  2003 for her role in "Chicago," became her hated enemy. Between January 2003 and May 2004, Knight sent 19 threatening letters to Zeta-Jones, describing what would happen to her.

One said she would be chopped up in pieces "like Sharon Tate was." Another said: "We are going to slice her up like meat on a bone and feed her to the dogs."

Read more ....   But I Loved Him ...

What do you think about stalker/fans?  If you get rich and famous, it could happen to you! 

[Cammy May Hunnicutt]

Well, I get stalkers anyway.

But I'm just dying to be big enough to get famous stalking and threats and stuff.  I've already written my speeches and press releases.  Most of which begin, "While I can understand this person being hopelessly enthralled by my glamor, fame, wealth, and wisdom....."  

And end "...I've asked my prayer group to send healing energy their way for the next 9 to 15 years." 

[Susan]

Yeah, yeah. I get that you're kidding. But a mentally unstable stalker is no joke. One of my friends, another female brass player, was stalked for 7 years by a nutcase. This was a while ago, before the anti-stalking laws went into effect. Seven years. She finally quit her job and moved out of state. Praying didn't help.

[Cammy May Hunnicutt]

What helps is superior hurt power.

That's been my approach since high school.  

[Susan]

What, you had a gun?   :)

[Cammy May Hunnicutt]

Better, a hockey stick and an attitude.

[James A. Newman]

The day you get your own stalker is the day that you have ARRIVED. haha.

I've had readers ask me out for pizza. Pizza?  

The thing is writers never reach the same level of fame as actors and musicians. That's the appealing thing about it. To be recognized by the work, not by the image. 

[Cammy May Hunnicutt]

Oh, no, not the dreaded pizza stalkers.

I'm hoping I might get notorious enough to get some tiramisu stalkers.

[Susan]

Whoa! Tiramisu ... my favorite dessert!  Now, sushi stalkers, that's another story ... think of it ... the sushi knives ...

[Susan]

Hi James ... Or radio announcers ... which I did for a minute at a small station back in the 80s. Whoa, the phone calls I got, not stalker type, idiot type ... and the requests ... Freddy Fender?? The Last Teardrop Fell??

There was vomit all over the studio ... :)

[James A. Newman]

....Play Misty for me....

[Susan]

Yeah ... that's what I was thinking when I got the obscene phone call on the "hot line" (supposedly known only to station personnel). Did I mention I was working 5:30 P to midnight? ALONE in the station after 6P ... ah, those were the days ....

[Caroline Trippe]

Just saw this.  I don't keep up much with the lives of celebrities, so I wasn't aware of all this business.   I've heard of this syndrome---erotomania, and there's another name for it too I believe. But here's a wonky take on it. In a bizarre way, all of Knight's attention--her supposed hatred, her violent fantasies, were directed at Catherine Zeta-Jones. Hate/Love, Love/Hate. Zeta-Jones is one of the most incredibly beautiful women in the world. I'm surprised she had never been stalked before---if's always a danger for celebrities, isn't it?  What if Dawnette Knight was really fixated on Catherine, in a kind of bizarre transference. Stalkers seem to be pretty confused people to begin with---certainly their capacity for denial is immense. (The idea the Michael Douglas could have eyes for any other woman when he had a wife as gorgeous as Zeta-Jones, for whom he consistently professes his adoration). Don't know what Knight fantasized about a sexual life with Michael Douglas, but she was very open about the physical damage she claims to have wanted to inflict on Zeta-Jones.  So who was Knight really stalking? (This doesn't make it less scary, of course). But Sharon Tate really was murdered, and with no advance warning. The fact that it was all written down so graphically made it less likely that it could ever have been enacted. Knight probably got a certain degree of satisfaction just from expressing herself. Would be my guess. And the thrill of terrorizing this people, this person. She got their attention!