"I like being famous when it's convenient for me and completely anonymous when it's not"
About this Quote
Fame, in Catherine Deneuve's hands, isn’t a crown; it’s a light switch. The bluntness of "when it's convenient for me" cuts against the usual celebrity script where visibility is framed as destiny, gratitude, or burden. She treats it as logistics. That’s the point: demystify the glamour, reclaim the terms.
The line works because it admits something most public figures are trained to deny: fame is transactional. You can spend it for access, influence, leverage; you can also get burned by it when the attention turns predatory, moralizing, or simply exhausting. Deneuve’s phrasing refuses the saintly pose of the misunderstood star. She’s not asking for pity, and she’s not pretending she’d trade the perks. She’s describing a mode of survival: selective exposure as self-defense.
Context matters. Deneuve is not a reality-era celebrity manufactured by constant disclosure; she’s a classic French screen icon whose mystique was part of the product. European stardom has long leaned on distance, on the idea that the private self should remain private. Her quote is a small manifesto for that older contract, updated for a world where anonymity is treated as suspicious and publicity as a moral obligation.
The subtext is a quiet rebuke to audiences and industries that demand permanent availability. She’s asserting a boundary that fame tries to erase: the right to be seen only on purpose.
The line works because it admits something most public figures are trained to deny: fame is transactional. You can spend it for access, influence, leverage; you can also get burned by it when the attention turns predatory, moralizing, or simply exhausting. Deneuve’s phrasing refuses the saintly pose of the misunderstood star. She’s not asking for pity, and she’s not pretending she’d trade the perks. She’s describing a mode of survival: selective exposure as self-defense.
Context matters. Deneuve is not a reality-era celebrity manufactured by constant disclosure; she’s a classic French screen icon whose mystique was part of the product. European stardom has long leaned on distance, on the idea that the private self should remain private. Her quote is a small manifesto for that older contract, updated for a world where anonymity is treated as suspicious and publicity as a moral obligation.
The subtext is a quiet rebuke to audiences and industries that demand permanent availability. She’s asserting a boundary that fame tries to erase: the right to be seen only on purpose.
Quote Details
| Topic | Witty One-Liners |
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