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Friendship Quote by Emily Rossum

"I try to keep myself as sane and as grounded as possible by surrounding myself with normal people, such as all the friends that I've had from when I was little"

About this Quote

Fame is a machine that manufactures unreality, and Emily Rossum is describing a low-tech defense: ordinary people. The line is built on a quiet paradox. She has to "try" to stay sane, as if sanity is an active practice rather than a baseline, because her environment makes it optional. "Grounded" does double duty: it suggests moral steadiness and literal contact with the earth, a tactile antidote to the floating, curated life of celebrity.

The phrase "normal people" is doing heavy cultural work. It frames the entertainment world as intrinsically abnormal without attacking it outright. There's diplomacy here: she isn't scorning colleagues so much as acknowledging the distortions that come with money, attention, and constant evaluation. When she specifies "friends... from when I was little", she points to a pre-fame self that still deserves authority. Those friendships function like a control group in a social experiment: people who knew her before the branding, who can puncture delusions, who aren't impressed by credits or clout.

The subtext is as much about power as it is about wellness. Celebrity tends to redraw social incentives; everyone becomes a potential employee, audience, or opportunity. By anchoring herself to long-term relationships, Rossum is claiming a space where affection isn't transactional. It's also a subtle flex: the real privilege isn't access to VIP rooms, it's access to unvarnished feedback. In a culture that monetizes identity, "normal" becomes a radical form of accountability.

Quote Details

TopicFriendship
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Citation Formats

APA Style (7th ed.)
Rossum, Emily. (2026, January 16). I try to keep myself as sane and as grounded as possible by surrounding myself with normal people, such as all the friends that I've had from when I was little. FixQuotes. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/i-try-to-keep-myself-as-sane-and-as-grounded-as-123984/

Chicago Style
Rossum, Emily. "I try to keep myself as sane and as grounded as possible by surrounding myself with normal people, such as all the friends that I've had from when I was little." FixQuotes. January 16, 2026. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/i-try-to-keep-myself-as-sane-and-as-grounded-as-123984/.

MLA Style (9th ed.)
"I try to keep myself as sane and as grounded as possible by surrounding myself with normal people, such as all the friends that I've had from when I was little." FixQuotes, 16 Jan. 2026, https://fixquotes.com/quotes/i-try-to-keep-myself-as-sane-and-as-grounded-as-123984/. Accessed 7 Feb. 2026.

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Emily Rossum is a notable figure.

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