I also think it's true because we treat these celebrities like heroes from the myths.

Yes. We NEED heros, we need stories, we need to share our stories - but we also need to be part of something larger than ourselves. It's a human need, it's in our hardwiring.

And this can be a very healthy impulse - to help, to share, to build, to fight for social justice, to hold someone when they cry or need someone to lean on, to celebrate as a community, etc. But it can also be very unhealthy, as the obsession with celebrities shows - the feeling that one is "less than" & "worth less" but the feeling can somehow be mitigated through a celebrity.

And there's the fact that in our culture today, people are considered "worth less" unless we are rich, famous successful - we're losers. Do we believe that in our hearts? Not really, but the message is conveyed over and over. That if you're poor, if your unemployed, if you don't have the world at your feet, then YOU DIDN'T TRY HARD ENOUGH. So somehow those who "made it" must possess some magic, and if only we can get a little of it to rub off on ourselves.

I also suspect there's an addiction aspect. I have friends who are fans of a particular male country singer and they go to all of his concerts, meet him in person at every chance. And these are healthy, well-adjusted people but there is something so powerfully magnetic about that singer. I suspect that celebrities are both sponges and mirrors - they soak up all the attention (energy) they receive, and the ones who can handle it well shine the power and attention (energy) back outward.