It is not a pretty picture. Day in and day out, Diana was hounded by packs of dogged photographers, among them a new and more aggressive breed of paparazzi, known derisively as "stalkerazzi" and motivated by sometimes astronomical fees. (The photographer who got the first shot of Di and Dodi Al Fayed embracing off Sardinia last month earned a reported $1 million.) The more egregious practitioners are relatively few in number, but they are a major headache for celebrities. Some have no scruples about trespassing, running a subject off the road or violating even the strictest taboos, such as taking unauthorized pictures of stars' children. A few are not above trying to provoke their quarry into retaliation and capturing the whole ugly episode on videocamera, a key weapon in their arsenal.
The majority of celebrity photographers are legitimate, often working with the tacit cooperation of stars and selling their pictures through agencies to mainstream newspapers and magazines, many of which, including PEOPLE, rely to one extent or another on paparazzi shots. (See Letter from the Editor, p.8.) When it suited her purposes, the princess was known to alert the press to her activities, and she freely divulged details of her private life when she thought it useful. "I don't think [Diana and Dodi] were entirely unhappy I caught them hugging each other," says Mario Brenna, a prominent paparazzo, who took the Sardinia photos.
But there is no denying that the princess felt genuine fury at having her every move shadowed by some paparazzi. Last year she took what was then considered the extraordinary step, for a royal, of going to court to get a restraining order against a photographer who had allegedly bumped her car with his motorbike during a pursuit. In her affidavit the princess spoke of being forced to cancel social engagements because she felt "too distraught to leave my home."
Two British paparazzi, Mark Saunders and Glenn Harvey, claim that on one occasion Diana maneuvered behind their car during a high-speed chase and tapped them with her bumper as a warning. Indeed, Diana was known to jump stop lights and drive frantically at times to elude photographers. Inevitably, the question arises as to why the princess, or any other celebrity, would take such risks simply to avoid having their picture taken. According to Hollywood public relations specialist Stan Rosenfield, whose clients include George Clooney and Robert De Niro, that question misses the point, since celebrities can simply lose their tempers under the constant hounding—not to mention the fact that they are conditioned to be on guard against real stalkers or kidnappers, who could be posing as paparazzi. "It's an instinctual thing," he says. "You don't know what people are going to do. It's like a movie you haven't seen before."
In the aftermath of the horrific events in Paris, a number of celebrities, including Elizabeth Taylor and Tom Cruise, added their voices to the outcry. At a press conference Clooney mocked declarations from the National Enquirer that the tab would never buy photos of the scene. "Pictures of a dying princess trapped in her car—I'm impressed," Clooney said. "What ethics!" Yet it is not clear what can be done to stop the stalkerazzi. A law passed in Britain this year, the Protection From Harassment Act, has yet to be tested in court. Prospects for effective restrictions in other countries are dubious. The only real hope is that the market for stalkerazzi pictures will shrink as the result of worldwide revulsion. Last week that was one commodity in ample supply.
Saved by the Bell Reunion
The hookups, the meltdowns, the memoires
The case reveals what was really going on what they think of each other now!
