Why so many celebrities are taking a break

Entertainment industry and spiritual retreats notoriously cultivate a toxic relationship. Those who work in entertainement, victim of the productive rhythm of their job, reach nervous exhaustion at the end of a press tour and find peace in the latter, awaiting on a yoga mat, palo santo in hand. With the grand return to the front page of Bella Hadid for Perfect Magazine and the announcement by Margot Robbie of a brief retreat from the scene after Barbie, the dual existence of stars emerges once again: you're either everywhere or nowhere. But if once artistic retreat was where musicians like Bob Dylan, Jim Morrison, or Yves Saint Laurent secluded themselves in a villa isolated from the rest of the world to create, now it represents a PR choice suitable for those, like Robbie and Hadid, who have a "too seen" face. Street style photos, runway shows, and clips from the highest-grossing film project of 2023 tell how, especially in the digital age, too much is too taxing.

«Everyone's probably sick of the sight of me for now,» Margot Robbie said in an interview with Deadline, announcing her plausible and swift retreat from the scene. With the unstoppable success of Barbie, of which she was protagonist and producer, the actress has achieved unparalleled fame. Thanks to the ingenious idea of stylist Andrew Mukamal to take inspiration from the wardrobe of the Mattel doll for red carpet looks, in 2023, her face was the centerpiece of the project's marketing campaign, one of the reasons Barbie became the fourteenth highest-grossing film in history. After its release, the sharing of the actress's looks was joined by memes, from Depression Barbie to Halloween costumes imitating her, and thus Margot Robbie's immaculate blonde became omnipresent on our screens, now as famous as the bowler hat and the eye from A Clockwork Orange - the media impact was less traumatic on the public, but in terms of iconography, we're there.

A year earlier, it's possible that Bella Hadid made the same reasoning as Margot Robbie. Complicit in the worsening of her psycho-physical condition related to lyme disease, which she suffered from for years, throughout 2023 the top model retreated to her Californian estate, escaping any indiscreet gaze of paparazzi or fans. After being crowned Model of the Year at the 2022 British Fashion Awards, Hadid dedicated herself entirely to her health, immersing herself in a 100-day retreat. "As painful as this experience was, the result was enlightening and fundamental to building my life, full of new friends, new visions, and a new brain," the model recounted in an Instagram post announcing the success of the treatments. Her public return, on the January 2024 cover of Perfect Magazine as well as in street style images depicting her around New York, was eagerly awaited by fashion fans as much as Pharrell's first show for Louis Vuitton Men.

It's rare for a star to acknowledge the oversaturation of their image. An industry that stays alive thanks to the hunger for glory, intercepting the moment when the public begins to show signs of fatigue towards a character is as challenging as admitting to overdoing it with botox. Stars like Selena Gomez prove that announcing a retreat from social media can backfire if what is declared is not respected. Just a couple of weeks ago, the Wizards of Waverly Place star returned to posting on Instagram just one day after announcing she would «focus on what really matters,» a quip that circulated the internet and put Gomez at the center of social criticism.

As much as social pressures may push to scatter one's energies into projects and marketing campaigns, understanding when to stay silent is a necessary skill if one wants to have a future among the stars, as much as knowing when to speak. While Margot Robbie will dedicate herself to her production company Luckychap Entertainment, and Bella Hadid has returned to making headlines by appearing in a cutting contest complete with a cowgirl outfit, for a bunch of influencers, content creators, models, and designers the solution to overexposure is silent retreats, an experience documented even by the Financial Times where public figures limit themselves to soup and meditation for weeks on end - no phones, no coffee, and no solid foods. And here lies the paradox: in the digital age, even the wealthiest public figures are pushed to the limit, forced into caffeine-free, Wi-Fi-less days. Are we asking too much of ourselves the problem, or is it the very system of work itself?