Abstract
In 2007, model Katy French was arguably the most talked about and photographed woman in Ireland. Rising to prominence via tabloid scandal and reality TV, French experienced a sharply pitched fame trajectory that culminated in her death that same year, which was attributed to a drug overdose and created a national media and political furor over cocaine use. Building on the work of scholars working within British or American contexts, I scrutinize French as a tabloid and reality star in Ireland. Both lauded and castigated as an icon of the so-called “Celtic Tiger,” French, I argue, acted as nexus point for hot-button social issues related to sexuality, femininity, consumerism, multiculturalism, and national values. My examination highlights the workings of postfeminism in a neoliberal Ireland and reveals the persistence of conservative patriarchal ideologies distinctly at odds with the national self-image during a boom period of unprecedented economic growth.
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