Polly Gillespie: I don't need the fame

Brazil's proud recipient of the best bum in Brazil competition, loudly declared during a World Cup news conference that she had an affair with Portugal's Cristiano Ronaldo. Photo / AP

Standard dinner party question "Would you rather be rich or famous?" I use it often when I'm interviewing international stars, and inevitably the answer is always the same ..."Rich."

Sometimes it's:
"Are you f****** joking? RICH! Duh!"

When you ask a group of "normal" people, the answer is not always as predictable. If you are neither particularly rich nor famous, the answer swings madly between both. I know what I'd rather be. Rich.

This country's history is littered with famous people who have not a single bean. It is quite simple, in a country of four million, to be noticed for something. One of the beauties of being Kiwi is that we all count. It matters if we are successful. It matters if we kill someone or we are killed. It matters if our song goes to No 1, or our book hits the top of the Whitcoulls best-seller list. With fame though, there is no promise of riches.

I remember back in the 90s seeing the lead singer of a top Kiwi band working as a courier in town. How could his song be No 1 for eight weeks and yet he's delivering Ezibuy to 'Fanny Hooha' at her inner-city flat?

In New Zealand, fame and fortune do not necessarily collide. I was driving along with my mum last Thursday in the car when the newsreader approached the end of her bulletin: "In sporting news Miss Bum Bum, Brazil's proud recipient of the best bum in Brazil competition, was apprehended at a football World Cup news conference declaring loudly that she'd had an affair with Portugal's Cristiano Ronaldo."

The newsreader didn't laugh. That newsreader is a finer broadcaster than me. I would have 'lol-ed' my way through that story like a year 9 student in sex ed class.

Why does the woman with arguably the best ass in the Americas need to bring more attention to herself by humiliating herself at a news conference? Why is fame so important to some people, that dignity, poise, a good name, and credible sanity becomes secondary? Is fame so important to some individuals that despite the complete lack of financial reward or respect they'd rather be noticed than not?

Fame is, without fortune, a little tragic but fortune without fame seems incredibly cool to me. The idea of being able to stay at Claridge's for six weeks at 1200 ($2347) a night sounds beyond my wildest fantasies. I don't need the fame, just give me the Claridge's butler and the pheasant toasted sandwiches thanks!

I should rather like the title of Miss Bum Bum though.