In the late '90s and early 2000s, celebrity media coverage reached its peak.
With multiple print publications in circulation, a new celebrity was plastered across the front pages every week. The storylines ranged from actors "caught" in undesirable situations to starlets stumbling out of nightclubs, young women's bodies unfairly judged and breaking news about "secret" celebrity couples.
It certainly wasn't a shining moment for pop culture journalism but there was a voracious public appetite for this kind of coverage, and publications spared no expense in giving the people what they wanted.
A big cog in this heightened, no-holds-barred celebrity news cycle was the relationship between paparazzi, photo agencies and publications. They all worked hand in hand — agencies would send out paparazzi (or freelance photographers) in an effort to capture major '"scoop", then those images would be on sold to media for a hefty price.
Media companies would fight for the images, with the exclusive rights going to the highest bidder.
The imagery (still or video) told a thousand words and the visual medium became the driving force behind perpetuating these celebrity stories. Someone caught with their pants down, an affair uncovered through a long lens, and private moments were all fodder for the paps, who went to great (and sometimes dangerous) lengths to ensure they never returned from an expedition empty-handed.
This attitude towards getting the shot no matter the cost immediately drove a wedge between celebrities and pop culture media. This friction often meant individuals would lash out at paparazzi, call the police or publicly slam media publications for supporting (and profiting from) this kind of behaviour.
But at the same time as paps were making names for themselves as the apparent pests of the entertainment industry, there was a subset of celebrities who were taking a different approach to the situation.
These were the stars who decided to work with the paparazzi instead of against them, and who would barter with them by giving them a shot or a soundbite if they promised to leave them alone afterwards.
And then there were others who completely flipped the script and chose to make the paparazzi work for them.
There's a long-standing rumour that some celebs call the paparazzi or photo agencies to arrange a staged shoot. The thinking behind this theory is that the stars take back the power, giving themselves the ability to control the narrative. It also gives them brownie points with the paparazzi, because they're giving the photographers access to the very thing they want — exclusive shots that turn into big paydays.
Of course, for celebs engaging in this tactic, it's one they'd rather keep under wraps. After all, it's a little like sleeping with the devil. Paparazzi do not have a good name for themselves, and fraternising with them would likely be seen as a big no-no amongst their celebrity peers.
There is an air of perceived gaucheness that might follow a celeb if they were found to be calling the paparazzi to gain attention.
There are also questions raised around why someone might want to control the narrative in such a way. Is it for financial gain? Is it to publicly shame another celeb? Is it to push a commercial partnership? Is it to control a public viewpoint during a legal battle? All of these have been suspected drivers behind celebs calling paparazzi and orchestrating photo opportunities.
When we look into this decades-old phenomenon, we start to realise that it runs deep, and the people involved in these kinds of set-ups include both celebrities from whom we might expect this kind of behaviour, and ones that may surprise you.
On one end of the spectrum you have the product placement paparazzi photoshoots that are so overtly staged you simply have to laugh. No one has cornered this slice of the craze quite like #Speidi. Former The Hills stars Heidi and Spencer Pratt made a pretty tidy sum of cash when they became leaders in calling the paps on themselves.
"We had a 50/50 partnership with [a photo agency called Pacific Coast News] and we were making over a million dollars selling our paparazzi photos, so you start doing a lot of them and you're like, 'This is the best gig ever!'" Spencer during an interview with Pop Culture Died in 2009.
They were shameless in their endeavours to cultivate press and make a quick buck, and quite frankly, they weren't hiding their intentions.
Then came the Kardashian-Jenner era, when it was widely accepted that this famous reality TV family tipped off paparazzi in order to drum up interest in their growing brand. You know what they say about Kris Jenner working harder than the devil? Well, a big part of the strategy around promoting their multiple business offshoots boiled down to their names perpetually being in the media. And of course they get more airtime if there are some pics to accompany a story — hence their penchant for tipping off photographers on their whereabouts.
This was all working fine until the Kardashian-Jenners entered a legal stoush with photo agencies, after people (including the famous family) reposting images without buying the rights started receiving cease-and-desist letters.
Given his notoriety and roster of big name celebrity clients, it is hardly likely Diggs was camping out on the beach in Santa Barbara waiting for Pitt and his girlfriend to stroll on by. It is, however, completely feasible that he was hired either by Pitt, one of his attorneys or perhaps his PR rep in order to inject some positive spin into the bad press that has been circulating around his name in recent years.
Of course, Pitt has every right to orchestrate something like this if he so chooses. But when you think about the complex allegations of abuse that have been put forward against him, a tactic like this begins to feel somewhat potentially problematic. It's a reminder that while pop culture news can often be light-hearted, there's often a lot more going on behind the lens.
Feature Image: Getty.