Most celebs think of the paparazzi as a lower form of life but sometimes, even paparazzi can produce a cure for fame's afflictions.
Elton John believes London's rabid Daily Mirror did Kate Moss a favor by forcing her to confront her drug habit. Sir Elton says photos of the supermodel snorting coke compelled her to seek help in rehab.
"The great thing about England is that the media will give you a very hard time," the Rocket Man told the same paper this week. "They won't let you get away with it."
Elton suggests his own 16-year drug battle may have ended sooner if he'd been found out.
"I wish Elvis Presley had lived in England, because if he had, he would probably still be alive today," he says.
Back in the States, California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger recently signed off on a law subjecting people who commit assault while taking pictures to stiff fines which may extend to the publications that buy the snaps.
But the paparazzi have another unlikely ally in George Clooney. He argues that paparazzi "can be real jerks," but "I'll take all of those hits [in the media] in lieu of trying to restrict it, because the dangers of restricting it [are] like burning the first book."
Of course, not all stars are so broadminded about their pursuers.
Charlize Theron is furious over the chopper noise that lens-wielding locusts brought to her mother's recent wedding ceremony in Pacific Palisades, Calif. The photographers thought that Theron, who was a bridesmaid, was marrying her longtime beau, Stuart Townsend.
And just last week, Tom Cruise's bodyguards got into a physical confrontation with photogs outside the Scientology Celebrity Centre in L.A. after the cameramen swarmed the entrance.
A security guard took out a camera to snap pics of the press for the "safety of ... parishioners," reports Jeanette Walls of MSNBC. Then the guard made a citizen's arrest.
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