The naked narcissism of Amanda & Co is beginning to look rather sad

IT’S BEEN a bit of an eye-opener during lockdown to see how many female celebs, denied their usual ration of publicity and TV appearances, have been posting pics of themselves desperately trying to look sexy and relevant.

While most of us pad about the house in old slippers, joggers smeared with yesterday’s porridge, doing a good impression of having been pulled through a hedge backwards (or is that just me?) they’re obsessively posting pics of themselves reminding us just how fabulous they are. Amanda Holden has been doing it almost every day (she’s got two kids and a husband, for God’s sake, how does she find the time?) Many are of her in evening dress performing the kind of tasks the rest of us do in leggings and a T-shirt – mowing the lawn, emptying the bins, cooking.

But no,AmazingAmanda does it all in silk and chiffon – always with plenty of flesh on show.Then she did an interview last week saying that because husband Chris’s hair has grown in lockdown, she fancies him more and they make love every five minutes. Seriously?

This desperation for validation is presumably why Nicole Scherzinger posted a photo of herself doing the splits in a black see-through body stocking while holding a mop.

Oh, and she was winking. I looked at it trying to work out if it was some sort of sexual code? Do celebs do things with mops the rest of us don’t? Or was it just “look how fabulous I am?”

Then Rita Ora posed with her thrupennies out for no good reason other than she knew it would make headlines.What is wrong with these women? Are they incapable of living a REAL life, one that doesn’t always require them being the centre of attention?

Are they so narcissistic that they can’t bear a day to go by without showing us all how incredibly wonderful they are? Or are they just so insecure that they have to try and persuade us how wonderful they are?

Whatever it is, it’s getting pretty boring, especially when we all have more important things going on in our lives – like trying to save them! But these people have learned nothing in lockdown.The rest of us have learned that life was pretty shallow before – too much time spent on social media and not enough actually talking to people.Too many people thinking about their own needs, not the needs of others.Too many people too busy with their own lives, careers and ambitions to just slow down and look at what’s around them. It has taught many of us how to be less greedy, more giving and more resourceful.And we’ve learned what’s really important – family and friends and that helping others is way more gratifying than helping ourselves.Also that life isn’t all about Me Me Me.Well, most of us have – not so the ladies mentioned above who are clearly still the most important people in their own self-obsessed little worlds. Maybe in our old lives their naked narcissism wouldn’t grate so much. But now it just makes them seem shallow and vacuous. Amanda Holden often says her addiction to posting pics of herself is just a bit of fun. No it isn’t. It’s her saying: “COME ON, LOOK AT ME, LOOK AT ME! I NEED YOU TO LOOK AT ME AND TELL ME HOW WONDERFUL I 0AM.”

Ditto the others.And this self-promotion is actually a bit sad, because these women clearly don’t feel fabulous about themselves – they need us to tell them. Well, we mustn’t. We must look at their silly photos, mopping the floor in sequins and mowing the lawn in evening dresses, and see them for what they really are – a cry for attention from women addicted to attention.

And once we do, the fact they might be richer or more beautiful than us really doesn’t matter. Because when people have to keep showing us how wonderful their lives are – you know they’re really not!