Celebrities and the perils of oversharing daily routines

Masterchef judge Gregg Wallace went viral this week after he shared his typical Saturday routine. He's not the first celebrity to reveal more about his inner life than he may have intended.

There is a fascination in what celebrities get up to when they're off duty, and occasionally one will oblige by sharing details of a typical 24 hours.

But sitting down to write a "day in the life" piece is no easy feat. How honest is too honest? Should you mention your diva-esque daily habits? Do your hobbies make you sound too sanctimonious?

The 59-year-old wakes at 05:00 and reads for an hour before checking the sign-up numbers for his health programme.

Then it's a trip to the gym, which lets him in early to have the pool and sauna to himself. All that exercise means he has "less than 18 per cent body fat and a six-pack".

He also manages to fit in "journaling, manifesting, goal-setting and reading self-help books" into his routine.

Breakfast with his PA is at 10am at the local Harvester pub, and only two hours later he is back home for lunch that his wife has "ready on the table".

He then spends 90 minutes in the afternoon with his four-year-old non-verbal autistic son, before playing strategy computer games for "two hours by myself in my home office".

These afternoon activities would not raise many eyebrows if he had not admitted: "I'm a much better father now I'm older although another child isn't something I would have chosen at my age. I was always very honest with Anna, but it's what she wanted and I love her." Perhaps a weekend newspaper supplement was not the best place to confess to this.

"It's possible that Gregg Wallace will never stop trending," one person wrote on X, formerly Twitter.

The Times columnist Caitlin Moran invoked comedian Steve Coogan's pompous presenter Alan Partridge. "The general consensus seemed to be 'This is the most Alan Partridge-esque life not actually lived by Alan Partridge'," she wrote.

Wallace's routine was "hilariously bananas", the Guardian's Michael Hogan declared on Tuesday. "The man has zero self-awareness and a skin as thick as his manifesting journal. Right now, the Greggster probably thinks his interview has gone viral because it's an inspirational piece of lifestyle content."

However, Wallace later admitted he was wounded by the "cruel" reaction, particularly to his candid comments about his family.

"People said, 'So you spend an hour and a half with your son, but then spend two hours on your computer'," Wallace said on Instagram.

"No. I'm with my son in the house all the time. I just didn't write down, 'Had a tickle with Sid, playing around the living room.' You're not logging every minute of the day. I just logged the blocks."

He added: "So it didn't mean that's all I saw [of] him that day. If you're living in a house with someone, you're interacting with them all the time.

"Not only that - that is a snapshot of one Saturday. And the other thing as well - and I'm almost going to cry over this - people saying that Sid was unwanted. It took us two years to conceive with Sid. Two years."

The reaction didn't stop Wallace going on to give a snapshot of another day, posting his schedule for Friday on Instagram. It included treadmill at 05:15, an Insta live at 07:00, a "chat wiv guru" at 07:30, then a full day's filming with a break for "30 min read & 20 min nap".

Wallace is not the only celebrity to go viral for their daily routines.

In 2021, Pirates of the Caribbean actor Orland Bloom was the focus when he told the Sunday Times: "I like to earn my breakfast so I'll just have some green powders that I mix with brain octane oil, a collagen powder for my hair and nails, and some protein."

He added that he was 90% plant-based prompting him to tell readers: "I sometimes look at a cow and think, that's the most beautiful thing ever."

Bloom is certainly a hard-working actor, telling the paper he spent "a lot of time dreaming about roles for myself and others - for minorities and women". He was "trying to be a voice for everybody".

The list of impressively bonkers daily routines is lengthy - US actor Mark Wahlberg revealed in 2018 that he woke up at 02.30 before prayers, workout, golf, "cryo chamber recovery" and two breakfasts, all before some people have got out of bed.

He was more energetic than the late Princess Margaret, who apparently wouldn't leave her bedroom until 12.30, when she would sit down for a four-course lunch with the Queen Mother.

And singer Barbara Streisand has spoken about spending between 06:30 and 13:00 trading on the stock market.

Despite the risks of appearing faintly ridiculous, celebrities also want to come across as interesting and real.

PR expert Anna Berman tells the BBC: "Even with media training, celebrities will have their own opinions and quirks, which PRs don't want to totally erase, or an interview might be a bit robotic and inauthentic."

She adds that her role is to "give pointers as to whether something might be perceived as out of touch", but it's important to remember that "anything a celebrity says is likely to be seen as out of touch, as they are literally living a lifestyle that isn't normal".

"It really comes down to whether the celebrity wants a reputation as a relatable person, or they're happy to publicly own and admit their privilege."

Speaking about Wallace's article, Berman says he probably wanted to "give unique answers but it came off a bit strange". He may even have wanted the attention to some degree.

"I don't think a publicist would sign off on something like this unless it was on purpose. Maybe he is about to announce something big and wanted to raise a profile."

Our fascination with stars' private lives, according to Berman, is the unknown.

"Most details we have of celebrities are the more glamorous elements of their life like film premieres and holidays that they post on social media, but the day-to-day remains a mystery to us."

Not every celebrity's typical day is filled with excitement. Actor Tom Hollander's day in the life was deliberately mundane and deadpan.

The Bafta-winning actor told The Sunday Times in 2020 that he woke around 03:00 or 04:00. But unlike other Hollywood A-listers, he wakes early because he needs to "pee".

Remarking that "life has not been as busy as it used to be", he said he spent his mornings examining his bald patch, weighing himself and pulling his stomach in. He also took a nap, ate too much lunch and listened to BBC Radio 4's The Word at One to "hear politicians lying or reports of the world ending".

We were given a further insight into his afternoon activities. "If it's sunny I might go for a cycle ride down the canal, if it's raining I might masturbate and doze."

Sometimes there really is such a thing as too much information, even about celebrities' lives.