It’s not that Demi Moore’s my favourite actress – but since I was fourteen or fifteen, she’s been one of those Hollywood icons that that in sum have defined beautiful for me. I don’t read gossip magazines except in waiting rooms or waiting in line to pay for my groceries. I needed to google Ashton Kutcher to remember that he’s Demi Moore’s husband. But reading Tama Leaver’s recent post about celebrities on Twitter, I had a look at Ashton Kutcher’s Twitter stream and noticed that his wife uploaded her first video to Qik yesterday.

So of course I clicked the link. And found myself gobsmacked at how someone so incredibly beautiful as Demi Moore, who has been one of the inaccessibles for my whole life, can be doing the YouTube/Twitter/Facebook thing just the same as the rest of us. Why does this affect me so? Obviously Demi Moore isn’t suddenly my best friend. I still can’t really reach her, touch her or connect with her in any meaningful way, or at least not in any reciprocal manner. But suddenly Demi Moore’s status changed for me. She’s no longer an almost fictional icon, distant way that only Hollywood stars can be. No: now she’s fictional, present, theoretically accessible in exactly the same way as we all can be on the internet.

It must feel rather strangely empowering for a Hollywood star to be in full charge of his or her own contact with fans as well. You can post that video instantly if you like. No need for an agent or interviews with a womens’ magazine or for photographers to traipse around your house doing the staged exclusive. As Tama notes, Stephen Fry (another Twitter celebrity) said the same thing in a recent interview, pointing out that this is yet another nail in the coffin of traditional mass media: “And the press are already struggling enough – God knows theyíve already lost their grip on news to some extent. If they lose their grip on comment and gossip and being a free PR machine as well, theyíre really in trouble.”