With more than 1 million Instagram followers, Celeste Barber is a bona fide social media celebrity. The Australian actress, writer and comedian — who soared to Internet fame in 2015 by hilariously recreating celebrities’ staged and unattainable photos — opened up to Us Weekly.
US WEEKLY: So what’s it like being Instagram famous?
CELESTE BARBER: I have just written a column titled “Being Famous on Instagram Is Like Being Rich at Monopoly.” I can’t even get my account verified, so not much has changed. Except I’m a massive bitch now and make my friends pick out all the blue M&M’s for me.
US: Can you explain the #celestechallengeaccepted hashtag?
CB: My sister would send me photos, daring me to do them, so I woke up one morning and thought, “‘Challenge accepted!” I thought it might be fun to show what a seminaked normal person looks like next to a seminaked fancy person.
US: Why do you think celebrity selfies so ridiculous?
CB: Everyday mums don’t generally have salads delivered to our houses daily while a rotating roster of nannies watch our children so we can get on an app that helps us organize our private jets so our army of assistants can make our trip to Paris Fashion Week as smooth as possible. It’s not real.
US: Have you heard from any of the stars you’ve parodied?
CB: I’ve had a few fun shout-outs from some of the Kardashian ladies, as well as Cindy Crawford, Ashton Kutcher and Lil Wayne. We’re all total BFFs now.
US: How do you feel about becoming a body-positive role model?
CB: I get supernice messages from [women] saying I make them feel better about the way they look. People seem to be bored of seeing people become successful because of how they look, not what they do.