We follow celebrities on Twitter and Facebook, watch them on television and read about them in supermarket checkout lines. With increasingly blurred lines between private and public life, our relationship with celebrities has never been so immediate, and their personal trials are news headlines and water cooler talk. Offering the first extensive look at celebrity health sagas, this book examines the ways in which their stories become our stories, influencing public perception and framing dialog about wellness, disease and death. These private-yet-public narratives drive fund-raising, reduce...