I can hardly believe I’m writing this, but Christine Hamilton has a very interesting piece in today’s Sindie, about celebrities in major trials, and how the outcome has little bearing on people’s perception of them. She cites people who’ve been found not guilty and yet are still considered ‘disgraced’ anyway (eg John Leslie), and people who’ve been found guilty and yet it hasn’t really done them any damage at all (Hugh Grant).

So the question is, will Michael Jackson be able to rebuild his career? I suspect he probably will to some extent, since he has a very dedicated fan base, but he’ll never be as big as he was before the trial. He’d been moving on a downward slope anyway, and he’ll just continue down it. But he’ll earn enough to live more than comfortably.