Famous women aren't allowed to be interesting anymore.

Is it just me, or are female celebs expected to be increasingly, well… boring?

This is why Chappell Roan has been causing such a stir since she broke into superstardom in 2024, off the back of her hit single 'Good Luck, Babe' from her skyrocketing album The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess.

Chapell is not interested in playing nice, like basically every other major female pop star.

She has become known for being vocal about how much her sudden fame has become a burden on her life. On red carpets, she doesn't shy away from biting back to the wall of paparazzi yelling out to these stunned celebs.

At the premiere of Netflix's Olivia Rodrigo: Guts World Tour concert film, she even demanded that one apologise.

"You were so disrespectful to me at the Grammys," Roan told the photographer. "You were so rude to me. I deserve an apology for that."

When she isn't taking photographers to task, Chappell has pushed back against the expectations of her fanbase, as the outspoken star declined to endorse Kamala Harris for president (but later added that she would be voting for her).

She explained her position in a video that was largely taken out of context by her critics.

@chappellroan

Im done talking about it. If you dont get what im saying from this, its a lost cause. And im not forcing you to agree with me. This is my statement. Have a good day

♬ original sound - chappell roan

What Chappell said is not particularly groundbreaking, but it was what she didn't say that drew an onslaught of hate: she didn't post a generic pro-Kamala endorsement, like other celebrities Beyonce and Katy Perry.

She didn't do what was expected of her.

Whether she's standing up for herself against photographers or refusing to concede to do what's expected of her politically, Roan's words have continued to receive abuse online.

It's a sign of the times.

Celebrity interviews have become increasingly censored and sanitised — especially when a woman is talking. The impact of social media, especially TikTok, has made the threat of public cancellation very real, with a 30-second interview bite easily drawing in millions of views who can spearhead a community movement against someone.

It's happened too many times this year to count.

Both Jennifer Lopez and Blake Lively suffered sharp downfalls for old interviews where they both appeared somewhat rude or dismissive.

Lively's case is a little more complicated, given her involvement in the controversial movie, It Ends With Us, but the sudden change in public sentiments towards Lopez was something, frankly, to behold.

The shift can be traced back to one moment: Lopez was hunched over in her documentary The Greatest Love Story Never Told, intently gazing in the mirror and scruffing up her hair. She said she looked like her younger self, a "crazy little girl" running around the Bronx.

This few seconds of footage was enough to push people on TikTok over the edge. From there, she was ridiculed, old interviews surfaced, people came forward to share their interactions with her, and for weeks, negativity plagued the singer.

@primevideo

She really IS still Jenny from the block 🥲 #TheGreatestLoveStoryNeverTold #JenniferLopez #PrimeVideo #TheGreatestLoveStoryNeverToldPV

♬ original sound - Prime Video

This was because, she umm…. acted a little unhinged. She acted like Jennifer Lopez.

She is a diva. That's why she became so famous and beloved.

But women seemingly can't even show their quirkier sides these days. Meanwhile, men are applauded for going rogue.

For example, Andrew Garfield gave a particular unhinged variety of press moments for We Live In Time. On one red carpet, he carried a cardboard cutout of his co-star Florence Pugh.

May I remind you that this was to promote a movie about stage three ovarian cancer. I'm not saying he should have behaved any different — we love him for it.

But I doubt a famous woman could get away with this level of zaniness.

This year, Lopez and Lively were judged for every single thing they said and move they made.

This year alone, the main men to suffer significant blows to their reputations are Sean 'Combs' Diddy', Kanye West and Russell Brand.

Notice the small difference?

Women are being cancelled for coming across as a little off-kilter; men are being cancelled for sexual assault, rape and sex trafficking allegations.

One journalist, Kjersti Flaa, attempted to make Anne Hathaway look bad, by digging up an old interview where she refused to literally sing on command during the Les Miserables press tour.

In response, Hathway actually felt the urge to apologise; this is where we're at, culturally.

A woman doesn't even have the right to have a bad day over 10 years ago.

Watch the journalist discussing the apology she received. 

It was a similar story for Ariana Grande, who was called out on Instagram by Cassandra 'Elvira' Peterson for 'diva' antics while backstage several years back.

Ariana felt the urge to quickly pour cold water over the scandal. "I'm so disheartened to see this. I actually don't even remember getting the chance to meet you because I had an anxiety attack and to my memory, left before the rest of my family," she wrote on the Instagram post.

"But if I'm misremembering this moment, I sincerely apologise for offending you so."

This is Ariana Grande we're talking about — the least offensive celebrity to interview. She's freakin' Glinda. Last month, she went viral for her reaction to an 'inconclusive' lie detector response when asked if she believed the moon landing was fake.

"Oh God, the whole world's gonna think that I think that! And I'm from Florida, you know what I mean? This is a nightmare! This is a nightmare!" she yelled at the time.

It was a hilarious moment but it spoke to a larger truth that Ariana knows too well: these days, one wrong move can end a woman's career.

The world's biggest pop stars — Beyonce, Taylor Swift and Lady Gaga — are now heavily sanitised versions of their younger selves.

Gone are the days when Cher said "I am a rich man" in an interview, or Madonna dropped the F-word 14 times in the space of her 20-minute TV chat.

Mariah Carey is the epitome of a diva, known for her iconic phrase 'I don't know her' in response to her views on longtime rival, Jennifer Lopez.

These days, she's basically a Christmas mascot, although she has maintained her diva reputation. On an episode of Las Culturistas, she went on an iconic rant about her gripes with unflattering lighting — a pet peeve she's known for.

@mattrogerstho

MARIAH CAREY on LAS CULTURISTAS this Wednesday #mariahcarey

♬ original sound - Matt Rogers

"I can't with the overhead lighting. Why do they do it to us? I shouldn't say us, it's not us, it's me," she joked with hosts Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang.

"I'm the one who's the most tortured by the hideous lighting in elevators, doorway, gyms — not that I go to the gym, I'm just saying."

The segment quickly went viral online and I'd argue it's because, deep down, we love when women say and do something a little over-the-top, camp, and ridiculous.

This is why they're celebrities in the first place. They're not like most of us.

But these days, any break from a female celebrity being anything but kind, humble, and respectful is a relative rarity.

Viewers have applauded Martha Stewart in the new Netflix documentary Martha for her candid interviews in the film. Martha is Martha — you can take her or leave her.

At one point in the film, she spoke about a journalist who covered her 2004 trial. "The New York Post lady was there, just looking so smug," she reflected.

"She's dead now. Thank goodness. Nobody has to put up with all that crap that she was writing all the time."

It was a candid moment that stopped me in my tracks. Women simply don't speak like this anymore.

In archival footage, she was overheard scolding an employee for using the wrong knife for Easter brunch. "Well, isn't that a stupid knife?" Stewart says. Journalist Caitlin Flanagan spoke about how Martha offered a different type of woman, remarking that "you could be a homemaking expert who's a bitch."

This type of woman is an endangered species.

I'm not saying everyone should be as cutthroat as Martha Stewart, but women need to be able to be interesting, thought-provoking and surprising.

And dare I say, let women be divas.

Feature image: Getty.