Our past follows us whether it is good or bad. We leave breadcrumbs through our life that eventually lead to us wherever we are.
A well-known skip tracer once shared the secret of his success with me. He would use phone books to follow these breadcrumbs from the first instance a person appeared in the phonebook, through the years until he found their current address. We are creatures of habit, he explained so that however we identified ourselves in the phonebook was the way that we carried that identity through our lives.
When breadcrumbs become beacons
A great example of this is Alannis Morrissette. In the early days of her career, at the time that her Jagged Little Pill album was released, she lived a small unassuming rental apartment in Toronto’s beaches neighbourhood. Her name, address and phone number was published in the phone book.
The album became an overnight success and during the subsequent tour, she quickly graduated from playing small clubs to selling out stadium shows. Seemingly overnight, she was launched into stardom—the dream of any musician. But along with that spotlight came a new, very real concern: her home address and phone number, once harmless, had now become a serious risk to her safety.
Another instance where past lives bring present risks involves one of the world’s most recognized rockstars. As his success grew, he climbed the property ladder and eventually purchased a home in one of Toronto’s most exclusive neighbourhoods. To protect his privacy, he registered the property under a corporate entity. But in doing so, he inadvertently exposed his full name and email address through public records—undermining the very protection he intended.
In today’s digital age, this becomes even more prevalent and risky. It’s not just phone books anymore. No longer are we only publishing a few key details about our lives. We publicly post everything: where we live, where we work, what we eat, where we vacation, our family members, what we drive—even what we look like.
When visibility becomes a weapon
A high-profile case that brought this issue into sharp focus was the robbery of Kim Kardashian. On October 3, 2016, she was tied up and robbed at gunpoint in a Paris hotel she was staying in. As one of the most recognized women on the planet with millions of followers, Kardashian’s public presence became her greatest vulnerability. The robbery marked a turning point, reshaping the narrative around celebrity, privacy, and the dangers of digital oversharing. Investigators concluded that the assailants tracked her digital footprint—images, timestamps, and geotags—then used that information to carry out a carefully planned, old-fashioned heist.
When obsession turns dangerous
Public figures often enjoy the admiration and attention that come with fame. But there’s a darker side—when admiration turns into fixation, particularly among individuals struggling with mental health issues, and the line between fantasy and reality begins to blur the boundary between celebrity and perceived personal connection.
While providing a protective layer for one Canadian superstar, we were tasked with intercepting and analyzing incoming fan mail for sentiment and other potential risk language. We found that one fan’s emails shifted from admiration to unsettling cries for attention. As time went on, the emails, which were also sent to the management of another well-known US celebrity, started to veer into troubling waters with suggestions of them all living happily ever after together in a mansion. The tone then changed to becoming threatening. Eventually, we took steps to identify who the fan was an ended up doing a wellness intervention when talks of suicide started to show up in the emails.
Rethinking safety in a world that’s always watching
These stories highlight how fame, while glamorous on the surface, can come with serious risks—especially in today’s hyper-connected world: visibility becomes exploitable. In a world where living in the spotlight amplifies every digital breadcrumb, personal safety must evolve alongside public exposure.
Whether through overshared content or emotionally unstable admirers, the risks facing celebrities are real, growing, and increasingly complex. What used to be harmless personal details can now be used to track, target, or manipulate someone. Whether it’s an address in an old phone book or a tagged Instagram post, the digital trail we leave behind can quickly become a threat. Protecting public figures today means not just managing physical threats, but anticipating, and mitigating, how digital presence can become a pathway for harm.
