It’s been a minute since we discussed our first crushes. Probably because they happen once and then we move on to our second, third, and eventually 439th by the time we reach college. Okay, perhaps that’s an average guestimation…I crushed a lot, but for my guest this week, her first celebrity crush came after only several years on earth back when a certain boy band was teaching the world the importance of hangin’ tough. A lesson most of their fans will never forget, but the real lesson here is the importance of that first celebrity crush because they basically set the bar and a certain standard for the rest of your existence.
Something I forgot to mention in the Crushes that Raised Us series is the psychology behind crushes at certain ages. Well, the psychology I’m basing this on is one psych class back in 2005 in which we learned a lesson on friendships – and I’m assuming it can pertain to crushes as well. So here we go…when we’re kids, especially younger and in elementary school, our friends (and crushes) are based on proximity. The people we see in class, usually the first time we’re around people our age, we are drawn to because they’re there and it’s easy. In middle school, we start to form a better understanding of ourselves, and therefore friends (and crushes) are based more on what we share in common. Here is where we’ll stop the psychology lesson as we’ll get back to that series a little later. For now, let’s marinate in that elementary mental state.
Our guest this week, author and podcaster Libby Kay, was seven when she initially spotted and fell for her first celebrity crush. I wasn’t much younger than her when I too first felt those crushing feelings in my heart when I wanted nothing more than to be Sandy in ‘Grease’ and Baby in ‘Dirty Dancing.’ I’d say Disney’s Robin Hood or Prince Eric from ‘The Little Mermaid,’ but they lean more character than celebrity in this regard. But back to these grown men who were way too old for me, a girl who’d yet to hit the mean streets of Mrs. Evinger’s afternoon kindergarten class…
They were two of the first celebrities I saw, and then very soon after, became enamored with. Why wouldn’t I have? They were dreamboats but also the first cute guys I remember seeing on screen and it just ignited something in me and they’d both have a big impact on how I crushed moving forward. Of course, this is all in hindsight because at 10 – did I really understand the correlation between those movies and the boy band obsession that was developing? Not at all, but alas – both Danny and Johnny were what? Dancers. Danny, in true teen movie fashion, was just a natural at it, while Johnny was trained. No matter why they had the moves, they had them and I was into them. Fast forward a handful of years to 10-year-old me watching “As Long As You Love Me” and immediately being drawn to the chair choreography.
It can’t be a coincidence that the first two celebrity crushes to enter my life were dancers and I’d later be drawn to men who can synchronize dance in a way that was both mesmerizing and life-changing. It’s not because our first crushes in all capacities, real-life or celebrity, wind up laying down the foundation for all that will follow. Not everything about their being will manifest in a later crush, but there are aspects of them in those you crush on as you get older. Our guest noticed the curly hair of her crush might be the reason she fell for her curly-haired husband all those years later, and I for one think that’s a beautiful thing.
Crushes might just seem like a topic meant for slumber parties when you’re a kid, but they all make up a certain part of your brain and essence and should be looked at more when one wants a better look at themselves. Who you crush on today is a result of who you crushed on yesterday, good or bad. Think about it the next time you find yourself with a new crush; how is this person a result of the last one to make my eyes heart-shaped?
Crushgasm 
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