Well before Perez Hilton (the Miami-born Mario Lavandeira) grew his website, PerezHilton.com, into a Tinseltown franchise raking in 9 million page views a day, the self-proclaimed “Queen of All Media” knew exactly how Hollywood was changing. If you used to need an actual talent—acting, singing, playing a sport—in order to make it big, now you could become famous for being famous, and doing absolutely nothing at all. And anyone can do it; in other words, you too can be a Hilton!

Jared Shapiro is the News and Entertainment Director at Life & Style Weekly, and author of Going Corporate: Moving Up Without Screwing Up. He has appeared on VH1, Entertainment Tonight, E!, and Inside Edition.