Interesting that the story mentioned by the OP (lo those many years ago) appeared in the National Post (Canada) and was later found to be plagiarized, at which point Nickson lost her job there.
The only reason I clicked on this zombie thread was that the title reminded me of an incident that took place nearly 40 years ago. I was working back stage security at a Barry Manilow show. I was posted right outside his dressing room door which was steps from the stage. There were no other people in the area. His security guy preceded him and told me to turn around and face away from Barry. He didn’t want to be looked at. I though then (and now) “What a jerk”. None of Sages Rat’s reasons applied.
Oh, that’s just Jenny from the block.
Are you implying that Barry Manilow is not a sex icon?
Along this line, when Barbra Streisand appeared in a Las Vegas showroom the people working in the room had to wear colored tags indicating whether they were allowed to look at her or not. For example, spotlight operators could look at her during rehearsals but servers setting up tables could not. Note that many of those servers have been working showrooms for up to 40 years, looking at, hanging out with, and even dating the likes of Sinatra, etc.
This special snowflake was the subject of much disparaging chatter in the employee cafeteria.
I’ve been an extra for movies and TV shows. They tell us not to look the actors in the eye. I think it’s just the fact that might have hundreds of people making eye contact with them a day and it gets to be too much. You know who they are, they seem like old friends because you have seen them do many times, but you are just another stranger. Any tall blonde who has travelled in remote places in China knows what it is like to be gawked at all day and night.
Yes, the burden of fame and fortune is too much to bear sometimes.
I recently heard this account from someone I have no reason to doubt:
“I know a woman who worked at the University of Indiana when Bobby Knight was the basketball coach there. After she was hired, the first thing she was told was that you never look Coach Knight in the eye if you want to keep your job.”
The impression I got was that this rule applied regardless of whether you were an athletic department employee, a history professor, or a dining hall custodian.
Regarding the hundreds of eyes notion.
I read about Nichole Kidman having a no-eye-contact rule for her household workers. So even a small number of people she saw everyday were to avoid eye contact.
For some people it’s not about the number of eyes.