Celebrity News:

James Blunt says he has had no problem with his loss of anonymity since becoming a well-known artist and welcomes being approached by fans.

The downside, however, has been the intrusion of gossip tabloids into his personal life. He previously dated supermodel Petra Nemcova and is currently linked to Mika Simmons, who has been called both an actress and a holistic therapist.

"I think our obsession with celebrities is dangerous," Blunt says. "And I think if we're going to celebrate people we should celebrate doctors and nurses and teachers. I was given a figure, and I don't know if it was worldwide or if it was my home country (England), is that we spend more money per week on those kinds of magazines than we do in a year on music, which is really depressing because music is such a luxury that we as humans have, whereas worrying about who's wearing knickers tonight in Hollywood is not."

The onetime peacekeeper in Kosovo said he doesn't understand the public's celebrity obsession.

"It's definitely a great clarifying moment and a great education," he says of his time in the British military. "And now I do music and people wonder about what clothes I'm wearing and who I might be dating. And it puts it all in perspective. The notion of what is cool, what's not cool, image and perception , those kinds of things are pretty much bizarre to me and irrelevant."