It is human nature to gossip, to peer behind the gossamer curtain of secrecy separating the rich and famous from the common and curious. In the early 2000s, that age-old impulse reached a toxic nadir. There, in the corners of an internet that still felt novel and lawless, a new breed of bloggers redefined celebrity gossip and set in motion a ruthless media machine that chewed up and spat out any fresh-faced, high-heeled celebrity in its path.