And They Called It 'Puppy Love' ...

If you've ever written to a teenybopper crush—or merely covered your walls with posters that you kissed goodnight—know this: You are not alone. Last week, Newsweek.com published "Hopelessly Devoted"—Alicia Coffman's description of her tween love life in fan letters—and asked readers to submit their own stories of celebrity puppy love. Excerpts from our mailbag:


Crushed by My Crush:
By Roxanne Van Doren
"Bobby [Sherman] was unbelievably cool in the late sixties. It was a great time to be a pre-pubescent teen. My idol maximus had big googly brown eyes and adorable dimples nestled inside chipmunk cheeks just perfect for a quick pinch. If I ever got close enough. He wore hip-hugging pants, chokers, wild flowery shirts and he had a chair shaped like a hand where he sat in the palm. Okay, maybe that wasn't his chair but it was on the cover of his album 'Forever, Bobby,' and I was certain from this and the other fun shots of him he was definitely the kind of guy who could be my groovy boyfriend, make that husband (I always aimed high) if he just held out for 9 or 10 years.

"He didn't. I still remember the day I picked up my latest copy of Tiger Beat from my mailbox. Oh yes, I was a longtime subscriber to that and 16 (bless my mom for understanding the need to feed my devotion). I opened the latest issue and whizzed past the far-too-many David Cassidy articles—phfffft—and read the story that my Mr. Perfect, my man, had quietly and suddenly married. My crush had crushed me. How could he do this to me? He didn't call. He didn't write. Who is this hussy he married? What do you mean they're expecting a baby? He just got married. How does that happen? Yup. I was very young but I remember handling the news with all the maturity an 8-year-old could muster. I didn't sob. I didn't kick down doors. I just did what most young girls do when their idol moves on; I did too."

'N Sync ... but Out of Cash:
By Amy Lenz
"I was obsessed with 'N Sync and I'm sure if they were still a group, I would still be obsessed with them. It all started in July of 1998 when they had a concert special on the Disney channel. I saw it once and was hooked; I wanted to know everything about these five guys.

"Through the years, their music became my entire life. I went to everything they had, concerts, charity events, plays, the wax museum; I even went to see Lance Bass get inducted into the Mississippi hall of fame. I recorded every time they were on TV, even if it was a commercial. I own every single CD, including any European CDs that they may have done. I have dolls, buttons, bobble heads, shirts, programs, gum, candy; if they were on it, I have it.

"My love for 'N Sync stretched way past my means of living at the time. I was a nanny and went over [on] my credit card a lot and could not afford it with just the one job. I had to get a second job just to pay off my credit card. It was all worth it, though; I have so many great memories of all the trips I went on and all the adventures I took because of them."

Golden Memories
By Bridget Ginn
"Elijah Wood (insert longing sigh here). Even now when I hear his name, I am flooded with all the memories of my childhood celebrity crush. Don't get me wrong, I still love him; he's extremely talented. Emotions just run so much stronger when you're 12 years old. I saw 'The Adventures of Huck Finn' one Saturday night on television, and from then on, I was hooked. I began subscribing to as many fan magazines as I possibly could. That way, I would always be informed of a new movie coming out that Elijah was in. I can still remember how exciting it was when my mom took me to see 'Flipper' in the theater. An exact quote from my journal from May 18, 1996, reads, 'I just have that feeling that Elijah and I were meant to be together. I just have to be patient.'