WAGs: Why focus on these young women with no talent who just want to be rich and famous?

When they are cheated on by their celebrity partners, we should let them cry in peace

Ashley Cole has cheated on Cheryl again, this time with a hairdresser, after a drunken spree. True or false, these allegations can make or undo a WAG's fortune in no time. And their fortune is all they have.

Once there were courtesans, then socialites, now we have WAGs: all women in their prime living in the public eye. Youth, beauty and wealth have always whetted the appetites of inquisitive people, feeding them a world of fantasy.

Courtesans and socialites had motives beyond merely living in style. They dreamt of exerting political power, with informed views on domestic issues and international diplomacy. Today's WAGs are business women with a keen interest in their own individual fulfilment. No grand schemes, no selfless aspirations.

We remember Madame de Pompadour, Louis XV's mistress, the Mitford sisters and Princess Diana, but who will remember the WAGs even in 20 years' time? Who will remember the day they fell into disgrace after having been publicly cheated on or abandoned by their famous partners?

Today's tabloids haunt these women and feed them to hungry readers. Not a day passes without a tabloid showing pictures of the spurned lover in various states of dishevelled sorrow.

Some of them cannot cope. They feel trapped; unable to escape the cruelty of a life lived in a goldfish bowl. For the WAGs who cannot take the pressure, there are the rehab centres. But, in the internet age, when passers-by can snap "celebrities" with their mobile phones and share the pictures online, nowhere feels safe. WAGs learn the hard way that fame and reputation are two different things.

Some WAGs prove stronger, and know how to play the game. They chose to abide by its rules. Having decided to sleep their way to fame and money, nothing will stop them from enjoying a lifestyle that has become their raison d'être. Well advised and shrewdly coached, despite having no personal talent, they venture to build their brand.

Like Coleen McLoughlin. In just three years, the 21-year-old has built a multi-million-pound enterprise based on her image and ubiquitous presence in the celebrity press. The soon-to-be Mrs Rooney earned £15m in 2007.

But we should snap out of our celebrity-induced torpor, wake up to reality and leave cheated WAGs to cry in peace.