Proof that the Met Gala may not be as fun as most celebrities make it seem

Every year, the Met Gala proves to be the toughest invitation in the world, and the exclusivity of the star-studded event is reportedly turning off some of the world's biggest stars.

In an in-depth Page Six report published on Monday ahead of the 2018 Met Gala, themed "Heavenly Bodies: Fashion and the Catholic Imagination," Hollywood and fashion insiders speculated that the couture-filled gala may not be as fun as it appears from the outside -- and some big names are turning against it.

"It's a very tedious night," one celebrity publicist with two clients attending told the outlet. "It's very much work for them. It's very structured, there's a lot of pressure to network and [it's] not that much of an enjoyable evening."

A Hollywood handler, who has four A-list clients that declined invitations this year, echoed those sentiments.

SEE ALSO: Why Beyonce isn't attending the 2018 Met Gala

"They want to take a year or two off," she said. "It's the same thing. It's long, drawn out and boring."

"The overall ambience isn't super friendly," a gala regular added. "It's not like walking into a party where you know everyone and everyone's happy to see you. If you walk into the girls bathroom, all the celebrities are hanging out together, smoking together and ignoring everyone else."

Indeed, the bathroom at the Met is notoriously a celebrity hangout, with major stars taking selfies and smoking together to get away from the oftentimes stuffy atmosphere in the main halls of the Met.

In addition to the lack of actual fun being had by many at the Met Gala, some celebrities seem to dread the affair because of the absence of personal handlers, publicists and team members that are permitted to walk with said celebrities on the red carpet at New York's premiere art museum. Because of the lack of physical space on the 28-step staircase, many celebrities walk the red carpet alone, with a publicist from another agency or a designer they barely know.

The atmosphere on the carpet, too, doesn't help. Anna Wintour reportedly chooses when each celebrity is assigned to arrive, and hundreds of photographers and reporters are screaming stars' names as the pose in every direction.

"It's very dog-eat-dog," the gala regular told Page Six. "People won't move out of the way for the next person."

Additionally, it's Wintour's influence and all-encompassing power that some feel weighs down on the event. She picks who gets invited, who sits where and everything else you can think of -- down to every last detail -- which makes for an atmosphere of sucking up to the Vogue Editor-in-Chief.

"It's to stay relevant and stay in the good graces of Anna Wintour," the Hollywood handler said of the Met Gala. "She can make or break you."

Celebrities who have spoken out about the Met Gala include Gwyneth Paltrow, Amy Schumer, Lena Dunham, Tina Fey and Demi Lovato. All of them declared that they would never return to the ball after a variety of unsavory experiences, but all of them -- other than Fey and Lovato -- have returned to the Met Gala in subsequent years.

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