Internships: the bane of a college student's existence. Though we aren't all lucky enough to land gigs like Jenny Humphrey's with Eleanor Waldorf on Gossip Girl, or LC and Whitney's with Teen Vogue, most of us have spent some time or another in an office of indentured servitude, doing menial tasks for free in the hopes that being that close to greatness would somehow rub off on you.

And in media, magazine internships are perhaps the cruelest of all: why else would shows like Stylista be such a schadenfreude pleasure?

Yet even more degrading than getting coffee for the entire staff of Tiger Beat for three months is the interview process. You and the editor both know there are hundreds of girls and boys that would eagerly lap up the opportunity to work like a slave for no more recognition that a letter of recommendation somewhere down the line. Even worse is knowing that, sometimes, your competition is already a lock for the gig, specifically because they are famous enough that they don't need it.

Yes, folks, everyone famous and vapid is feeling lonely again, and they're on the hunt for some attention from the mastheads of some major publications. Below, we take a look at some of these prince and princess-treatment internships, and why people like Lydia Hearst don't deserve to get your non-paying job.

James Frey

The Publication He Slaves Away For: He's Gawker's new fact-checking intern! Ha-ha, get it?! Because of A Million Little Pieces and how he's bad at telling the truth? Gawd, irony!

What He Gets Out of It: Well, publicity, natch. But word on the street is that this deal was done entirely from Frey himself, reaching out to Gawker and asking for the posish. So maybe the writer-cum-gallery owner has some big blog in the works that he's apprenticing for. Or maybe he's just hoping that putting in enough hours will land him a job with Denton. Seeing as how the layoffs over at Gawker have been just as bad as everywhere else, it's doubtful.

What His Duties Include: Writing vaguely incoherent copy

What He Doesn't Deserve to Work for Free: James Frey interning over at Gawker just reeks of a smug, self-congratulatory clusterfuck. But you have to admit, they do make a good couple.

Lydia Hearst

The Publications She Slaves Away For: Previous blogger for Page Six Magazine, after blowout about some remarks she may or may not have made, she's interning over at BlackBook.

What She Gets Out of It: We can't figure out if the relationship between Lydia Hearst is more symbiotic or parasitic…and if it's the latter, who is really leaching off of whom? While BlackBook isn't the biggest title in the world, we bet Lydia had a tougher time convincing any publication to take her "writing" after the very public Page Six breakup. And BlackBook already has a celebrity intern (or they did for a day…see below). On the other hand, Hearst is a heiress and a Person of Interest if there ever was one. Having her associated with the BlackBook name means that everything she writes for them will get picked up by one gossip blog or another, and that's free publicity.

What Her Duties Include: Blogging, staying awake for a long period of time during the day.

Why She Doesn't Deserve to Work for Free: Lydia Hearst, if she is so cared about the industry, should be opening up newspapers and magazines of her own, not working a celebrity mascot out of spite for her family name.

Ryan Adams
The Publication He Slaves Away For: BlackBook's other famous intern (for a day), now staff writer. Which means he gets paid to do nothing.

What He Gets Out of It: When was the last time you stopped and thought about what Ryan Adams was doing with his day? Well, now you are! So that's one way to get back in the public spotlight. And now that Ryan is writing more than song lyrics (he has a book out called Infinity Blues), this makes a perfect marketing tie-in.

What His Duties Include: Blogging about his life, learning phrases like "OMFG" and churning out cringe-worthy prose about his coworkers like:

"I love my new job. I work in an office with tremendous characters. They are exquisite as well, each one of them with postures Lautrec would certainly know from memory—all of them, bent ballerinas but at the shoulders, concentrating with ease. These misfit Santa’s funky village gang in a sweet office with shared music jamming, old newspaper style, people talking, ease about despite the pressures, and that office feels like a beautiful gang of lovely outsiders. What a wonder. "

Why He Doesn't Deserve to Work for Free Money: Seriously, go back and read that paragraph again. Did he really compare other BlackBook staff to characters in a Toulouse-Lautrec painting? Did he just watch Moulin Rouge or something?

Frances Bean Cobain

The Publication She Slaves Away For: Summer Intern at Rolling Stone

What She Gets Out of It: Not much. Apparently Rolling Stone is the one publication that doesn't treat it's celebrity interns as, well, celebrities. Kurt Cobain's daughter's refusal to get coffee for the staff was a giant sticking point in the craw of Jann Wenner's editors. The audacity of some people. We imagine the only life-experience she learned while at RS was that being an intern sucks. We could have told her that and saved her three months of summer vacation.

What Her Duties Include: Aforementioned coffee getting. Filing and stapling. Calling in sick and "wearing funny outfits." Enduring angry glances from other interns who worked hard to get this not-job.

Why She Doesn't Deserve to Work for Free: Any intern that calls out sick more than once is going to get the boot. She's lucky she didn't lose her fake job. Pssh, nepotism.

Sean Avery

The Publication He Slaves Away For: Men's Vogue

What He Gets Out of It: Avery, an National Hockey League player, actress dater, and all-around clothes horse, got to enjoy the finer things awarded to celebrities who don't spend their days getting their teeth knocked out. Although we hear that Wintour has a really strong left hook that she's not afraid of using.

What His Duties Include: Blogging, then taking his experience at writing for a consummate gentlemen's magazine, and calling his ex-girlfriend names, ending in his suspension from the league and losing his position on the Dallas Stars. Classy.

Why He Doesn't Deserve to Work For Free: Now that Men's Vogue has been reduced to a bi-yearly insert, there isn't much room at the Conde Nast publication for a writer who refers to his lady friends as "sloppy seconds."