Are "Alter Ego's" really an alternative personality or is it really who we are?

ESPN recently aired a special on Nature Boy Ric Flair. The episode was a fascinating look into his life and how over time he morphed from Richard Fliehr into the alter ego he created for the WWF Ric Flair. The character he portrayed as a, "rolex wearing, limousine driving, high flying, ladies man" was a facade, but as time progressed he fell deeper and deeper into this character and ultimately adopted it as his persona. Along the way he alienated family, friends, and business partners. Ultimately resulting in a life which is extremely lonely. As I watch our youth be so heavily influenced by images they see on social media and in the main stream media the extremes they go to, too emulate what they are seeing I wonder to myself how much damage is really being done. Are these personas that are being displayed really who these people are? I fear that our youth don't possess the mental capacity to disseminate what is real or what is fake.