Celebrity druggies?

[archerships]

My friend Jon pointed out that part of the reason that celebrities seem to have drug or alcohol problems more than most is that lot's of people want to sleep with them. And one way to get somebody to sleep with you is to get them stoned or drunk. So celebrities are offered drugs and alcohol much more often than most people. [1]

[1] There are probably lot's of other reasons celebrities become addicts. This is offered as only part of the explanation.

Comments

[visgoth.livejournal.com]

Or maybe it's because people like me know that if they get drunk and do something stupid or get busted for drugs, it can have serious career-ending consequences.

Whereas if a celebrity gets busted for one of those things, it means that they have to do a TV commercial that they don't get paid for, and they get their picture in the paper, and guest spots on talk shows[1] to explain themselves, and their name more firmly embedded in the public mind... So it's actually a career enhancement of sorts.



Amusing theory, though. :)



[1] which generally pay better than scale

[crasch.livejournal.com]

Probably true.

-part of the reason that celebrities <B>seem</B>

[joeanthony.livejournal.com]

Crash - "There are probably lot's of other reasons celebrities become addicts."

One reason is that they are celebrities... thus we hear about both their failures & successes. Thus it will make it appear this specific group has more drug/alchohol probs than avg joe's; who in general the public don't care to know.

JA...

Re: -part of the reason that celebrities <B>seem</B>

[crasch.livejournal.com]

Yes, you're right. They may appear to have more drug problems simply because their drug problems are publicized more.

Also

[tupelo.livejournal.com]

I've found that even with the tiniest bit of local fame, for instance, what I got with my book, everybody starts acting weird around you. People don't treat you the same, even people who were pretty friendly with you before. Either they get pissed off and resentful, or fakey overfriendly, or they just never ever call any more because they think you're too busy now that you're an actor/writer/musician/whatever. And it sucks, and it hurts your feelings, and it makes you bitter. And drugs and alcohol make you feel okay again.

If my life got thrown into chaos with one measly small-press book, I can only imagine what Rush Limbaugh/Keith Richards/Kurt Cobain have to go through. I totally feel for them.

Re: Also

[crasch.livejournal.com]

Fascinating. I wouldn't have expected it to be that big of an issue for a mid-list author. How many copies of Snake Hips have you sold?

Re: Also

[tupelo.livejournal.com]

In the five figures, respectable but not huge. I know, I thought I'd be flying under the radar too, but I sure thought wrong.

Re: Also

[crasch.livejournal.com]

Thanks!

[denshi.livejournal.com]

Firstly, there's the case of sample bias -- celeb addictions are reported, private citizen addictions aren't.

More significantly though, I think your friend has screwy ideas of how drugs work. You generally don't take them to make other people sleep with you, you take them because altered states are interesting and generally entertaining experiences. And people having interesting experiences often want others to share the experiences, because we're social animals. This is simpler than Jon is portraying it, at least the drug use part of it.

The drug abuse part probably has more to do with lifestyle: a celeb's career depends on being constantly adored and in the public eye. That *has* to fuck with your perceptions of social interaction, and unless they have very solid relationships to keep them grounded, escape into a continually altered state could be very tempting.