The Price Of Fame: Success, Mental Health And Addictions
A new example of the high price some people pay for fame recently came to the media. Demi Lovato, the Disney star for whom thousands of young people yearn, confessed her addiction to cocaine and alcohol.
Years and years of trying to convince yourself that you control a dizzying world, without realizing that addictions are a Russian roulette where it is very difficult to succeed. All a constant effort to show an image of success, glamor and success while reality knocked on his door in the form of suffering, disappointments and mental alterations.
The Disney structure itself enhanced this, showing young people in a permanent party where family references were almost non-existent. He made denial and concealment a way of life, in which continuing to squeeze economic results is more important than the person himself. The artistic image ended up destroying the person who was struggling to fit in.
The relationship between addictions and economic success
Substance abuse and alcoholism have a high relationship with mental illnesses and in the present case it could not be less. Manic episodes, depression, bipolar disorder and bulimia were some of the illnesses that were tried to be hidden behind a smile and a marketing campaign.
Perhaps the case of Demi Lovato is the most recent, but not the only one. Very striking cases such as that of Amy Winehouse, with her death at the age of 28 and having just reached the top, Whitney Houston, Michael Jackson or Elvis Presley, put us before an endless list of people who knew the curse of poorly assimilated fame.
A study conducted by researchers CR Epstein and RJ Epstein, professors at the University of Queensland’s faculty of medicine, titled Death in The New York Times: the price of fame is a faster flame, puts before us some overwhelming conclusions. Old age is shown as the majority cause of death in civil servants, liberal professionals, academics, professors and doctors, while It is a minority in singers, actors, actresses and creative professionals
The second group, linked to “fame”, had a greater relationship with the so-called “recreational” drugs , in addition to the use of psychoactive drugs such as anxiolytics and opiates as coping strategies that prove to be lethal in the long term. Tobacco abuse and excessive alcohol consumption differed very significantly with the first group of “non-celebrities”, detecting a greater number of non-smokers and non-drinkers in this group.
The researchers indicated that cancer, particularly tumors in the lungs, were more common among artists On the other hand, the study indicates that the psychological and family pressures of having a successful public life lead to self-destructive tendencies throughout their lives.
Although it is true that in many cases of deceased celebrities examples of overly permissive upbringing, abuse or mistreatment are observed, these people would be more willing to accept the serious psychological and physical costs that will impact their lives if that leads to to fame, understanding it as a necessary “price” to pay.
The “everything available” trap
It is sometimes difficult for a person, sometimes in full development, to see that from one day to the next all that accompanies them are smiles, praise, fans, money and facilities. A world that extends at your feet like a red carpet where everything that can cross your minds is available at a moment’s notice just by asking for it.
A world without limits where sometimes artists are squeezed to the maximum by record companies, representatives or their own family members without caring about the consequences of creating an unreal world for them where everything is allowed.
The actor James Dean with his phrase “Dream as if you were going to live forever, live as if you were going to die today”, put before us the ingredients of the recipe for success: fame and money. The dark history of fame strives to demonstrate that some of those who savor it fail to assimilate its transcendence and end up being devoured by their own shadows.
