Celebrities have done it again – they’ve made vices popular. The past few months have been the summer for posh rehab encounters and young stars setting poor examples. Between Nicole Richie and Paris Hilton’s drunk-driving escapades (not to mention jail time for both) to Amy Winehouse who is now taking time off due to “severe exhaustion.”
Wait, isn’t that what was wrong with Lindsay Lohan a few years back when she was in and out of the hospital? Now look at her. LiLo is attempting her third stint in rehab this year, and her second one this summer.
Winehouse’s signature song “Rehab” now seems ironic.
Lohan and other starlets seem to be making a mockery of the system. She flaunted an alcohol prevention bracelet one day and was arrested for possession of cocaine the next. Are the consequences just not clear enough? Or do these young celebs just not care?
Millionaire stars are struggling to stay in rehab facilities designed to resemble country club life with daily yoga and massage treatments. If the wealthiest can’t get clean, is there hope for the rest of society?
Not to mention not everyone can afford stays at Promises or the Cirque Lodge.
Society enables the stars to continue to make headlines by purchasing magazines with the latest on the posh rehab happenings on their covers. If we continue to soak up the substance abuse stories then they will continue to give them to us. Isn’t there a saying, ‘all press is good press?’ Well, hitting rock bottom can no longer be used as public relations. Celebrities are embarrassing themselves and their families; how is that something to be proud of?
It’s called Alcoholics Anonymous for a reason. We can remember a day when admitting you had a substance-abuse problem was usually accompanied by an apology for your mistakes or previous actions.
Celebrities wear substance abuse on their sleeves like it’s a designer fashion label.
What’s worse is that while these celebrities are playing with fire, our campus is mourning the lives of three students who made equally bad decisions, and whose consequences didn’t include hiking and spa treatments. The SMU community takes drug abuse very seriously these days and is desperately trying to shut down that kind of behavior.
There is nothing appealing about watching people self-destruct for fun.