These days it’s difficult to watch a news broadcast or listen to talk radio without hearing about the misfortunes of certain celebrities as they struggle with sobriety. It seems that when the press does cover the celebrities, the focus is on their failed attempts at recovery, their relapses, and the inevitable criminal and civil proceedings that follow.

Rarely do we hear about the celebrity who enters treatment, surrenders to the process, and comes out sober with a life-long committment to recovery. Maybe these cases are few and far between. Perhaps these success stories are too boring and it is far too entertaining to focus on the celebrity train wreck.

I fear the end result of tabloid press in this regard is that drug and alcohol treatment, particularly at the “high end” treatment centers, will not be taken seriously and that the misconception that addicts/alcoholics are just people making bad choices and who are morally bankrupt will be perpetuated. The sense I get from the recent press is that people wonder why these celebrities can’t simply do as Nancy suggested in the mid 80’s: “Just Say No!”

I think the recent celebrity relapse cases are illustrative of the depth of the disease of addiction and should serve as an example of where it leads. One commonly accepted component of the definition of addiction is the use of drugs/alcohol in spite of known negative consequences. For the celebrity, the negative consequences are clear. In addition to the obvious health issues (stroke, heart attack, internal organ failures, and that nasty side effect-death), there are huge financial sums at stake. Loss of endorsements, business opportunities, damaged reputation, and tabloid smear campaigns are the reality of relapse.
Nevertheless, unchecked addiction won’t factor these realities and the celebrity, just like the non-celebrity addict, will fall down to the disease.