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Wilson was transported to St. John’s hospital in Santa Monica , Calif. on Sunday, August 26, by ambulance. Sources tell the ENQUIRER and Star that he sliced his left wrists and took an indeterminate amount of pills.
I never understand this stuff. How can someone who has a life of ease and acclimation be so depressed? Why do these people seem to get into drugs as soon as they cash their first big paycheck? And when they do drugs, why do they invariably end up depressed and suicidal?
I sort of like Owen Wilson. He’s got an “aw shucks” appeal that works well in a lot of movies. I would not have picked him to be one of those Hollywood stars with such a fragile psyche. Goes to show what I know, eh?
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Follow-up comment rss or Leave a TrackbackMoney and fame doesn’t change who we are.
Ask Michael Vick. Or OJ. Or whomever.
We are all flawed, screwed up human beings. Some have money and some don’t. That doesn’t change a whole lot other than the ability to pay our bills.
Yes, we all are flawed, but it sure seems like movie stars, TV stars and musicians end up in the hospital or the morgue like this at a far higher rate than the rest of us.
It may seem that way. I don’t know how the numbers match up with the rest of the population. What little research I’ve read seems to indicate that it is difficult to determine what, if any, factor occupation plays in suicide. (See, e.g., http://www.apa.org/monitor/jan01/suicide.html)
By the same token, it is alarmingly clear that there is a significant drug abuse/alcohol abuse problem in both the medical and legal professions. (At least one publication estimates that 18% of all practicing attorneys in Washington State regularly abuse alcohol and/or drugs. Others cite lawyers as being particularly vulnerable to substance abuse. See, e.g., http://www.michbar.org/journal/pdf/pdf4article745.pdf)
In fact, at least some think that lawyers are particularly susceptible to depression, stating that
1.) 1/3rd of all practicing attorneys suffer from depression, 5 to 10 times the incidence in the general population.
2.) 18-20% suffer from alcoholism, twice the incidence of other professions, a figure which rises to 25% after practicing 20 years.
3.) Lawyers are twice as likely to commit suicide as are members of other professions. (See, e.g., http://www.law.csuohio.edu/students/olap.pdf)
We just don’t read about this, because it ain’t news. It’s news when a rich, hollywood actress shoplifts something. It’s not when the wife of a local baker does. It’s news when a rich athlete self-destructs. It isn’t when the local attorney does.
CC: Just a thought. It seems like artistic people are more prone to such things. I’ve noticed it over the years…not just with celebrity artists. My Mom is an artist, and dealt with artistic people for 20 years in her business. There is a “difference” in the workings of the artistic mind that you don’t see in just the average Joe.
That being said. No doctrine, or dogma here, but we all know (or should know by now) that “stuff”…fame…etc. doesn’t fill the spiritual void in any of us. Drugs seem to be the attempted fulfillment of choice for a lot of celebrities.
“Money and fame doesn’t change who we are.”
Well, there are two ways to explain the relative screwed-uppedness (n. the degree to which something is screwed up
) of Hollywood.
1. Screwed up suicidal people are naturally attracted to acting, and good enough at it that they predominate.
2. Money and fame (early in life and easily attained) does change who we are to some extent.
PS – the train of camp followers in hollywood culture desperately promoting the narcissism and vanity of any successful star probably also doesn’t help.
Drax:
I think the links you put in your reply caused it to think your comment might be spam, so I had to approve it separately, which I just did. Sorry it didn’t show up earlier.
I guess it is possible that jobs with particularly high stress lead to high alcohol and drug abuse.
Of course that doesn’t explain why I’m not a drinker or druggie. (so far as you all know
)
Ah!
I was wondering why the number of comments indicated didn’t jibe with the actual number of comments (including mine.)
I think it’s reasonable to conclude that the more stressful the occupation, the more likely one is to be stressed…especially if the occupation is one which is generally unappreciated (police, lawyers, dentists…)
….. project managers… testers… programmers…
Drax: “Unappreciated professions”…police, lawyers, dentists…
Why did you leave out Fathers…Dadman could qualify for the next headline. Hide the bullets (ha ha)?
I guess I am just like most of us…despise lawyers until you find yourself in need of one (then they are angels from heaven)…hate the thought of a dentist until your jaw is about to explode…and “duck” from the cops until you are in a situation where you need big, strong, burly guys with guns to save you or someone you love.
Good food for thought.
I suspect most of the reason why we hate lawyers is that we feel they’ve turned the law into some hideous byzantine mess that it takes an obscurantist professional class to navigate. No useful law needs to be as complicated as the bills passed these days.
ams: I have to admit…the word “obscurantist” stumped me. I had a fairly good idea of what it might mean, but I was not at all certain.
After reading the definition, I think it means “lawyer.”
I can only “amen” the comment.
One of the reasons legal speak is legal speak is BECAUSE “normal speak” is so easily misinterpreted, whether intentionally or not.
Say you want to sell your house for 200k. Someone wants to buy it for 200k. It would seem that the deal is done, eh?
But, what did you sell, and what did he buy? Does the sale include the mineral interests? Does it include your washing machine, refrigerator, dishwasher? Does it include the potential environmental liability of which neither seller nor buyer was aware until the government steps in?
So, lawyers, in an effort to protect the interests of their respective clients attempt to put language in the contract which does so.
But, that’s more words. More words to be intentionally or unintentionally misinterpreted. So, we repeat the process until a contract of sale of a home for 200K becomes a 20 page document of legal speak…which, of course, is STILL open to attack by a sufficiently intelligent lawyer and motivated client.
The same thing is true of civil and criminal laws. One of my favorite laws is Louisiana Civil Code Article 2315 (called the “Wellspring of Tort Liability in Louisiana). Without looking it up, I believe it goes something like this:
“Every act whatever of man which caused damage to another obliges him by whose fault it happened to repair it.”
Really nice statement of putting the responsibility for injury on the person who hurt another.
But…there are a ton of words. What does “every act whatever of man” mean? Does it include inaction? Does it include an act which, in itself doesn’t cause damage, but, somewhere down the road, like dominos falling, causes another act which DOES hurt someone? How far down that road do we go? Does it include unforeseeable consequences or just the foreseeable? Etc.
And, what does “cause” mean? Does it have to the the WHOLE cause, or can it just be a part? What if the person who is hurt had a hand in hurting himself, but is ALSO hurt by the act of another?
What is “fault?” Is it a moral determination? Must there be some element of knowledge on the part of the person who caused the damage?
What is “damage?” Does it include only actual damages, i.e., that which is necessary to put the person back into the position he was prior to the incident, or does it include ALL damages, including lost future earnings, emotional and mental pain and suffering? Can it include damage we know WILL happen, but hasn’t yet?
Etc.
Simple words result in volumes of legal words.
Drax:
You talk like a lawyer man.
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