A Writer’s Life

I feel like I’m going crazy. Every day it seems like there’s another story about Lindsay Lohan or some young celebrity spinning out of control. It’s everywhere. Rehab, jail, speeding, drugs… it’s like some high school soap opera. Except it’s not a soap opera, it’s real life, and to be honest I’m not sure what I should feel about it. In most circumstances I’d probably feel sorry for someone like Lindsay Lohan, but it’s hard to when she’s brought this on herself and has shown little remorse.

This article about the situation is quite interesting. It suggests that the attitudes young girls have toward celebrities like Lohan, Paris Hilton and Nicole Richie isn’t being changed by the media reaction or by their bad behaviour; they see people facing repercussions for their actions, but it doesn’t change how they look up to them. I must admit, I didn’t expect that. But I suppose it isn’t so surprising when you see that Madame Tussauds has the wax figure of Lohan (now in jail coveralls) on prominent display - there’s obviously still a lot interest.

Does anyone else find this troubling? Because I’m starting to wonder what someone would have to do to shake that admiration. I’m not a judgemental person or someone who likes to say who children should look up to, but we have to be honest - these “It Girls” have done nothing to deserve such loyalty in their fans, and their behaviour is out of control. They party like it’s 1999 7 nights a week, get paid for doing little work, and they have turned rehabilitation into a trivial matter. What would they have to do, kill someone?

If anything they seem to be becoming this kind of reverse role model; because they’re in trouble, people relate to them even more. And some say they’re being made examples of. With Hilton I’d have to agree - she was given at least twice as long as an average sentence, and the whole thing was just farcical. But Lohan is a different case. If the allegations are true, she was involved in a car chase, intoxicated, and possibly endangered lives. She deserves the benefit of the doubt, but they are much more serious allegations and cannot be ignored.

Still, having said all that, I do feel a bit sorry for Lindsay Lohan… I can’t imagine seeing your life spin out of control before the eyes of the world, and of all the “It Girls” she’s probably the most talented, the one who does work; her film credits are respectable, unlike Hilton or Richie whose fame tends to be more media-driven. Her family life has also been difficult. One thing I haven’t heard much is, what about the person who sold her the cocaine? If that allegation is true, Lohan was only out of rehab for a week before somebody, despicably, provided her with drugs. Now there’s a real danger to the public.

Perhaps in the end the truth is simply that part of being in the public eye is having the power to ruin your own life. And if that is the case, then no matter what people feel, whether they feel sorry for you or not, no-one can help you but you.