The Price of Fame: Success, Mental Health, and Addictions

A new example of the high price some people pay for fame recently hit the media. Demi Lovato, the Disney star that thousands of young people yearn for, confessed to 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 get away with it. Everything a constant effort to show an image of winner, glamor and success, while reality knocked on his door in the form of suffering, disappointment and mental disturbances.

The Disney structure itself strengthened it, showing young people at a permanent party where family references were almost non-existent. He made denial and concealment a way of life, in which continuing to squeeze the economic results is more important than the person himself. The artistic image ended up destroying the person who was struggling to fit in.

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The relationship between addictions and financial success

Substance abuse and alcoholism have a high relationship with mental illness 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 hide 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 28 and recently reached the top, Whitney Houston, Michael Jackson or Elvis Presley, they put us before an endless list of people who knew the curse of a bad fame assimilated.

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Is fame dangerous?

A study by researchers C.R. Epstein and R.J. Epstein, professors at the University of Queensland School of Medicine, with a 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 are shown to be lethal in the long term. Tobacco abuse and excessive alcohol consumption differed very significantly with the first group of "non-famous", detecting a greater number of non-smokers and non-drinkers in this group.

The researchers indicated that cancer, particularly lung tumors, were more common among artists. On the other hand, the study shows that the psychological and family pressures to have a successful public life lead to self-destructive tendencies throughout their lives.

Although it is true that in many cases of famous deceased there are examples of an overly permissive education, abuse or mistreatment, these people would be more willing to accept the serious psychological and physical costs that will affect their lives if it leads to fame, understanding it as a “price” to pay necessary.

The "all 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 stretches out at your feet like a red carpet where everything that can cross your mind is instantly available just by asking.

A world without limits where sometimes the artists are squeezed to the maximum by record companies, representatives or their their own relatives without caring about the consequences of creating an unreal world where everything is permitted.

The actor James Dean with his phrase "Dream as if you were going to live forever, live as if you were to die today", put before us the ingredients of the recipe for success: fame and money. The dark history of fame insists on showing that some of those who savor it fail to assimilate its significance and end up being devoured by their own shadows.

Bibliographic references:

• C.R. Epstein, R.J. Epstein; Death in The New York Times: the price of fame is a faster flame, QJM: An International Journal of Medicine, Volume 106, Issue 6, 1 June 2013, Pages 517–521, https://doi.org/10.1093/qjmed/hct077.

Ismael Dorado Urbistondo