Client Star Brad Renfro Dies

Actor Brad Renfro was the young child star who starred in the movie, The Client, featuring Susan Sarandon and Tommy Lee Jones. Renfro was very gifted and began acting at the age of ten. Unfortunately like many gifted artists, Renfro had demons that he battled. His short life was marked by problems with drugs and alcohol abuse.

In December 2005, Renfro was arrested in a drug bust. He admitted to officers that he had been using heroine and methadone. The actor had tried numerous times to clean up his habit. Renfro's death seems like a re-take of other celebrities' lives that were cut short before maximizing their potential.

As we watch the news it cannot be argued that America has become a celebrity-obsessed culture. In other nations celebrities are not as elevated on the level that they are in America. Many celebrities have often said they like visiting other countries because they can be more at peace their and have a sense of privacy.

There are some celebrities who play into the media's obsession with their lives and at times cater to the press. They love being in the press, often becoming oblivious to their addiction for fame and attention

It's been said that it is always important to have a foundation that is absent of fame even if you are famous. Therapists have long said that this lone factor is helpful in avoiding self destruction. Whether it is a grounded family, support or spirituality this factor could save some celebrities from a life filled with emptiness and self destruction.

Because they are in the public eye some celebrities feel that their worth is dependent on whether or not people like them. For child stars like Renfro who have lived through the camera lens since they were young they don't know how to live any other way. Many become troubled and seek happiness and a sense of worth by escaping through alcohol and drugs.

Like Renfro, James Dean was a troubled actor. Dean had catapulted to icon status with his role in Rebel Without a Cause. He transformed the disdain of bad boys in film to one that became a pop culture phenom of bad boys being embraced in music and film.

Dean followed up the complex loner image in the film East of Eden. Although Dean was only acting, it seemed as if life started imitating art as he became driven by the wild side. Dean fell in love with the adrenaline rush of car racing. With only a few films under his belt he died racing his Porsche.

After his death James Dean became a legend. Beginning the fascination of untimely celebrity deaths.

Marilyn Monroe also had an untimely death. Although she had battled drugs and alcohol as well, many were shocked when they learned the bombshell beauty had allegedly committed suicide.

Monroe was a visibly unstable actress that battled depression. She came from a childhood plagued by family mental illness and abuse leading her to later becoming a ward of the state.

For a person like Monroe who never had stability or a sense of normalcy as a child, fame is the worst thing that can happen to them. A private life is much more safer for someone in search of stability because their mistakes are not played out in the press or on television. Fame is an additional stress that can trigger an already problematic history.

Marilyn Monroe held onto the pain of her childhood and her hurt defined her. Like other celebrities, Monroe's somewhat dysfunctional background was directly correlated to future problems. Ironically, traces of instability fuel many artists and actors to become as gifted as they are. The problem is that the hold on to their pain.

In 8 Affirmations to Move Past Pain, author Mercedes A. Terzol writes that "Life is a curving and fluid journey, because I am always moving through learning stages, I cannot look back or measure." Like many celebrities, Monroe was always looking back to her childhood and at times felt very inadequate because of this.

Monroe was consumed by problems that she could no longer control and feelings of being used and unworthy. Perhaps Monroe felt that life's pains were too much to bare and death was equal to tranquility. Monroe allegedly committed suicide while only in her thirties.

After her death Monroe became a legend as well. She was mirrored by people like the late Anna Nicole Smith whose drug addiction played out in front of the lens. The strange part about all of this is that it seems that people have become comfortable and fascinated by watching the celebrity train wreck. Its gotten to the point where there are websites predicting when singer Britney Spears will die as well as Amy Winehouse.

There's something animalistic about pop cultures, in that the media and audiences devour pieces of celebrity downfalls as if they are circus acts. Hollywood has had a history of building celebrities up to watch them fall.

There's a classic scene in the movie, The Aviator in which Katherine Hepburn tells Howard Hughes that he shouldn't trust the press. She tells him "they'll turn you into a freak Howard you can't trust them."

This is exactly what is happening to Amy Winehouse and Britney Spears who was wandering around in a store naked a few days ago. They've been displayed like side show attractions at a circus. This could have been said about Anna Nicole Smith as well. Audiences watched as she literally died before our eyes.

Have we become obsessed with celebrity death since James Dean and Marilyn Monroe? It is as if it has become attractive to have problems. The saddest part about that is for the victims the problems are real and sometimes their behavior is a cry for help beyond their control.

For TLC's Lisa Lopes, the last months of her life were spent detached away from the industry. The rapper had been on a path of spiritual cleansing and healing. Lopes had been haunted by feeling trapped by the lack of being able to truthfully express who she was as an artist as opposed to her character in TLC.

Compounded by instability, loss, abuse and alcohol, Lopes sought help through an herbal retreat in La Cienda, Honduras. It was their that she began to understand the damages of fame and wealth. Isolated away from the Hollywood world she began to realize that the key to happiness could not be defined by fans or through the camera. Lisa was learning that humans could control the outcome of their lives by not being controlled by drugs and alcohol.

Like Monroe, Lisa had long been haunted by her childhood and other demons that were debilitating her growth. Through her herbal fast and spiritual cleansing, Lisa was learning to heal from everything that had been hurting her throughout her career. The lifestyles of the rich and famous wasn't glamorous to her anymore.

The spiritual transformation of her mind, body and spirit centered Lisa and led her to explore life through new elements. Lisa had shared the same battles of emptiness as Marilyn Monroe, Britney Spears and other celebrities. She no longer wanted to be part of the cycle that led to drug abuse and self destruction. Regrets and the ups and downs of fame had been pulling Lopes back but she was finally healing. Unfortunately like James Dean, Lopes shocking died in an automobile accident.

Doctors have yet to release the results of Brad Renfro's autopsy. As for Britney Spears and Amy Winehouse hopefully someone will help them before its too late.