Paula Abdul Had Slurred Speech While Selling Her Jewelry Line on HSN

Early this morning, Paula Abdul appeared on the Home Shopping Network (HSN) to promote her Forever Your Girl jewelry line. After an awkward entrance and what initially looked like shyness or unpreparedness in front of the camera, it became apparent that Paula was probably high as a kite. Her speech was slurred, her behavior was erratic, her thoughts were jumbled, and she avoided eye contact with the host and the cameras.

Paula has criticized for similar behavior on American Idol, as well as her Bravo reality TV show Hey Paula. Her actions this morning struck a chord with me, because they reminded me of when I was on some serious narcotics in the emergency room one day for kidney stones. There's a noticeable difference in my book between being drunk and being on strong pain killers. Maybe this is something one would have to experience to fully understand. In the past, Paula has blamed her actions on a lack of sleep. As a former Marine, I've experienced the combination of stress and being up for days at a time, and have never acted that way, nor did any of the Marines I worked with.

Normally, I could care less about celebrities with addictions to drugs and alcohol, but I find myself wishing someone would step in and take care of Paula.

Paula Abdul is not a complainer. So many other celebrities with addictions complain about their charmed lives, to the point where most regular people can't relate. How can someone be saddened when they have all of the money and fame in the world, especially if this was something the celebrity wanted for his or herself? Paula, despite her probable pain killer addiction, has an amazingly caring and generous attitude, and her fans love her for those qualities.

Back in her cheerleading days, Paula suffered an accident that caused a great deal of back pain that carried into her choreography years. More recently, she was diagnosed with Complex Regional Pain Syndrome (CRPS), which affects the nervous system and causes severe chronic pain.

Paula appeared on Oprah in 2007 to dispel rumors of an addiction. She told Oprah she had never used illegal drugs in her life, nor had she ever been drunk before. Just because she has never abused illegal drugs before, doesn't mean she hasn't abused drugs that are legally prescribed to her by a doctor. People with severe chronic pain often become build a tolerance to narcotics, to the point that the daily number of pills they take could send an average person into respiratory arrest.

Seeing Paula on HSN this morning was saddening. I genuinely feel sorry for her, because she has to live out her alleged addiction in front of millions of people - both on HSN and American Idol. What's worse is that the people who work closest to her, including the host of HSN this morning, humor her, instead of stepping in and trying to help.

If Paula hadn't arrived right before she was supposed to go on the air this morning, I wonder if the execs at HSN would have allowed her to be televised in her condition? I hope no one would consider putting her on the air for amusement's sake, in order to gain more viewership.

Hopefully Paula get over any sense of pride or embarrassment, and seek help before it's too late. She's a rare breed of celebrity, who is thoughtful, compassionate, and genuine, and she truly deserves to live a happy, healthy life.

Source:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paula_Abdul