The Celebrity Syndrome: Why Do Stars Behave as They Do?

What's wrong with our celebrities? From Marilyn Monroe to Elvis Presley and now Anna Nicole and Britney Spears... they are peoples' darlings for a while and enjoy being in the limelight. Their stories begin like fairy tales. The ending, however, turns out to be very tragic. Soon, they are out of control and the end comes crashing too soon and they are in oblivion...

Why do our celebrities do the crazy things that they do? The nation has been saturated with news about the untimely death of Anna Nicole Smith, in a hotel room. Though the autopsy report ruled out the presence of any drugs in her stomach, questions have been raised about her long-term use of methadone, a prescription drug. It seems she was addicted to methadone and managed to get prescriptions from a doctor under a fake name. Methadone is a popular narcotic painkiller that is used as part of drug addiction detoxification and maintenance programs. Methadone overdoses can cause shallow breathing and dangerous changes in heart beat. According to reports, of late, Anna Nicole would often appear to have slurred speech in her public appearances.

Smith's death has been likened to Marilyn Monroe's death: Monroe died from an overdose of sleeping pills in August 1962. Despite her success in her career, her personal life was in a shambles. Her first marriage of convenience ended in a divorce. Then, after a two-year courtship that captivated the nation, she married baseball great Joe DiMaggio. The second marriage lasted for only 274 days. Monroe's marriage to playwright Arthur Miller lasted five years and an abortion and a miscarriage led to a divorce. She appeared dazed and disoriented in her last days and was finally found dead in her bedroom.

Elvis Presley, who died in 1977 at 42, was known to travel with George Nichopoulos, a former physician, who overprescribed drugs to clients . The cause of Presley's death was "polypharmacy", a reaction to mixing several drugs. At least 14 different drugs were found on Presley, with 10 in significant quantities. It soon became clear that a combination of over-work, obesity, depression, bad diet and severe abuse of prescription drugs accelerated his premature departure.

What is this connection stars have with drugs and alcohol? They are basically performers and have to constantly live up to their public image. This is not easy, considering that we, as human beings, grow older, suffer from diseases and face different problems in life. However, the stars have to always be that ideal person before the crowds; they cannot show any of the frailties that seem to affect petty human beings. This is a tremendous and virtually impossible task to live up to. That is why perhaps, they take recourse to drugs with hopes of a miracle cure...

Again, for all their professional successes, there is an inner void in their lives. Their personal lives do not have a firm anchor which can ground them even in the worst of times. Both Marilyn Monroe and Anna Nicole Smith had troubled childhoods and grew up without knowing the true love experienced by a family. They lacked role models, who they could emulate and reach out to, in times of crisis. As a result, they must have had self-esteem issues, self- image problems. They would not necessarily be seeing their own selves the way the whole world did. Deep down, there must have been some insecurity gnawing away at their esteem.

Take Britney Spears as another example. She was a teen singing sensation, shooting to fame at age 17, topping the charts with her debut album. By 2002 Forbes magazine had named her the most powerful celebrity in the world. Her career was on the rise until 2004 when fans began to move on to other pop stars like Christina Aguilera, Avril Lavigne and others. In January 2004, Britney got married to a childhood friend, "just for the hell of it." The marriage was dissolved after two days. This hasty, immature act was a precursor of what was to follow. Her marriage to Kevin Federline in October of 2004 also put her recording career on hold. Since then, Spears has been in the media spotlight for entirely different reasons.

Since splitting with husband Kevin Federline last November, Spears has been making headlines with her partying lifestyle. She has embarked on a prolonged period of partying with other young celebrities, including heiress Paris Hilton. She also drew a storm of criticism for paparazzi photographs which seemed to show her without underwear, and she reportedly collapsed at a New Year's party in Las Vegas.

She was reported to have entered rehab on the Caribbean island of Antigua, only to drop out 24 hours later. Later that evening she was spotted at a hair salon in Los Angeles, shaving her own head in pictures that made headlines around the world. She followed that up with a trip to a tattoo parlor and on Sunday night she was photographed heading into a West Hollywood nightclub wearing an ill-fitting blonde wig. The salon has set up a website to auction the hair for more than $1million!

Child welfare authorities visited Spears twice in 2006 after she was photographed driving a car with her infant son on her lap, and after Sean Preston, her other child, fell from a high chair and hit his head. No charges were brought. After her shaving incident, she checked into rehab again, on the advice of family members, only to check out the next day. Professor Cary Cooper, a psychology professor at Lancaster University, says Spears' recent behavior is a "call for help", reports BBC.

Does life in the media spotlight have its own hazards? Celebrities often lead double lives, one for public consumption and one, which is really their own, insecure and unloved life. They are incapable of handling all the attention they get in public. They begin to crave the attention, to be the media's darling. However, when there is a discrepancy in their expected performance and the actual outcome, frustration sets in. Soon, there is the all-too-familiar breakdown and recourse to drugs, alcohol and anti-depressants.

Fame has an ephemeral quality about it. People rise to fame and are soon replaced by others who are more famous. Add to this the short-lived nature of public memory. People quickly forget the "yesterday" and live in the "today." This turns out to be very harmful for those who are addicted to name and fame.

Celebrities are often surrounded by yes- men; with people willing to cater to their needs and pander to their whims. They do not have close friends or family who can speak the truth about their actions, the way they lead their lives. There is nobody to offer them a sound word of advice. Far from being the "spoiled brats" that they appear to be, celebrities who appear to have gone wild, need love and attention. They need reassurance that they are valued for being themselves and do not always have to put up an act. They need to be told that it's ok when they do not perform as well as they expected to. Some one has to tell them that they are just like any one of us and it's ok to make mistakes.