Earlier this week, Corey Feldman appeared on Larry King Live to discuss the death of his friend Corey Haim, and in doing so, also brought up a good question: why is it okay to kick child stars when they're down?

Perhaps the saddest aspect of Haim's death was the fact that it came as no surprise to anyone: Haim had long been on the storied Fallen Child Actor Path, a sad downward spiral often littered with drugs, depression, trouble with the law, and even suicide. And thanks to celebrity culture and our society's collective nostalgia obsession, many of these fallen stars are unable to keep their personal struggles post-fame out of of the headlines: during his Larry King Live appearance, Feldman pointed out that "things like TMZ, outlets like that" make it okay for "society as a whole" to point and laugh at adults who can't seem to outrun their child stardom days. Haim's participation in a reality show centered around his relationship with Feldman, surely pitched to appeal to 80s nostalgia nerds, didn't do him many favors career or reputation-wise, either.

So why is it okay to point and laugh at people who have been to the top as children and come crashing back down as adults? It is a bit of a sick system that is seemingly designed to set many people up for a devastating failure: for every child actor success story, like that of Christian Bale, or Drew Barrymore (who went through her own issues), or Neil Patrick Harris, there's a Corey Haim, a Jonathan Brandis, or a Brad Renfro. And perhaps the worst part of it all is not just the loss of one's career or the struggles with drug addiction that these fallen stars have to face, but the incessant mockery from the general public, who take their fall and turn it into a punchline. As Feldman said, "In Hollywood, we build people up as children, we put them on pedastals, and then, when we decide they're not marketable anymore, we walk away from them. And then, we taunt them. We tease them."

In some ways I think our tendency to dismiss and ridicule child actors is also a distancing method, not only from the actors themselves, but as a protective measure to continue recalling our own pasts with fondness, something my generation, particularly, seems to have an overboard obsession with. We can't deal with Corey Haim the drug addict the same way we couldn't deal with late-era Michael Jackson or post-Mean Girls Lindsay Lohan or seeing Judd Nelson not look exactly like Bender at the Academy Awards.

We don't like to be faced with the realities of life, that nothing is secure, that things can change in a very short time period, and that people eventually have to grow up and step out of the identities we've assigned them, sometimes in ways our collective memories don't quite know how to process; something that we also experience in our everyday lives that perhaps we transfer onto celebrity slates in order to attempt to push it out of our own realities. It is much easier, you see, to call a virtual stranger a washed-up hack drug addict waste of life than it is to consider the human element behind it.

As a comment moderator who has had to go through several threads relating to struggling child stars (Lohan, Spears) and celebrity deaths (everyone in 2009), I've seen several justifications (not just on this site, but on many others, including the land where comment etiquette goes to die, TMZ) as to why it's acceptable to, as Feldman claims, kick child actors when they're down, the most common being the idea that they've "wasted" everything; that they had it all and made shitty decisions and deserve their fates. There's also a general anger at drug addiction, anger at god awful stage parents, and anger at the world in general for investing so much in to the worth of celebrity, as opposed to the "real problems" facing the world. While the public scorn certainly isn't helping to break the child actor downfall cycle, the notion that a "comeback" will fix everything isn't helping either: in the end, there has to be another path opened up to the Corey Haims of the world. Fame has to stop being considered the ultimate cure for fame.


TL;DR =


Source

posted by GossipGander \\ tags: drugs / drug use

Musician tells officer he used cocaine, wasn’t complying with treatment plan

Troubled rapper DMX was arrested in Arizona on Tuesday for violating his probation by regularly using illegal drugs during the last nine months, authorities said.

The rapper, whose real name is Earl Simmons, told a probation officer that he used cocaine and was not complying with the terms of his treatment plan, Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio told Reuters.

He faces five counts of violating probation.

source

posted by GossipGander \\ tags: arrest / arrest warrant, drugs / drug use

what member of a d-list pop group/reality show contestant just got arrested for cocaine possession?








natalie from girlicious!!



GLENDALE — A singer from the pop group Girlicious was arrested Tuesday night after police allegedly found more than a dozen individual packages of cocaine in her Gucci purse, officials said.

Natalie Mejia, 21, of Diamond Bar is being held today in Glendale City Jail in lieu of a $30,000 bond, according to a Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department.

Mejia and Peter Asencio, 28, of Burbank were taken into custody after a police noticed a 1998 Ford Mustang driving at a high rate of speed, Glendale Police Sgt. Tom Lorenz said.

The officer stopped the car at Victory Boulevard and Winchester Avenue, just before it went onto the Ventura (134) Freeway, he said.

Mejia, who was a passenger in the car, was apparently heading to an airport for a concert in Canada, Lorenz said.

Police searched the Mustang after discovering Asencio’s driver’s license was suspended, Lorenz said.

During the search, police allegedly found multiple individual baggies of cocaine in Mejia’s Gucci purse.

"She doesn’t know how it go into her purse," Lorenz said.

She and Asencio were immediately arrested on suspicion of possessing cocaine for sale, Lorenz said. Asencio was also arrested in connection with driving on a suspended driver’s license, he said.

In 2008, Mejia was a contestant on the CW reality show, Pussycat Dolls Present: Girlicious

source: www.glendalenewspress.com/articles/2010/03/10/publicsafety/gnp-arrest031110.txt

posted by GossipGander \\ tags: arrest / arrest warrant, drugs / drug use

Actor Corey Haim died this morning of an apparent overdose, according to LAPD. He was 38.

Police tell us they were called to St. Joseph's hospital in Burbank, CA shortly before 4AM PT to investigate.

Haim shot to fame in the 80s -- when he co-starred in a number of films, including "The Lost Boys," with Corey Feldman

Source

Update: Drug OD

Law enforcement sources tell TMZ Corey Haim did indeed OD on drugs, and his mom is the one who discovered him in the apartment and called 911. Although cause of death is premature, so far law enforcement is telling us it was "possibly accidental." We're told LAPD has opened a death investigation.

Source

Update 2 : Corey Haim Collapsed, Prescriptions Found

Corey Haim collapsed in the bedroom of his mother's apartment and four prescription bottles were found nearby ... law enforcement sources tell TMZ.   We've learned Corey had been sick the last couple of days with flu-like symptoms. The medications recovered, however, were not related to his illness, sources tell TMZ.   We're told no illicit drugs were found in the apartment.

Sources say Haim got out of bed just before 1 AM and collapsed in front of his mother. She called 911 at 12:53 AM and Corey was taken to the hospital where he was pronounced dead at 2:15 AM. Corey's mom told authorities he had been battling prescription drug addiction for years. Authorities believe -- though are not certain -- Corey died of an accidental drug overdose.

Source

posted by GossipGander \\ tags: drugs / drug use

As a straight-A student at Harvard, Natalie Portman obviously didn’t smoke weed every day, but her newest film will show audiences that she isn’t biased against women having a little fun with their friends and a plant named cannabis.



Portman recently teamed up with screenwriter Jamie Denbo on Best Buds, a film which Portman will star in and produce under her production company Handsomecharlie Films.

The movie follows a group of female friends as they try to prevent Portman’s character from suffering a nervous breakdown the night before her wedding. Instead of focusing on the irrational emotions that have constituted female identities in comedies such as Knocked Up, the girls chill out on a road trip to San Diego by smoking copious amounts of weed.

“I just wished there was a movie where women got to be funny. Not just a group of ragtag funny guys and the hot girl,” Denbo told Jezebel.com in February. “Everyone has a cause. Some people have cancer, some have literacy. Mine is proving that women smoke weed, too.”

Denbo said she wrote the screenplay after seeing a dominating theory of how women interact with weed in Knocked Up, where Katherine Heigl makes Seth Rogen get rid of his bong while she is pregnant.

“It just seemed like a metaphor of, ‘Put down the bong, and we can get married.’ That’s not how it goes in my house. It’s more like, ‘Hey, you’re pregnant, maybe stop smoking weed for five minutes,” said Denbo, a mother of two.

Despite focusing on female smoking habits, Denbo said she also wanted to prove that women could provide humor in movies such as The Hangover.

“I love crazy guy comedy stuff,” Denbo said. “But it would be nice to see some of the other characters that are funny be women. People forget that the biggest scene stealer in Knocked Up was Kristen Wiig.”

Denbo said she knows that the film might alienate regular comedic audiences since it focuses on women, and generally men are funnier than females. Also, female audience-goers might be offended by the idea that all women are smoking weed. But she says the movie offers more insight into female friendships than is commonly seen in theaters.

“It’s essentially about best friends and girlfriends,” Denbo said. “It’s more about real girl friendship, and not one girl is the ingénue and one girl is her whippersnapper best friend. It’s more equal.”



Saucy

posted by GossipGander \\ tags: casting / auditions, drugs / drug use

Celebrity Weed Smokers: In Honor Of National Marijuana Month

Not that Starpulse is condoning any type of drug use, but in Hollywood anything goes. And since it's Marijuana Awareness month, we're taking a look at our favorite stars who like to indulge in the marijuana dude! We've either seen them smoke it or heard they like it - so, let's celebrate them!

Kristen Stewart:





Barack Obama:



"I inhaled frequently, that was the point."

(In contrast with Bill Clinton who said he smoked Marijuana, but 'didn't inhale')


Cameron Diaz and Drew Barrymore:



Cameron Diaz and Drew Barrymore- These two best buddies were seen sharing a joint while on the beach in Hawaii a few years ago. Why not relax ocean side with your best friend under giant beach hats while puffing and passing, right? Maybe because you are famous and are bound to end up on the cover of Us Weekly, with the joint in hand. Both girls have been enjoying marijuana for a while- Drew started smoking at age 10 and Cameron said she spent most of her teenage years "smoking and surfing".



Brad Pitt:



In an interview for Inglourious Basterds, Quentin Tarantino told the press, "Brad doesn't smoke marijuana while he's acting, and I don't smoke while I'm directing". Hmmm, makes us think, why even say anything at all? Not only is Brad an artist on screen, but he also once admitted to being an artist at rolling joints. And although he confessed he gave up the reefer when he became a father, we're sure he still dabbles in it with Angelina after the troops go to bed. They probably smoke, talk about how hot they are and stare in amazement at how perfect their first creation, Shiloh, is.

Justin Timberlake:



Justin Timberlake - Justin admitted that he has smoked weed with his mother and that his album, Justified, was created during his "marijuana phase". He also admitted that he was high when he was Punk'd by Ashton Kutcher, which made that episode hysterical now that we know he was stoned. When asked by Entertainment Weekly if he smoked marijuana prior to the prank he answered, "Yeah that was a trippy experience. That was why I was completely glassy-eyed. As a matter of fact, I was like, okay, I got to stop doing this. I don't do that anymore!"

Mischa Barton:



Even though she was charged with a DUI in 2007, Mischa was recently spotted cruising around Los Angeles puffin' on something that didn't quite look like a cigarette. And it's not the first time the paparazzi have snapped her mid-puff. You'd think she'd learn to at least do it in private.

Woody Harrelson:



It doesn't take a genius to say Woody is into pot. He's a longtime vegan, hippie and activist for the legalization of marijuana and hemp.

Snoop Dogg:



Considering he has a song titled, "Smoke Weed Everyday" and there seems to be a cloud of thick smoke following him around like the Peanuts character, Pig-pen, we'd say he loves marijuana. In 2001, Snoop smoked a blunt in four of the four movies he appeared in- Training Day, The Wash, Bones, and Baby Boy and was named "Stoner of the Year" at the High Times Magazine Stony awards. That's quite an accomplishment in the weed community.

Matthew Mcconoaughey:



In 1999, Matthew was arrested in Austin, Texas and charged with possession of marijuana. The best part? He was ratted out by a neighbor complaining of loud music coming from his house. When the cops arrived to check out the situation, they found Matthew dancing around naked, high as a kite, playing the bongo drums. Classic McConaughey!

Charlize Theron:



After Charlize's Oscar win, she decided to celebrate by smoking marijuana. But she didn't just indulge in a joint or a regular pipe; she got crafty and smoked out of an apple. That's right, you can eat your fruit and smoke it too.



Jennifer Aniston:



"I enjoy smoking cannabis and see no harm in it". (Supposedly she and Brad Pitt smoked up together prior to meeting with Bill Clinton.)

Kirsten Dunst:



Just last year, Kirsten Dunst admitted she likes smoking marijuana. In fact, she said “America’s view on weed is ridiculous” and the world would be a better place if “everyone smoked weed.” No wonder she likes playing the role of Mary Jane in Spiderman. Okay, that’s a lame joke, but I couldn’t resist.

Megan Fox



Megan Fox and Shia LaBeouf must bond over a few joints after work since Megan thinks the green light should be given to legalize weed.

The Transformers actress admits to GQ that she would be the "first person in line to buy a pack of joints" and that she has no idea why it still has a stigma attached to it.

"I can't tell you how much bullshit I've been through because I will openly say that I smoke weed…People look at it like it's this crazy, hippy, fucked up thing to do. And it's not. I hope they legalize it."

Shia Lebeouf



"My parents always thought weed was healthier than alcohol," he says. "If you look at the science of it, it’s the truth. Nobody has ever died smoking weed."

Morgan Freeman:



In an interview with the UK newspaper The Guardian, this legendary actor told reporters he had given up his use of hard drugs, but that he would never quit his relationship with Mary Jane. In fact, he referred to marijuana as “God’s own weed.”

Stephen King:



Stephen King is the most popular horror novelist of this generation. Unlike some celebrities who recoil when asked about cannabis, King confidently states “I think that marijuana should not only be legal, I think it should be a cottage industry. It would be wonderful for the state of Maine. There’s some pretty good homegrown dope. I’m sure it would be even better if you could grow it with fertilizers and have greenhouses. . . .”

George Clooney:



When shooting Ocean’s Twelve, the cast went on location to Amsterdam. The owner of a local cannabis café told reporters George Clooney was no stranger there. Apparently, the charming actor visits the store at least a few times a year. It makes sense if you think about it. Clooney is always calm and even-tempered.

Harrison Ford:



Harrison Ford has Bill Maher to thank for making this list. At a NORML conference, Maher told attendees it was high time Harrison Ford took a step out of the cannabis closet. I knew Indiana Jones had to be under the influence when he would pull off all those crazy stunts.

Michael Bublé:



Ex-model turned hairpiece maker Tiffany Bromley told the News of the World newspaper that the "mum's favourite" singer regularly smoked marijuana, swore and stuffed himself with biscuits and cakes when he got the "marijuana munchies".

She told the newspaper, "Michael smoked up to three joints a day when I was with him. He always had a couple in his wash bag ready to go. He insisted it was his way of winding down at the end of a day. But sometimes he started the day with one."

George Michael:



British television network ITV said the singer lit up while being interviewed for the arts program "The South Bank Show." The interview is due to be broadcast Oct. 31.

"This stuff keeps me sane and happy," Michael, 43, told the program.

"I'd say it's a great drug — but obviously it's not very healthy. You can't afford to smoke it if you've got anything to do."


William Shakespeare:



Fragments of pipes unearthed near Shakespeare's garden showed traces of cocaine and cannabis. No direct evidence connecting the pipes to Shakespeare.




That's some good shit right there.



SOURCE 1
SOURCE 2
SOURCE 3

posted by GossipGander \\ tags: drugs / drug use

HOLLYWOOD wild child LINDSAY LOHAN today lays bare the extent of her drug addiction - and confesses she came close to killing herself through a heady mix of alcohol, cocaine and mind-bending drugs.

And she tells of her "terror" at collapsing on her bathroom floor after taking sleeping pills.

The bisexual actress, who has been to rehab three times and was jailed after being caught with cocaine, has always played down the extent of her drug abuse.

But today the 23-year-old star of hit films such as Herbie Fully Loaded and Mean Girls sensationally reveals she hit rock bottom - and risked blowing her entire career.

Speaking exclusively to The Sun she tells how her problems got worse when her father MICHAEL, a former drug addict and jailbird who beat up Lindsay's mother DINA, started talking to the Press about his daughter in 2007.

Lindsay, nicknamed Li-Lo, says: "When my father was going public, that's when I hit rock bottom. I abused substances too much and it wasn't the answer to my problems. People need to know that.

"I tried to mask my problems with alcohol, cocaine and mind-altering substances. Now I'm in a place where I don't need to use anything and I can feel emotions because I choose to.


"I learnt from my mistakes and I'm now healthy and happier. I never want to be close to losing everything I worked for and aspired to have my whole life.

"Mind-altering substances are so dangerous. If I can teach others, especially teens, by sharing my experiences, then that's what I will continue to do.

"I've made some dreadful mistakes but learned from them - that has probably saved my life."

Lindsay sees a therapist fortnightly and attends weekly alcohol education lessons. She says the first time she sought help for her addiction was in 2007 after collapsing in her LA bathroom, waking surrounded by cascading water - and terrified


She says: "I went to rehab three times. The first time I checked myself in because I had taken Ambien. It's a sleeping aid but it makes you hallucinate.

"I'd run a bath and fallen asleep on the floor and the bath had overflowed.

"When I woke up I was so scared, I called my therapist and said, 'Can I just go somewhere for a month?

"I'm around bad people and I need to take care of myself'. I was terrified, so I put myself in.

"There was a point when I didn't know how to say 'No' and I was trying to please everyone.

"I was doing pop and making films. I was young and thought I could go out, have fun, then go on set and record. I ran myself down and I lost track of who I was."

Talking of the first time she was caught with cocaine, following a car smash in May 2007, she confesses: "It was in a purse and I was with friends. I wasn't trying to lie to police.

"I was only aware of cocaine because of my dad. I was terrified of it. But I tried it because I was stubborn, stupid, and wanted to see what it was like.

"It's not something I ever want to do again. It made me feel like s***. It became uninteresting to me. I'm hyper anyway and I have that kind of personality so I don't need something like that."

Lindsay was a successful child actress but beneath the cute surface the youngster was struggling to deal with her emotions after years of violent rows between her parents.

In 2005 she was taken to hospital with kidney problems brought on by "stress", and in 2006 needed medical help for being "overheated and dehydrated" while filming Georgia Rule with Desperate Housewives star FELICITY HUFFMAN and JANEFONDA.

In a letter leaked to the Press, exasperated studio exec James G Robinson called Lindsay "irresponsible and unprofessional" and blamed her partying for absences from the set.

In January 2007 came the incident with Ambien which led her to check herself into the Wonderland Center clinic, in Los Angeles, for 30 days.

Later that year she pulled out of one film and was dropped from another. In May came her arrest for drink-driving after hitting a tree.

She says: "I wasn't driving like a maniac. There were paparazzi and their flashes were going off into the window. I tried to turn, then I sped up because they sped up. That's when I hit the tree.

"I just thank God everyone was OK. But it was scary. I had three drinks, at most. I've been stupid and childish and I wasn't thinking."

Police then found the cocaine in her purse and Lindsay entered rehab for a second time, this time in Malibu, for six weeks.

On her release Lindsay had to wear an alcohol monitoring bracelet on her ankle. Yet just two weeks later, in July 2007, she was arrested for drink driving and cops again found cocaine, this time in her pocket. She went to rehab in Utah.

In August 2007 she pleaded guilty to cocaine use and driving under the influence. She was jailed for a day and ordered to complete an alcohol education programme.

Lindsay, who has spent much of the past week partying in London, where she also hosted a fundraiser for Haiti, says: "I'm allowed to drink now but I know my limits.

"There are certain situations where I have obligations. There's no reason to (drink) because I don't want to feel like s*** in the morning.

She says: "The thing is, at the times I was going out a lot and being seen everywhere, I would have been in college.

"My brother, who is 18, and his friends go out to bars and stuff till whatever time. That's what you do in college. Mine was all in the public eye so it was magnified that much more.

"I've now learned my boundaries and I've been very good with cleaning house with people who I know didn't have my best intentions at heart. A lot of people in LA are very self destructive.

"Partying so hard simply isn't worth it. Life is worth living and there is so much to do and experience, it's wonderful."





The sun really? gurrrrrrl

Mods plz ignore the first version of this.

posted by GossipGander \\ tags: drugs / drug use

Looking a little "shifty" in the eyes Backstreet Boy AJ Mclean comes out of hiding. Days after his album release Mr. Mclean is headed to Japan to begin promoting his solo album(..WTF?..) looking to be under the influence of something fierce.



In an apparent attempt to appease fans and distract them from the current clusterfuck management has release this 5 month old video.



Sources- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V44r4u47yHQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cN0lBsmW9hE

posted by GossipGander \\ tags: drugs / drug use

Keith Richards Gives Up Booze



by Music-News.com - January 26 2010

Hell has frozen over. Keith Richards has given up alcohol.

The Rolling Stones guitarist – who is known for his hellraising lifestyle – hasn’t downed a drink in four months, despite previously claiming he would never become teetotal.

A source close to the 66-year-old musician said: 'There’s no guarantees that he’ll stay off it – but he’s doing really well so far.

'He has always quite enjoyed the fact that he seemed to be able to carry on drinking as much as he liked with no real negative impact on his health.'

It is believed Keith decided to quit booze after seeing his bandmate Ronnie Wood start drinking heavily again and eventually split from his wife of 23 years Jo to run off with 21-year-old cocktail waitress Katia Ivanova, who Ronnie is also now separated from.

The source added to The Sun newspaper: 'He has watched Ronnie fall well and truly off the wagon last year and he doesn't like what he sees.

'Plus he has started to feel for the first time like it might do him some good to give up the booze for a while.'

Four years ago Keith suffered a brain haemorrhage after he fell out of a tree while partying on the Pacific island of Fiji, but made a full recovery.

Source

posted by GossipGander \\ tags: drugs / drug use

• Brittany wasn't taking any medications regularly for depression/mental illness or anorexia. She took two different medications during her period each month.
• Most of the medications they found in the house belonged to her husband. He suffers from seizures and heart issues apparently.
• The cocaine use rumor is completely false. She was diagnosed with a heart murmur when she was young and so drugs terrified her.
• She never had an eating disorder. Apparently she would go to the Chateau Marmont and order four plates of food and eat them all. idk about you guys but that sounds like a binge to me...
• She was under stress in her career recently. Apparently Warner Bros. wanted her to reprise the roll of Gloria in Happy Feet 2 but then rumors surfaced that she was fired from her latest movie and they revoked the offer. Her husband says that she was never fired from the other movie..it was a mutual split.

source.

posted by GossipGander \\ tags: drugs / drug use