Saturday, February 10, 2007

Thoughts on Anna Nicole...and Celebrity

Anna Nicole Smith...what a tragic ending. I didn't really follow her life. Oh, I saw the pictures and was witness to her antics. How could you miss them? I am sorry that the woman passed at such a young age. I think that she lived a horrific life. She was trapped by her own celebrity. Behind that forced glamor smile, I think that we would have found a very sad little girl. Everywhere she seemed to turn there were sycophants pawing at her.

Celebrity is an addiction. As with most addictions, in the beginning it's fun; you have some and want for more. But, after a point, it takes over; it takes on a life of its own and it consumes yours.

Most of us live rather innocuous lives; journeying through our day-to-day existences in relative obscurity. And many of us long for fame and fortune. We imagine ourselves living in the lap of luxury and even fending off the paparazzi. The success of the sleazy tabloids are a reflection of our interest in this lifestyle. It seems so attractive from the outside looking in. But I don't think that it is. It can't be. Look what it did to Elvis, Marilyn, Jean Harlow, Janis Joplin, Jim Hendrix, Jim Morrison... and now Anna Nicole!

We see how they died and immediately point to drug abuse. How many times have we heard someone say, "Oh...it was the drugs."; almost as if to justify the death. I think that the reality of their mortality reminds us of our own and it frightens us. If we can 'justify' these deaths, by pointing to the abuse, then it seems to make it easier for those of us who are left behind.

If Anna Nicole had never left her small Texas town she would probably be alive today. True, we would never have heard of her; she would have been as anonymous as the rest of us, but she might still be in the land of the living and she might even have been happy! So be careful what you wish for. You may already have what's best for you.

In a few weeks we'll get the toxicology report and find out if there were chemicals in her body. But I can tell you right now that she didn't succumb to drugs. She overdosed on celebrity.

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