TRIGGER WARNING: The issue of siucide or suicidal tendencies is touched upon!

Recently I heard something interesting about the Club 27 and the conversation lingered around the question if it was the substance that killed Amy Winehouse or that she simply couldn’t cope with the fame, so she spiraled down her vicious circle into oblivion. And what does this have to do with me…?

First off: Essentially, this post is not about Amy Winehouse or any other “member” of the Club 27 or any other celeb that found a tragic death related to suicide and/or substance related diseases.

The questions that lingered around in my head were rather:

• Do famous celebrities come to a tragic death because they can’t cope with fame?
• Or is it because they become addicted to drugs or other substances?

Before I try a guess (that is strictly my own opinion! I don’t try to find viable truths or pose facts), let me explain why these questions matter to me:

Apart from the discussion I followed on the radio about Amy Winehouse, I started reading the biographies of different celebs, alive and dead, that had a severe condition with substance abuse a major part of their lives. There were significant parallels in all of these biographies, apart from their substance abuse and them being famous. They all had issues, that were there long before they had become significantly famous, sometimes their substance abuse started even long before they really became famous.

The problem with most of these celebrities is, you’ll never know why they became addicted or had problems coping with their fame. Normally I would see these celebs, especially rock musicians, who became famous with their music and they represented people I (or my peers) wanted to copy or at least be similar to. Take Ozzy Osbourne of Black Sabbath. Or Lemmy Kilmister of Motörhead. These are two charismatic, very edgy but famous singers of Rock bands I loved and still do. These guys weren’t particularly handsome or sporty. But they were famous and they had success. And they drank and smoked. They made great music. They could party. And they destroyed hotel rooms.

When I was young, that was all we wanted. Be famous. Party all night long. Make great music. And we could relate to these guys, because they came from the lower social strata. So, what we did: We started glorifying these guys. We would glorify their self destructive behaviour. We would say: Die young, live fast, you can sleep when you’re dead. You know these platitiudes. Aggressive behaviour towards others and destroying yourself was something to boost our self esteem. Especially when you have issues yourself.

And that is where I want to bring together my own behaviour and this of the celebs:

It’s not the ineptitude to cope with fame or the substance itself that killed the celebs, or let them die young.

It’s issues that are inherent to these guys in a lot of cases. Read some of the biographies, you’ll find out yourself: Something in their childhood, youth, early adlthood may have happened that triggered a phobia, anxiety, depression, or whatever psychic condition you can imagine. Mind you, this is speculation, but it makes sense to me.

In the end it comes down to the following train of thoughts in my head: A psychic condition made some of the celebs be famous or important to compensate for their condition. Maybe they started substance abuse before, or during the process of becoming or being famous. The substance abuse may have a lot of sources, but there seems to be a correlation between psychic disorder, the urge to be famous or successful and substance abuse on a risky level. And this combination, then, is what maked life shorter.

Is that something to look up to? If you are young, maybe. I have my doubts now. I rather feel pity. And I am a bit angry that noone told me when I was younger that this is no behaviour to copy, because in the end you’ll end up in a loop of depression and substance abuse and you’ll probably not be famous at all. But you may die young as well, because the substance slowly kills you or suicidal tendencies may emerge and in the worst case take their toll.

Luckily, we all have the choice. I chose to quit and I am very thankful I didn’t try harder substances

Until next time, keep up the faith in yourself and take one step at a time.

PS: If you, by any means, got triggered by the statements about suicide or suicidal tendencies and find it difficult to handle, please seek help with a professional in your area.