Jezebel
just say no
Posts Tagged “
Addiction
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The Washington Post interviewed Sam Mettler, creator of the show Intervention, and asked a great question that never even occurred to us: Does he ever get a contact high while filming the addicts when they're using? "I was doing this story: Caylee. She was 21. I was sitting on floor interviewing her in her very tiny girls' pink bedroom full of teddy bears in Salt Lake City. The room was filled with heroin smoke. I was not realizing that what she was missing with her straw was being drawn right into my lungs. I stood up and immediately I fell down onto her bed. I could not stop shaking and drooling. I felt horribly sick. It lasted maybe 45 minutes. She laughed at me. But was apologetic." Mettler also said the show is planning on a comprehensive reunion episode, to catch up with how the subjects are dealing with recovery. We really hope it features Cristy and that she's gotten herself together. [Washington Post]
Woe Is Winehouse
Rolling Stone Writer Convinces Us That Amy Winehouse Is Going To Die
Hot off the presses, "Up All Night With Amy Winehouse" in which Rolling Stone scribe Claire Hoffman wanders, unannounced, into Amy Winehouse's crack den in Camden and experiences the singer in her natural tin-foil, beer can, and lingerie box scattered environment. The details, while sordid, are not at all shocking for anyone who has been following Winehouse's various trials and travails: she stays up all night, entertaining a variety of paparazzi and hangers on; her body is covered in sores as a result of her drug use; she's charming, yet can't stop talking about how miserable she is because her beloved partner-in-crack, husband Blake Fielder-Civil, is incarcerated (though she all but admits to affairs with her manager's assistant Alex Haines and Towers of London bassist Kristian Marr). Though Hoffman's story had no new revelations, the narrative convinces me of one thing: Amy Winehouse is not long for this world. More »
Susan Cheever, the daughter of John and a respected writer in her own right, has a forthcoming book about what she calls "the addiction we adore" — sex. " Cheever tells Page Six, "If you have credit card debt, it's a problem. If you drink too much, it's a problem. But if you're falling in love all the time, [people say] that's great. If you have a lot of boyfriends, that's great." The nonfiction tome, called Desire: Where Sex Meets Addiction, a combination of personal history and commentary from psychiatric experts, is out in October. "My children want me to dedicate it, 'To my children who died of embarrassment.'" Cheever says. "And they made me promise not to release it until they got into college. I also hope it won't embarrass my husband." [ Page Six]
societal cancers
Maybe So-Called Sex Addicts Should Enroll In 12-Step Programs
A BBC story today expresses some cynicism as to whether the increasing growing of "sex addiction" is, you know, actual addiction. Sex addiction won't give you the shakes if you go through a dry spell, and while it does have the same dopamine-stimulating effects as gambling, it's sort of like food binging (and money) in that sex is sort of a necessary activity for the survival of the human species, so maybe so-called "sex addicts" need to just calm down and stop acting like they have a "disease." So why force sex addicts to enter a 12-step program? I can think of a reason: because people who have gone through 12-step programs are generally more bearable than people who haven't, and that is because the programs seem to instill in their followers the understanding that they are just inherently shitty people, which is a good thing because, as new studies prove, much of humanity simply has too much self-esteem. More »
clips
Celebrity Rehab: Chyna Finally Admits She "Might Just Be An Addict"
Last night was the finale of Celebrity Rehab, and, after completing a full program, the celebs (minus Daniel Baldwin and Jeff Conaway, who both left early) had a graduation ceremony. They all stood up and made a speech and at the begging of one of her counselors, Chyna Doll admitted for the first time that she's probably an addict (although she never said what she was addicted to). She then agreed to move into the sober living facility that the show's producers offered to all the patients. [FYI: Tracie will be on vacation all next week; this site, and its video clips, will not be the same without her. Sigh. —Ed.] Clip above.
clips
Sometimes It's Mom -- Not Media -- Who Gives Girls Eating Disorders
An episode of Intervention aired last night that featured a very sick family. Caylee is a 21-year-old who is addicted to heroin and cocaine, and also has had an eating disorder since she was a young girl. It seems as though the entire family blames her body issues on her mother Christy, who has suffered from various eating disorders of her own — a combination of anorexia, bulimia, and excessive exercise — for the past 35 years. When Caylee was about 8 years old, Christy let her know that she was getting pudgy and began policing the food she ate, guilting her into avoiding French fries, and instilling in her a fear of food and body fat that she's struggled with her entire life and turning her to hard drugs. The family arranged an intervention for her, but when interventionist Jeff VanVonderen got a load of Christy, he decided that she needed to be in treatment as well. Clip above.
Related: Parents In Denial About Children's Weight Problems [Science Daily]
clips
24-Year-Old Female Meth Addict Is, Frankly, Almost Beyond Repair
One of the best episodes ever of Intervention reran on A&E last night, and we just had to share it. The entire show focuses on a young woman named Cristy, who, at the tender age of 24, has been addicted to crystal meth for 10 years — 10 years! Her family hasn't helped matters: Her father lets her live for free in his guest house — which she's completely trashed — and he and his ex-wife were only prompted to stage the intervention because they found out that Cristy had been working as a stripper. (Apparently, that was more alarming than the fact that she's deep in the throes of what is probably an irreversible meth psychosis in which she believes that she is the sister of both Jesus and Satan, and finds it appropriate to walk around outside with no clothing on.) The clip above is a little NSFW, for blurred out nudity.
jane's addiction
"90 Day Jane" Refuses To Justify Her Enormous Internet Joke
The story of 90DayJane, like the Britney period shots, is supposed to illustrate the seedy, soulless depths of the aughts' virtual culture. For those not familiar with it, on February 5, "90dayjane," a twenty-something pretty brunette resident of Los Angeles, put up a website on which she claimed she would off herself in 90 days. "This blog is not a cry for help," said Jane. "I'm not depressed and nothing extremely horrible has lead me to this decision. But, does it really have to?" Her site, naturally, became a sensation. Hundreds of thousands read it, and their comments, like those found within any other unregulated corner of the internet, were mostly appalling. "Post nudes first," one commenter advised. Then last week, the person behind 90 Day Jane killed the site — not herself — and told the world that the website had been a hoax — a "personal art piece" and that "It was meant for me and (what I ignorantly thought would be) a small number of people." More »
clips
Celebrity Rehab: Jessica Sierra's Self-Fulfilling Prophecy Of Booze And Jail
It's nearing the end of her stay in Celebrity Rehab, and on last night's episode, Jessica Sierra showed an increasing amount of anxiety about going back into the real world. Sierra, a former American Idol contestant, has had the most public relapse since leaving Celebrity Rehab: In December 2007 she was arrested for disorderly intoxication, and held without bond for 39 days. From her Wikipedia: "The police report of the bar incident states that she shouted obscenities and slurs at the authorities also offering a sexual deed if they would release her. According to the report, Sierra said 'Fuck you, nigger' several times to one of the officers.The officer was white." In January, she was sentenced to one year in a California facility, where she is currently residing.
clips
Celebrity Rehab: Jeff Conaway's Girlfriend Just Doesn't Get The No-Booze Business
Vicki, Jeff Conaway's enabling girlfriend, has been one hell of a roadblock on Jeff's road to recovery. During his stay in rehab she has been caught bringing hardcore prescription painkillers into the facility (which were intercepted by employees), as well as booze disguised in a soft drink bottle. On last night's episode of Celebrity Rehab, friends and family were encouraged to take part in therapy sessions with Dr. Drew, and it seems like after all these weeks and repeated chiding by a number of professionals, Vicki still doesn't get it that she needs to remove all drugs and alcohol from Jeff's home. She said that she needs the alcohol there to help with her "migraines." Ugh. Clip above.
falling through the cracks
Amy Winehouse Has A Problem, But So Do We
Well, as some suspected, Amy Winehouse is on crack. [This just in: Amy is now in rehab.] She's certainly not the first musician or singer to do drugs, and definitely not the last, but there is something different about Amy's rollercoaster trip through abuse and addiction: We're along for every second of the ride. Two Winehouse-related stories hit the papers today: Nick Kent writes for the Times of London: "The general public has developed an insatiable desire for watching its favourite stars debase themselves further and further in the public forum." Kent notes that Billie Holliday, Judy Garland, Keith Richards and Sid Vicious all had their substance abuses documented by the media. These days, not only can one can watch Amy Winehouse unravel on a daily basis, it's possible to join in: The crack-rock smoking clip was supplied to The Sun by a "friend."More »
diva diagnoses
