An Annotated Map of Dr. Drew's Downfall

By Tracie Egan Morrissey  |  April 19, 2013 | 7:00pm
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Dr. Drew will be hosting the Mob Wives Season 3 reunion. Something about that just seems ridiculous. What purpose does it serve to have a board-certified internist rehash a season’s worth of gossipy bullshit and infighting that occurs on shows like this? (The job was previously held by talk show host Wendy Williams and comedian Joy Behar.) Maybe Dr. Drew’s increasingly ubiquitous presence in pop culture—which has always been rationalized by the pretense of medical expertise, however flimsy—has finally become inexcusable. Let’s review how this was a long time coming.

It’s true that Dr. Drew is a self-professed fan of Mob Wives, and developed a relationship with the women independent of VH1 when she toured the ruins of Staten Island with the cast for his HLN show. So maybe he’s using his celebrity to do something fun for himself?

Dr. Drew Pinsky has actually been a media figure longer than he’s been a doctor, starting the radio show that would eventually become “Loveline” while he was still in medical school in the mid-1980s. But he’d always been attracted to stardom. He initially wanted to be an opera singer. Seriously. To play armchair psychologist for a minute (he’s done it, so why not?) Dr. Drew might very well be a frustrated male diva attempting to assuage his disappointment of choosing med school over a singing career with as much fame as possible.

Initially, when Loveline became a national television show on MTV in 1995, having a doctor in his 30s speaking to such a young audience about their sexual health was nothing short of great. (Although it’s not that hard to look smart and trustworthy next to Adam Corolla.) But in the past five years, with his ever-increasing media presence, Dr. Drew’s credibility has been continuously eroding, as people have called his ethics into question.

(Please add your pivotal moments of Dr. Drew disappointment to the chart above.)

 
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