Celebrities Gone Wild: the Fame and Shame of Young Hollywood Starlets

It seems like just yesterday when little Lindsay Lohan was charming the world with her performance on The Parent Trap. Fresh-faced and freckled, the twelve-year-old Lindsay is a reminder of what Hollywood can do to young talent. Fast forward a few years, and the same Lindsay is all grown up, stick thin, and spinning on the rehab merry-go-round. Bayou beauty, Britney Spears, was the Mickey Mouse Girl once. These days, the former teen idol is touring rehabilitation spas, after a year of indecent exposures, Child Protection Services reports, and "the head shaving incident."

There was an innocent time, not so long ago, when Paris was just the name of a city in France, and the Hilton was just a hotel chain. These days, the name Paris brings to mind an heiress with a sex tape and the "Simple Life." Lionel Richie was the only famous Richie in Hollywood a few years back. Today, his daughter, Nicole is the paparazzi favorite.

The Revolving Door of Rehab

Young Hollywood celebrities have glamorized the prospect of entering a rehabilitation center for thirty days. Entering rehab can actually give a celebrity a new career boost, in some cases. Just look at how the media cheered when Britney finally stayed at rehab for more than three hours. Typical rehabilitation treatment for addiction is far from glamourous. Most addictions are life-long struggles, and though the newly sobered celebrity may give good press after surviving a rehab stint, addiction just doesn't "go away."

Most of the celebrities who enter and exit rehab for an addiction will re-enter at some point in their lives. Hollywood isn't the best environment for celebrities who want to stay sober. Drew Barrymore entered before she could drive a car legally, and seems to have overcome early Hollywood pressures and addictions, but she is in the minority. The problem with publicizing celebrity rehabbing is that there are everyday people out there who come to believe that addictions might be solved with a trip to a luxury rehab spa. One that most people will never afford, leaving the general public disenchanted with the reality of AA meetings three times a week in their hometown.