Celebrities & Rehab - Reality Gone Too Far?

"They tried to make me go to rehab | I said no, no, no." Amy Winehouse, "Rehab"

Once upon a time it was embarrassing for someone to admit to having a problem with alcohol or drugs. Alcoholics (or Narcotics) Anonymous meetings weren't talked about unless you were explaining yourself while making amends. At some point, we were unwittingly ushered into a new era by those arbiters of all things chic and fresh - celebrities.

Not only is rehab the new black according to Hollywood, it seems to also be the new way to avoid doing hard time. Run your car into a pole on the Sunset Strip in a late night stupor and by the time you get through the booking process your manager has already arranged bail and a 28 day stint in a rehab center that would make Betty Ford reach for the valium.

Rehab has become so popular that some lesser celebs are even using their experiences as a way to renew themselves in the public eye. Take less attractive, less talented Baldwin brother Daniel for example. After decades of cocaine use, failed attempts at acting and nine separate times in rehab, Daniel decided to go public by allowing a news camera to follow and interview him during his most recent attempt to sober up. Like any decent actor he not only knew what lines to say but how to deliver them in the most convincing way. The prime time pseudo-documentary made you believe him and believe in him. After watching it I caught myself feeling somehow invested in his recovery. Then I remembered the list of bad roles he'd played and realized that it was entirely possible that this was just his way of rehearsing for his next role - a role he wouldn't get if the judge put him in jail (again) instead of allowing him to stay in rehab.

The list goes on. Britney Spears divorced her husband and immediately became an underwear challenged party girl hanging out with the likes of eternally stoned Paris Hilton. Faced with the complete upheaval of her life, not to mention the career she had been practically bred for, she snapped. She shaved her head in public and took a bad lesson from Don Quixote when she beat a poor unsuspecting minivan with an umbrella.