January 6, 2008

Parallels Between Britney Spears and Judy Garland

Britney Spears (or more recently, Fifty One Fifty Spears) is not the first "troubled" celebrity battling alcohol, pills, illegal drugs and mental breakdowns in front of the press. Above is a very telling interview with Judy Garland about celebrity where she talks a lot about "lies" written about herself in the press. It's from 1967, a year before she died, and the interview was by none other than Barbara Walters.

My own analysis of Britney's condition is I suspect she's bipolar and using drugs and alcohol to self medicate because she's not given the proper medication. Bipolar Britney has dramatic mood swings from deep depression to tremendous highs. When she's depressed, she turns to the strongest stimulants she can find to perk her up - from Starbucks coffee to speed. When she's in an up mood, she goes shopping, to niteclubs several nights in a row, or just driving around aimlessly without a care in the world - and without underwear.

Often, the medication prescribed for bipolars leaves them zombie-like. For most average people with generally dull lives, it's a salvation from the madness. For someone in show business, that's not acceptable. The night Britney did the lackluster performance at the VMA's was probably an example of what she is like with proper medication. Britney's money-grubbing handlers probably made the difficult choice to keep her off her meds because even if she's crazy, she gets headlines. If she's quiet and contemplative, she's off the radar and her support staff no longer have jobs. Keep her crazy and they keep their job.

Not only is this Britney Spears mess the "golden age" for paparazzi photographers, but it's Christmas, New Years, birthday and Gay Pride all rolled into one for celebrity bloggers like Perez Hilton. When the whole hospital incident was happening Perez's site got 10 million visitors in one day! (To be honest, the only reason I am writing about Britney Spears today and mentioning the name Britney Spears, Britney Spears, Britney Spears over and over is in hopes that it will boost my Google ranking. I know. Sad. I should stick to my mantra: free gay porn, free gay porn, free gay porn...)

When normal people have manic episodes punctuated by delusions of grandeur, they often THINK they are a Britney Spears, and as a result, they get locked up quickly. If you ARE Britney Spears and having a manic episode with delusions of grandeur, people around her just think of it as "...regaining her self-confidence..." and pretend "...she's back to her old self...". Running out of money is also how someone often wakes up and knows they've hit rock bottom. It's harder to hit rock bottom if you have more money than you can spend in a lifetime.

The Judy Garland analogy is not the only sad show business tale with mis-diagnosed mental illness. Add Brian Wilson of the Beach Boys, and of course, Anna Nicole Smith to that list.

Posted by lavenderlounge at 11:46 AM

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