Britney Spears doesn’t make the news much anymore. Her career is probably still going strong, but her wild ways and scrapes with the law are old news. The media has latched on to new starlets and scandals, and they will never run out.
However, I noticed recently a story about conservatorship of this once-superstar (perhaps now only a mega-star?), and wanted to take the occasion to talk about this very serious legal step of conservatorship.
Miss Spears’ father is her conservator, and he wants her boyfriend appointed as a co-conservator over her well-being, and this might be a sign that he’s getting ready to marry her. There is something very wrong with this picture.
People having conservatorship over other people should not be taken lightly. Read more on Brittany Spears, Conservatorship and the Abuse of Power…
Filed under Celebrities, depression, Family, medicine, News, Psychiatrists by on Sep 3rd, 2012. Comment. 
Whitney Houston’s death might be “old news” already, but I still think her death may not have been in vain.
Because Whitney was a star, we were treated to hearsay before facts. She drank in the morning, in a public place, and according to some observers may have been behaving a bit strangely.
There is an old screener for alcoholism called the “CAGE” questionnaire. It’s named after the four questions that presumably even a primary care physician — who has little room left in an overtaxed memory — could remember. Read more on Whitney Houston’s Death May Not Have Been in Vain…
Filed under abuse, Addictions, Celebrities, Disease, prescription drugs, Substance Abuse by on Aug 23rd, 2012. Comment.
You can deep fry just about anything and it will taste good. Ask just about anyone who lives in the south. Twinkies, cheesecake, pickles, or whole turkeys. Maybe even an old tennis shoe. Nothing is exempt!
This woman has grown a Southern comfort food empire by cooking deep fried cheesecake and other things I am unlikely to eat. She did not go public with her Type II Diabetes until three years after she learned of it. Now someone from some group for science in the public interest says she should have come forward earlier.
Her empire can’t be doing that well, for I bought a little bottle of her mint jelly at some deep discount store about a week ago. I liked it, but it wasn’t any better than anyone else’s mint jelly. Admittedly, I’ve never watched her on television. I don’t watch cooking shows because I don’t care about food the same way I used to. I remember when all I could think of after one meal was what I would get for the next. And I was never even the primary food preparer at home. My honored husband has always taken that in hand for me. Read more on The Cooking Guru’s Health Problems…
Filed under Celebrities, News, Nutrition, weight by on Jun 27th, 2012. Comment.
I am not going to repeat the lurid details of Jerry Sandusky’s crimes against young boys and the whole of humanity. I suppose what he was able to accomplish was a pedophile’s dream — The specific charity (the Second Mile) for “helping young boys” that brought him a steady flow of victims, the who judge had been a volunteer for his charity.
Now, there are allegations that his own family contained alleged victims – possibly his grandson.
It’s not that nobody knew — People had complained and reported many times over many years.
Some how it never got out. Read more on Sandusky-Penn State Revelations Keep Coming…
Filed under abuse, Celebrities, News, Sexual Misconduct, Sports by on Nov 30th, 2011. Comment.
Amazingly enough, I have avoided writing about Charlie Sheen so far.
I do not believe his story to be that unusual — just different from others in a matter of degrees.
No, he is not my patient and I have not officially examined him. I have figured out that the writers of his show seem to have done a lot of basing the character he plays on — well, him.
His creative and limit-pushing exploits seem to be a little more over the edge than most. My guess — and it is a guess at this point — is that he, like other actors (seems to me David Arquette has complained of “racing thoughts” in the not too distant past), is probably what we call a “dual diagnosis;” that is, underlying bipolar illness with some substance abuse associated.
Read more on Oh No! Not Charlie Sheen Again!…
Filed under Celebrities by on Mar 4th, 2011. Comment.
Am I a Brit-snob? Never thought I was, but maybe I am turning into one. Or maybe it is because The Daily Mail has more detail about the trial of Michael Jackson’s doctor — and better pictures. Whatever. The truth of the matter is that when the story about Michael Jackson’s death first came out, I had to look up the generic name of Propofol, because I have never used it. I mean, why would I be hanging around with general anesthesia? For that matter, why would a cardiologist be hanging around with general anesthesia?? Money alone? Possible, I do not know what this guy’s finances were like. But I have never personally known or heard of a starving cardiologist — although I suspect that those who do insurance only no co-pay may be closer to it than they want to admit. But I suspect this guy was not one of those. “Rescuer?” Perhaps. Although I cannot quite see Michael Jackson as a “victim” needing saving. Someone basking in the glare of celebrity? More likely. A rich person’s doctor, maybe — a doctor wanting to work with famous people. I have felt the pull of that one myself. But I ran like crazy when I figured out these folks are more interested in getting the prescriptions they want – usually recreationally — rather than in getting something that might actually help any actual medical problem they might have. “Celebrity” may be a new kind of pathology, where people imagine themselves as uber-people who have more rights than other people, and who can buy pretty much anything they want. Some doctors are easier to buy than others –otherwise how could tobacco companies present medical experts who say smoking won’t harm you? Who can put a price on credentials, or even signatures? I think this man sold it all. Sure, The Mail has verified — other stories, other places, too — that his purchase of large amounts of propofol was legal, and that his credentials were real. This is not substitute for “ethics,” which people often say they will teach in medical school, but which are, basically, impossible to teach. How can you teach something that life-experience will be the only thing to test you on? Ethics are learned young, far before medical school, and internalized. Read more on Celebrity Pathology Requires Ethics To Treat…
Filed under Celebrities, prescription drugs by on Jan 11th, 2011. Comment.
My husband and I don’t have children – much less “tweens” – but even I know who Hannah Montana is.
Okay. I only have a little idea about what is going on in this specialized world except when some of the women with whom I tend to associate (the mental health field is almost all women) told me that their little daughters loved Hannah Montana. But I would have to be Helen Keller not to see her image on blankets and jewelry and plastic stuff the exact nature of which is unidentifiable to me, and to hear her recordings in public places where they blare so-called “popular” music indiscriminately.
This should be understandable.
I will admit I had to look up the information that Miley Cyrus plays Hannah Montana on a Disney network TV show that has all the tweens twittering or tweeting or whatever. Read more on Hanna Montana Gets High — And Tweens Follow…
Filed under Celebrities by on Dec 21st, 2010. Comment.
I usually avoid the gossip pages — and granted, the Kardashians are celebrities who are famous mostly for having no discernable reason to be famous. But one of the deepest, darkest secrets revealed in their new book is that one of the sisters (no, I am not going to make the slightest effort to notice which) was seriously concerned about the size of her, uh, derriere, until she became friendly with Jennifer Lopez.
Ms. Lopez – nickname “J.Lo” — is a celebrity judge on “American Idol” and actually has some talent and has made numerous movies and hit recordings. She is also reportedly afflicted with an abundant bottom, about which she and the Kardashian person commiserated.
Not that I care if her gluteus maximus is convex or concave, but the story reminded me of a patient who came to me and lamented, “I have a bubble butt.” Read more on Kardashians, J-Lo and Condoleezza — Baby Got Back…
Filed under Celebrities, News, weight by on Dec 9th, 2010. Comment.
Tinkerbell has come a long way from the light reflected with a mirror in the original J.M. Barrie play of Peter Pan, back in 1904 — l argely through being part of the Disney stable of ideals for young girls. I remember, even though I have always been a lover of personal expression through the visual arts, being asked, as early as the second or third grade, to draw a princess.
Huh? Read more on Paris Hilton, Tinkerbell and Girl Bratz as a Role Model…
Filed under Addictions, Celebrities, Substance Abuse by on Aug 30th, 2010. 3 Comments.
I was up and watching Dr. Oz on June 3, in the morning, because I knew he was popular and wanted to see what he was doing. I only saw the end of the show. He was dancing (in scrubs) with some Brazilians who presented a form of self-defense camouflaged as dance. He was fairly lithe, not overly muscled, and moved well, to the great enjoyment of the audience.
Obviously he was beloved as a personality. But did he really have knowledge? He has the good looks required to get a shot at TV, but there are a lot of caring and skilled doctors who aren’t photogenic or charismatic enough for the ‘tube (and probably don’t dance well, either).
It seemed that people were cheering for him as a personality.
He entertained questions from the audience. A woman had the tail end of a Bell’s Palsy. She asked him how to get rid of it. He told her to wait longer and it would probably go away.
I could tell right away that despite the lovely slide he flashed on the monitor, this woman had been the victim of her Bell’s Palsy long enough that she would probably be stuck with it for life. He got a round a round of applause, presumably for hugging her and telling her that her smile was beautiful. Read more on Dr. Oz: Being On TV Doesn’t Make One A Wizard…
Filed under Celebrities by on Jun 8th, 2010. Comment.