Celebrity Spirals: A Discussion on Alcoholism and Suicide
Have you ever felt like you knew a celebrity simply because you watch their shows, follow them on all their social media platforms, and can relate to them in every way possible?
Well, Anthony Bourdain would be that celeb for me. I didn’t know him at all, but I felt like I did in one little imperative way.
The Reality
Through my eyes, I saw an alcoholic with a stage act attempting to do it effectively. He had a fabulous entertaining and sometimes gripping, with drinking playing a noticeable part in the Joie de Vivre, which sometimes made it difficult for me to watch. Tossing back shots, as I watched him get intoxicated, I saw an alcoholic living hazardously.
Though most viewers envisioned “a man who knew how to drink, knew how to live”, he was suffering from depression in front of millions of viewers, ultimately to drive an extremely talented and fortunate person to commit suicide.
Be that as it may, we as a society should be cognizant of any recovering drug abuse addict who turns to alcohol, even when the person seems in control and, at least superficially, happy?
Maybe as a society, we should be aware of such indicators and create an opening for dialogue and discussion, even in situations where it may appear awkward and incredibly truant.
Did alcohol abuse bring down Anthony Bourdain?
Many people fail to understand that, alcohol is also a drug. “Alcohol” and “drugs” are often looked at as two separate topics when discussing addictions. Bourdain’s passing should produce discussions about alcohol addictions, and not about his fabulous life which innumorous individuals wish they had.
Unfortunately, this fabulous life made this famous man come to a dark and scary place. Addiction can be a savage companion that rides in the back seat and waits for the right movement to take over your life.
When your battling addiction, as Bourdain frequently admitted, the risk of of an addict keeping to just one drug is slim to none. Bourdain claims he feared, but yet respected, “hard drugs” due to cheating death from his addiction more than a decade ago.
The Struggle is Real
Suicide doesn’t get the coverage it needs. It should be a consistent topic in many headlines, but unfortunately it isn’t. With the suicides of both Bourdain and Kate Spade, it makes you wonder which other famous celebrities are ready to commit suicide due to drugs, alcohol, or depression? This just proves that the rich and famous struggle with real problems, and their magnificent lives are not what we make them out to be.
Known for being a beloved, famous “bad boy,” Bourdain was caring and showed generosity, as a friend describes him. It is said to be true that addicts and alcoholics are, by and large, to a great degree delicate spirits.
This is a dynamic, endless, deadly illness with unsurprising stages. The mind science is in, and has been for quite a long time, yet it is disregarded or given little attention since drinking is such a tremendous part of society and socializing.
Many of us fail to stop and consider it until it is too late, until we hear that someone else, maybe even someone we love, was suffering and ended their life.
The Undeniable Truth
Heavy drinkers often times believe, deniably so, they can control their drinking, and they decline to draw the obvious conclusion — escaping life by drinking only makes problems worse.
They are incurring significant injury to their sense of self-worth and value, and maybe even their mental thought process as a whole. The bottle that they find as a favorite for “a lift” is actually a depressant.
The blame, disgrace, weakness and sadness associated with alcohol abuse can bring even the best and strongest among us crashing.
The passing of Bourdain and Spade, hopefully, is a wake-up call for most of us to see how severe this disease is. We need to stop keeping “alcohol” and “drugs” in two separate topics and understand that they both lead to the same end result- life destruction, and potentially even death.
Let’s start speaking up, and talk about it before we continue to lose more lives.