Rehabapalozza!

Being the cynic I am, I often look at announcements of a celebrity entering rehab as a publicist's attempt to rehabilitate a star's image, or a star's attempt to take a spa break and gain/maintain media coverage and sympathy in one fell swoop. After all, Celebutardia is the place where fame and infamy are one and the same, so having your name mentioned in even the worst of contexts can serve not only to extend you well past your 15 minute shelf-life, it can actually be used to create a "star" (seriously, Bob Crane must be pissed off that he's missing out on today's Hollywood). Only among the rich and famous is rehab a place of comfort and luxury; one in which patients get passes early into their treatment (for exigent circumstances only, of course).

Considering that Hollywood is still, well, Hollywood, I raised an eyebrow with the sudden announcement that Eva Mendes entered rehab and recent rumors that Kirsten Dunst has followed suit. But then I thought that even celebrities were finally starting to understand that the instructions to keep hands and feet inside the ride at all times were meant for them. Maybe, I reasoned to myself, just maybe Heath Ledger's untimely and shocking death has smacked some common sense into these celebrities and they realized that a rap sheet or tabloid headlines about your drug/alcohol-addled exploits isn't the problem, drug/alcohol abuse is a problem.

Then, I read this.

truth in advertising:

Tags: rehab; celebrity; Eva Mendes; Kirsten Dunst; Pat O'Brien; hollywood

Sphere: Related Content