In past decade, rappers have ruled the roost of celebrities who were most out of hand or frequently in trouble.
But in the past few months, the so-called “thug life” has been outpaced by what could be dubbed the smug life. Its perpetrators: the velvet-rope denizens of Tinseltown’s A-list whose public arrests, reported overdoses and kooky foibles have made this the summer of Young Hollywood’s meltdown.
From the suicide attempt by Owen Wilson to the drunken-driving antics by Paris Hilton and Lindsay Lohan, tabloid headlines came in bunches this summer.
“This has been a summer where the gross per screen could refer to drug screenings,” says longtime Detroit-based entertainment lawyer Rick Smith. “Instead of box-office scores, it should be rehab grosses. I”ve been doing this for 30 years, and I”ve never seen a summer of discontent like this.”
Like Mr. Smith, celebrity publicist and music writer Holly Gleason thinks many people view the recent spate of Hollywood high jinks as an accident they can’t stop watching.
“I think our culture has become one of ’I’m the baddest, the biggest outlaw, the I-can-party-the-hardest.’ It’s created a centrifugal force of its own, and what we are seeing this summer is the critical mass of that momentum. It was inevitable,” says Miss Gleason, an essayist and critic who has written about music, celebrity and culture for Rolling Stone, Creem, the New York Times and other publications.
Some celebs, she observes, aren’t worried about their public behavior getting out of hand because they are getting attention, and many are lapping it up, regardless of the law.
“The tragedy [is] of valuing girls as ’hos’ and boys as party animals. … Why would you be sad because you took it further than anyone else had? That’s the problem — there is no shame attached with not handling your high because you are a rock star. I think nowadays it’s become more public than we’ve ever seen it. I think with the cultural obsession with partying and being bad, we are paying a lot more attention to it,” Miss Gleason says.
“With the ’Girls Gone Wild’/Joe Francis cultural imperative, it heightens the curiosity and freak factor with minors who are out of control,” she concludes.
Mr. Francis is spending his time these days jailed for tax evasion in Arizona. His incarceration, which began under different circumstances in Florida and moved west, set the tone for a summer that kicked off earlier this year with the jailing of Miss Hilton. Failure to follow the probation terms of a drunken-driving arrest sent the 26-year-old heiress and party girl extraordinaire to the slammer, amid much public fanfare.
Miss Hilton’s automotive antics may have rubbed off on her best galpal, TV co-star Nicole Richie.
The matter-of-fact and exquisitely styled mea culpa from the 25-year-old celebuspawn to ABC’s Diane Sawyer last month was met with fascination worldwide. Miss Richie, who has acknowledged drug problems in the past, announced that her own most recent crackup was fueled by a mixture of marijuana and the prescription pain medication Vicodin. This combo led her to drive the wrong way on an L.A. freeway before the police mercifully stopped her before anyone was hurt.
For that misstep, the petite and seemingly undernourished Miss Richie was sentenced to 82 hours in jail, but served just a few hours because of overcrowding. She also is about five months pregnant with the child of the frontman for the band Good Charlotte, Joel Madden — a Waldorf, Md. native, who has stood gallantly by her side through her turmoil.
Perhaps the most widely watched battle for top celebrity train wreck remains a tossup between Miss Lohan and sometimes-mother Britney Spears — no car seat for the baby, no problem.
Miss Lohan, 21, has reportedly returned for a second summer stint in rehab after a well-publicized first visit didn’t seem to take. The relapse occurred after the actress-singer and club fixture ditched her alcohol-monitoring anklet and was arrested for possession of cocaine and driving under the influence after an SUV chase in Santa Monica, Calif.
Celeb watchers said it was hard to say which paparazzi photos were the most shocking: Miss Lohan passed out, mouth open, in an SUV, which made the cover of People magazine; or Miss Spears, 25, amid some coiffure psychodrama, lopping off her locks at a salon in the Valley as some lucky shooter got her angry head shearing through the glass.
The drama has kept celebrity magazines and Web sites busy, and readership high.
“It has been one of the busiest summers that I can remember covering all these meltdowns. One week, it’s Britney; the other, it’s Lindsay,” says People magazine Assistant Managing Editor Cynthia Sanz, who adds that the celebrity crashes come with a price.
“I think they all certainly have damaged their careers to some extent,” Miss Sanz says. “I think there is always a possibility for redemption. Some will have a worse time of it than others. I think people genuinely believe that Lindsay is talented, and they want her to succeed, but they are waiting to see if she can pull it off. For Britney, she has a new record out, and she’s looking for a comeback, but I think people wonder if she really is getting it together, or if she has hit rock bottom yet.”
Celebrity blogger Perez Hilton, who is in the thick of the Hollywood action, says he is hopeful that young celebrities will learn a bit and turn it around. He’s not surprised by the ongoing fascination — he can’t get enough.
“Nowadays, people are famous for being famous more so than what they do, so people feel invested in these characters. They all think that they are your friends,” says Mr. Hilton, who is set to host his own show Sept. 11 on VH1, “What Perez Sez.”
“I never feel bad for them, though. They want it. It’s a game for them. They create this drama and controversy.
“I love roller coasters, and this summer it’s been such a lovely ride,” he says.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.