For some people, the decision to go into rehab is one that could shape the rest of their lives. It is a decision packed with unknown questions and answers, and in many cases could mean the difference between life and death. Yet there is one section of society that flaunts rehab in the face of those who really need it, under the misconception that the word “rehab” stands for “hip and trendy” – they are celebrities.
So why are celebrities willing to jump on the rehab bandwagon in the popular belief that it is something not to be taken seriously? And why, when they get to a point in their lives when they actually need it, does it fail them?
Mass Publicity
It’s impossible to ignore the level of media coverage a celebrity receives when he or she enters rehab. The value to the media in terms of viewers or readers, as well as monetary gain, is enormous, and so the celebrity’s lifestyle will always be under the microscope.
Very often it is not just the rehab story that makes the newspapers, but rather the reason that got them there in the first place. Media outlets love nothing more than celebrities doing coke, or acting like they own the world – it sells.
In recent times, a string of celebrities have found their way through the doors of rehab centers while courting publicity. Lindsay Lohan was photographed leaving a Malibu rehab clinic last year, while showing off her alcohol-monitoring anklet to eager members of the paparazzi. Twenty-four hours later she was spotted partying with friends in a nightclub.
Britney Spears has been in the news constantly after her one-day session in an Antigua treatment center, which she then followed up with a double check-in to another clinic in a single month. Each time, she hit the headlines in newspapers, websites, and on television sets around the world.
In the UK, Amy Winehouse was questioned by police after The Sun newspaper published a video of her smoking crack cocaine in her London apartment. The news broke shortly after her much-publicized visit to an English rehab clinic, all of which coincided with her sellout UK tour.
For a celebrity in genuine need of rehab, the process is made much tougher under the constant glare of the media. However, it’s a glare they have charmed and manipulated for their own ends, and it's probably what contributed to them getting into these situations in the first place.
