What do Sage Stallone, Daniel Wayne Smith, Garrett Reid, Stephanie Rose Bongiovi, Eric Douglas, Peaches Geldof, and Kevin McEnroe have in common? Quite a few things it turns out.
- They’re all the children of celebrities
- They’ve all experienced a level of privilege most of us only dream of
- They’ve all struggled with substance abuse
- Five of the seven are dead
While this last point – the tragic death of five young people – stands as a stark reminder of what’s at stake when we talk about substance abuse, there’s more going on than meets the eye. After all, it seems like a disproportionate number of celerities and their children fall victim to the progressive and deadly disease of addiction.
But why?
While we can only speculate about the perils and pressures of fame, we can talk with authority on how substance abuse doesn’t discriminate. That’s a lesson we’ve learned again and again since we first opened our doors in 1948.
Read on for a detailed exploration of both.
Celebrity & Addiction
- Peaches Geldof, daughter of Bob Geldof, died of a heroin overdose
- Garrett Reid, son of former Eagle’s coach Andy Reid, died of a heroin overdose
- Eric Douglas, son of actor Kirk Douglas and brother to Michael Douglas, died from a lethal combination of painkillers, tranquilizers, and alcohol
- Daniel Wayne Smith, son of Anna Nicole Smith, died of another lethal combination of methadone and SSRI antidepressants
- Sage Stallone, son of Sylvester Stallone, died of a heart defect and it’s suspected drugs contributed to his death
- Kevin McEnroe, son of tennis great John McEnroe and actress Tatum O’Neal, struggled with prescription painkillers and cocaine (today Kevin’s in recovery)
- Stephanie Rose Bongiovi, daughter of Jon Bon Jovi, struggled with heroin (today, Stephanie’s healthy and happy)
These 7 children of celebrities all highlight the fact that fame seems to breeds addiction.
The obvious next question is why? Why do fame and addiction go hand in hand? Why do wealth and privilege seem to predispose many to lives of substance abuse and quiet desperation?
Money & Genetics
While it’s impossible to give a one-size-fits-all answer as to why addiction and fame are so often intertwined, a large part certainly seems to be due to wealth. And it makes sense! Think about what life would be like if you had an unlimited supply of money, if you could do anything you wanted.
This type of freedom – and make no mistake it is a freedom – allows celebrities and their children to take risks, live dangerously, and tailspin without feeling many consequences. Add that to a disease like addiction (which, more often than not, requires consequences to be put to bed) and the five deaths from above begin to seem, well, inevitable.
But money alone isn’t enough to make someone an addict. It certainly helps facilitate a reckless lifestyle and substance abuse…but that’s it. It doesn’t cause your brain and body to be hardwired differently. It doesn’t cause you to be predisposed to addictive behavior.
Genetics do.
It’s worth mentioning here that almost all of the celebrity children above have parents or family members who’ve struggled with chemicals themselves.
- Eric Douglas is the brother of Michael Douglas. Michael famously entered treatment for alcoholism and addiction in the early 1990s. Michael’s son Cameron served time in federal prison for drug possession.
- Daniel Wayne Smith is the son of Anna Nicole Smith. Anna struggled with substance abuse for much of her life and died from an overdose less than a year after her son.
- Sage Stallone is the son of Sylvester Stallone. Sylvester admitted to using steroids (specifically HGH or human growth hormone).
- Kevin McEnroe is the son of famed tennis player John McEnroe and actress Tatum O’Neal. Both of his parents struggled with alcoholism and addiction for many years.
- Peaches Geldof’s mother, Paula Yates, died of a heroin overdose.
- Stephanie Rose Bongiovi is the daughter of Jon Bon Jovi. While Jon’s past is relatively tame compared to many rockstars, he’s certainly dabbled with chemicals over the years.
All of which serves to underscore the fact that addiction’s genetic. While this itself isn’t a surprise – we’ve known for years that addiction’s about 50% genetic and 50% environmental – it drives home the point that though these deaths are tragic, they may not have been unavoidable.
Addiction Doesn’t Discriminate
This is the crux of the problem. Addiction doesn’t discriminate. It doesn’t care if you’re a celebrity, the child of a celebrity, a “normal person,” or a homeless beggar. It simply exists.
In fact, understanding this fact’s vital and necessary to any discussion of addiction. Little headway in chemical dependency education can be made until we all understand that addiction’s an equal opportunity offender.
If you’re born with a genetic predisposition to addictive behavior and you use drugs, to whatever extent that may be, you’ll end up addicted. It’s exactly as simple (and complicated) as that.
It’s important to remember this when we’re examining the death of celebrity children at the hands of addiction. While fame, money, and privilege all play a role in overdose deaths, they wouldn’t matter if not for addiction itself. That’s the unfortunate but unavoidable truth.
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