Angelina and Brad, Eva Longoria, Miley Cyrus – seriously, Dr. Drew doesn’t hold back.
On Angelina Jolie and heroin and also Brad Pitt: There’s no such thing as ‘I was a heroin addict.’ That doesn’t exist in nature. Something is going on with [her] addiction. Or she’s in recovery. And I don’t see any evidence that’s the case. So we’ve got one person whose a heroin addict. Which is a chronic lifelong condition, period. We have another person who has said things like, “Well, Jennifer [Aniston] was into long-term relationships, that’s just her way of looking at things.” I mean, that demeaning attitude towards other people’s emotions. Now put those two people together and you have got a really volatile situation. And they’re constantly creating things to weld themselves together. Which is only going to serve to make a more nuclear eruption. There will be some sort of meltdown that will be phenomenal when it does happen.
On Eva Longoria’s recent breakup: This guy is trying to have a marriage … and he starts acting out [sexually] like that? I don’t have to watch too many episodes of [VH1’s “Basketball Wives”] to know what’s going on. Now, why didn’t Eva know about that? Talk about love addiction.
On Scarlett Johansson and Ryan Reynold’s divorce: I don’t know what that was … I’ve known Ryan for a long time. He seems like someone who should have a healthy relationship.
On Miley Cyrus: Can you imagine the pain that Miley is in? Her mom just had an affair. Her parents are breaking up … She’s in trouble right now. She’s manifesting signs of mental health problems, as well she should, right? It’s a teenager in trouble because of problems.
On Kelsey Grammar and his fourth wife: I don’t know what to do with Kelsey. I need to know him a little better. But when you see serial re-marriers it’s usually more people of Larry King’s generation. And their thing was, they didn’t have sex unless they were married. I can’t make sense of it.
Here’s the deal – I love Dr. Drew. I think he’s a really great dude. He does a ridiculous amount of work – he has a private medical practice, he works at a hospital, he speaks at colleges all the time, and he’s done Loveline for two hours a night, five nights a week since 1984 – he really wants to help people. As for the televised rehab business, he’s said time and again that it’s a bait and switch in that the celebrities do it for the money and the press, and while that’s a flawed motivation, they still end up in treatment, which is more than they would have gotten on their own. People might point out that a lot of his patients relapse, but, you know, addicts tend to relapse a couple times. And in terms of the viewers, they get to learn a little about addiction and recovery, and people call into Loveline all the time to say that Celebrity Rehab helped motivate them to go to rehab themselves. The man does good stuff.
I think that Dr. Drew has the best intentions, and with things like this, the statements about celebrities, he’s just trying to help by offering educated opinions on addiction, which he constantly says is the number one problem of this generation. And the guy’s been treating addicts and giving relationship advice for almost thirty years now, so I’m pretty confident he knows what he’s talking about.
I go back and forth with Dr. Drew. I share your opinion that he’s definitely a decent guy who wants to help people with what he sees as a huge problem with our generation. And I agree with him to that end. I also agree that he does have a point when saying that while the many of the celebs who end up on Celebrity Rehab are using it as a way to keep themselves relevant, they still end up going to rehab and in almost all instances stay the whole time. One could argue that interventions are a bait and switch, because you’re essentially cornering someone with all the reasons you should get sober for them, when really no one ever gets sober unless they do it for themselves. But in both cases, any flawed motivation to go to rehab still ends with being in rehab, which will at least involve a sustained period of sobriety and soul searching with medical professionals. The end does justify the means, so to speak. And yes, addicts relapse multiple times, so to argue that Celebrity Rehab doesn’t help is wrong I think. Addiction is powerful to overcome, and isn’t a one and done process. It takes time, and sometimes multiple rehab stays or treatment programs, unfortunately.
My one BIG problem with Dr. Drew is that sometimes he goes overboard. Like the comment about Brangelina (I hate that nickname). I would wager that Drew has never met Brad or Angelina. I’m not saying they have a perfect or even good relationship, but they seemed to have found something at the very least decent with each other. Decent enough to raise a large, demanding family. There is no such thing as “WAS a heroin addict.” True, addiction is a life long disease. However, to say that because he has no knowledge of her recovery or sobriety that she hasn’t at all addressed her issues. Very large leap there, I think. Most of the time, he’s actually spot on, but every so often I just want to be like “Ugh stop talking.”
It seems very irresponsible for a doctor to throw these diagnosees (sp?) around about people he’s never treated or met.
Also, while we are on the topic of addiction….if he’s working as much as you say he is, doesn’t HE sound like he’s got a problem with working to excess? I mean, if he’s going to go around passing judgement about people he only has a vague idea about, I can as well. He’s also got three kids and a wife; I’d like to know where they fit into the picture if he’s working all the time
Whoa – Dr. Drew giving the big slap-down to Brad and Angelina. If he’s right, I can’t wait to see it blow up!
I agree with the other comments that while his intentions are good (we hope), he does tend to go on about folks he’s never met. But then again — so we do we all. I think we just caught Dr. Drew gossiping!
Emily, I love you. I’ve seen Dr. Drew torn to shreds by some of the other writers and I’m always extremely saddened. If I hadn’t listened to Dr. Drew’s Loveline over a decade ago I would NEVER have known anything at all about sex and how to have respect for my body. He really is one of the good people everyone is trying to be. Considering his triplets are teenagers and it doesn’t seem like they’ve gotten into too much trouble then he’s obviously being a good parent as well. My guess is he just doesn’t need sleep.
Even if he is gossiping about celebrities I think it’s good to have a point of view that isn’t “Oh my god they are SO cute together” for once. Sometimes we need to get slapped in the face to realize they are people too and have real issues. And we can’t look to them to see what love is supposed to look like!
Thank you for the post!
I think the good Doctor is crazy like a fox. He makes comments about these famous people, particularly Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie, whose every move is devoured by the public, and suddenly he’s all over the blogosphere and people are paying serious attention to him. It is not as if these people are patients, or he knows then personally. He appears to be doing nothing more than regurgitating what he has read in the tabloids. Until he made those comments, I barely knew he existed and now suddenly he is everywhere. Smart publicity move Doc, smart move…
Guess who just made his public apology for “making comments that were taken out of context.” Yes; that would be Dr. Drew. So for all of those celebrities and celebrity couples whom he trashed, “Merry Christmas” from Dr. D. He offers his very public and abject apologies for making statements about your personalities and relationships about which, he admits, he knows absolutely nothing. Clearly, there is no such thing as bad publicity.