Like the very public breakdown that Courtney Love has been having in the US, this tale of an author's lies and upheaval seem to indicate a very public mental illness. And for reasons I don't understand, gossips and magazines love to plaster this stuff all over the place, when they should be footnotes to the real news out there.
An imaginary life
The thing is, despite both women's self-destructive, bizarre, and generally reprehensible behaviour, I have to admit, I feel sympathy for them, because I know what it's like to struggle with daemons privately, and I hate to think what the pressure of public life can mean. I'm not saying their actions are right...but if you look at people thrust into the spotlight with mental health issues--Mary-Kate Olsen, Mariah Carey, Whitney Houston, Princess Diana, and Andrea Yates are other examples--there's this train-wreck fascination the media has that can't be conducive to the health of the person. Those who have struggled privately and then told their stories--like Patty Duke or Marie Osmond--tend to garner sympathy. The whole thing with Mary-Kate Olsen was this weird love-hate kind of thing; as a suffering anorexic, she garnered sympathy, but others insisted she had a drug problem, which then made it somehow more sinister, never mind that both relate to addictive behaviours and terrible self-esteem. It seems that public opinion wants to label a person 'bad' or 'good' depending on what sort of mental illness they're struggling with.
Don't get me wrong--lying about something and profiting from it is fraud, no matter why you do it. If this author cannot prove her story, or if it is refuted without a doubt, there will be very real ramifications for which she is responsible. When Andrea Yates drowned her children, she was responsible for her actions, although, I believe, not in her right mind. There have been bad choices I've made that I could blame on anxiety, depression, or personality disorder--but I am still ultimately responsible. But for now, the book has not been recanted, the drama is still playing out, and so I think it's wrong to lay into someone with shark-like appetite. How much of this story had to do with the proof of where the author had been--and therefore showing she could not have been where she'd said, and how much were bits specifically painting her an unstable wacko? Because, well, unstable wackos sell news, don't they?
There are times I think those of us who do admit we have mental health issues, who are seeking treatment, are truly the sane ones, and the rest of the world is quite mad, as they cast stones without ever looking in the mirror. Hmpf.
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