Gosh, those Hollywood types must work really, really hard. They spend so much time promoting movies and vacationing in Cabo and being seen at the hottest clubs, they just run their poor selves ragged and have to be hospitalized.
When was the last time that a regular, average person was hospitalized for “exhaustion”? Why is it that it seems to happen to celebs every other week? (Or at the very least, why does it happen to Lindsay Lohan every other week?)
Because it’s a great all-purpose excuse.
When celebrities (like Demi Moore, Lady Gaga, Mariah Carey, Rihanna, Charlie Sheen, Amy Winehouse, Dave Chappelle, and countless others) are admitted to the hospital with “exhaustion,” it’s a safe bet that they’re probably not just overtired and need a nap. Let’s not kid ourselves—the entertainment industry is full of people with psychological and substance-abuse problems. Their careers also depend on the general public not knowing about their various eating disorders, addictions, drug habits, and psychoses. When one of them goes a little bit around the twist or has a few too many drinks, it sounds a lot nicer to say “exhaustion” than “needs stomach pumped.” Whenever a celebrity is hospitalized for “exhaustion,” the real culprit is undeniably something much more serious, life-threatening, and image-destroying.
After all, it’s not a coincidence that the stars who seem the most together and the most well-adjusted seem to mysteriously avoid the exhaustion plague. Have you heard about the time that Meryl Streep needed to spend a week at Cedars-Sinai because she was dehydrated? Mmm, not so much. Somehow it’s only the troubled stars (who often have rumored or widely acknowledged drug problems) who end up with exhaustion.
In an interview with Fox News, gossip columnist and former Hollywood publicist Rob Shuter said, “’Exhaustion’ is the key word that covers everything. It allows PR to respond without saying anything. It also means you are not lying, rather just not telling the whole truth.” Sure, that star who was partying for three days straight and whacked out of her mind on cocaine was tired. Who wouldn’t be? So it’s not technically a lie to say she had “exhaustion,” right?
And all those doctors and nurses who are pumping stomachs and administering methadone and otherwise cleaning up after stars’ foibles—they can’t spill the truth, because the law prohibits releasing confidential medical information to the public.
Although exhaustion is real, and sometimes a symptom of serious chronic diseases, it’s not a legitimate medical diagnosis. And you can be sure, when it’s used to describe the reason for some out-of-control celeb’s latest trip to the hospital or rehab, it’s not even the truth.
