August 3, 2011
Going Gaga 14
“She’s really special. She just gave me a lot of hope and she deserved a lot better than what people gave her. And I hope that the world learns a lesson from this. I really hope they do. Because it’s not her lesson to learn – it’s the world’s.” Lady Gaga on Amy Winehouse (Lady Gaga Says Amy Winehouse Deserved Better, Retrieved 8/02/11 at 4:17 pm)
Are you serious? I mean, really, Lady Gaga, really? Exactly what lesson is it that the world is supposed to learn here? Is it that Amy Winehouse didn’t deserve what she got? Or is it that somehow it was the world who did this to her and not her own self? Maybe I am just misreading the message but it seems to me that you are saying that we, not she, are culpable.
Excusez Moi, Mademoiselle Gaga, but I disagree. Amy Winehouse was a drunk and an addict. Alcohol and drug abuse killed her before her time and that is a fact. However, to lay it at everyone else’s feet flies in the face of reason. I mean, you were able to get into a recovery program with the help of your father and friends. Why couldn’t Amy? Why is it the world that needs to learn a lesson from Amy? Rather, why wasn’t Amy able to learn a lesson from you? Or Courtney Love? Or Steven Tyler and Joe Perry? Or countless other gifted artists who have managed to get straight (with or without relapse) over the years?
Don’t get me wrong, Ms. Gaga, it’s not that I don’t have any sympathy for Amy, it’s that I don’t have sympathy for your opinion. The world owed Winehouse no more than what she owed her fans, her loved ones and herself. In fact, it owed her much less. The problem stemmed from Amy and only Amy. I am sure it was tough to be her; it is tough for anyone to be who they are.
However, it is not like she had no support. She had money, she had income, she had a husband (himself an addict). Her label, her friends and her family tried to get her into rehab but she said, “No, no, no, I won’t go, go, go.” The video for that song is a clear indication that it was all a big joke to her. Apparently, in the end, she did try to face her addictions. According to her family, it was Amy trying to detox from alcohol on her own that caused her death. Funny that her addiction got the last laugh on the gag.
Sometimes when I write an essay, I find that, by the time I am through, I have changed my opinion; Ms. Gaga was actually correct, it is the world’s lesson to learn. If you are sober stay sober, if you’re not sober , take advantage of your next opportunity to get clean because it may be your last chance.
Peace out,
Jeff M
In Recovery Facebook Page
In Recovery Blog
Aug 03, 2011 @ 18:50:32
I think she meant that it teaches people to be more compassionate for addicts. Is it not kind of scary that she was surrounded by people yet she was allowed to fall for so long?
Aug 03, 2011 @ 19:33:10
Her record company tried to get her to rehab twice (at least), her friends tried, her family tried. She was allowed to fall? Ah, that is where we differ. I believe that people need to be responsible for themselves. I asked to go to rehab. Perhaps I am the exception to the rule, however. We can agree to disagree but that is why they make chocolate and vanilla.
Thank you so much for your comment.
Jeff M
Aug 03, 2011 @ 19:33:28
Julia,
Doesn’t matter if she was surrounded by people. People couldn’t get her clean. The only person that can get anyone clean is themselves. No amount of effort helps sometimes. It’s just a fact of life.
My personal opinion is do as much as you can to help someone, but always know your limit because you can kill yourself in the process.
Aug 03, 2011 @ 19:35:26
I have not gotten your daily meditation yet. I love to read them in the morning, it helps me get through the day………….One day at a time….peace
celebrity exemption | I Love Recovery
Aug 03, 2011 @ 22:46:39
[...] but her compassion for an alcoholic… it touched me. I read an interesting article today in Addiction Magazine about Lady GaGa commenting on Amy Winehouse passing away. Her words were this: “She’s really [...]
Aug 03, 2011 @ 23:38:58
Spiritual hilltop?
Aug 04, 2011 @ 00:23:11
Maybe the wrong question is being asked here.
The better question is why is rehab given ANY credibility? They continue to kill people. Drew Pinsky publicly killed two of his star patients on ‘Celebrity Rehab’ Mike Starr and Jeff Conaway were both patients of his, and Drew himself gave lethal medical advice, just like AA, of ‘Don’t go to doctors’
It is time for society to wake up to the fact that the substance abuse system is the worst healthcare failure in modern medical history.
Aug 04, 2011 @ 03:09:00
Don’t know, DeConstructor, but rehab worked pretty well for me. So, for me anyway, it has plenty of credibility. Are you really suggesting that Celebrity Rehab is representative of the entire industry? If so, please go practice crazy somewhere else. We’ve got enough here.
Aug 04, 2011 @ 13:43:08
Well in comparison to my rehab experience, lets see.
First of all, I spent 32 days in a 28 day rehab due to the fact I have ‘cadillac’ health insurance.
Of the people I was in rehab with, I am the only one who actually stopped drinking. Many of them are dead now. No, rehab did not help me. Rational Recovery did, as well as walking completely away from the AA faith, and discovering what a total fraud and failure they are.
Aug 04, 2011 @ 01:50:17
Some addicts have 2 die from this disease so others can live. Thank GOD today I have a choice.
Aug 04, 2011 @ 17:53:32
katrinas
How special that must make you feel. God decided you are the one who lives. Think, think, think before spouting such nonsense. PLEASE!
Aug 06, 2011 @ 17:13:56
Where you see support, I see an industry that shoved her on stage drunk/high and made buckets of money on her addiction. And even more money on her death.
The fact is none of us can know the reasons why Amy didn’t make it to sobriety. But we can have compassion for the fact that she had a disease that killed her. There but for the grace of God go I.
Aug 07, 2011 @ 18:13:33
I don’t see that at all. She completed only two albums and never finished a third. Recent concerts and a concert tour had to be cancelled because she was in no condition to perform. Please explain to me the logic the industry had in mind by killing off a star at the age of twenty-seven. As I have said before, I have nothing but compassion for Amy. Oh, and she didn’t make it to sobriety because she couldn’t stop drugging and drinking. There is no other reason.
Aug 07, 2011 @ 20:23:57
I was simply highlighting the fact that we can view external situations in different ways. Unless we lived her life, we cannot know why she couldn’t stop.
I didn’t say that the music industry purposely killed her. I was pointing out that her industry is not the most supportive of sobriety because performers are treated as commodities instead of human beings.