Running Weld
By Stephen Rodrick
The quixotic candidacy of the partying patrician who wants to be governor, again.
 
     
  Vera Wang’s Second Honeymoon
By Amy Larocca
Brides love Vera Wang. But does she love them? (Not so much.) What this former Vogue editor and self-described fashion nun really has a passion for is clothes. But let her tell you about it.
 
     
  THE IMPERIAL CITY
The Good Old Boy of Time Inc.
By Kurt Andersen
John Huey sits atop Time and Fortune and 149 other magazines, ready to have some fun. Only now the good old days of big media are history.
 
     
  THE POWER GRID
Chuck’s Chance
By John Heilemann
Whatever happens with Judge Alito, Schumer is likely the Democratic winner. It’s all part of his secret plan for senatorial domination.
 
     
 
 
 
 News & Gossip
 

the short list
Shrink Rap
Therapy in the entertainment business is almost as common as cell phones and bad scripts. Whether it's a life-threatening addiction or a really scary movie shoot, time on the couch with a trained professional really can help: Just witness these endorsements.


BY CHRISTINA NUNEZ
August 8, 2001

 
 

Drew Barrymore

Ten years ago, Barrymore was a poster child for the pitfalls of early fame, having gotten an early start on stardom with her debut in E.T. at age 7 and on substance abuse by age 9. She kicked her dysfunction with therapy, though in 1993 she preferred to call it "expressing myself and getting really good feedback from a person I trust." The hours on the couch led to a career comeback, punctuated by last year's Charlie's Angels, which Drew also co-produced. Though Barrymore, 26, seemed to be addicted to boyfriends for a while, she finally tied the knot this year with Tom Green after having proclaimed her undying love for numerous predecessors.
What worked: Rehab; six weeks of co-dependency treatment with stage-mother-from-hell Jaid Barrymore; recovery-in-residence with go-to guy David Crosby; and a comeback-heralding autobiography about her recovery, Little Girl Lost.
Words of wisdom:
"There is no happy ending, because there is no end to the struggle for a clean and sober life."

 

Andy Dick

The 35-year-old former star of NewsRadio had a contact list that read like a survey of celebrity disasters: Chris Farley (one of Dick's addiction group sponsors, believe it or not, before he died of an overdose), Robert Downey, Jr., and late Suddenly Susan actor David Strickland were all close Dick associates. Farley's death sent Dick into a downward spiral that culminated in his arrest for a DWI and drug possession. Now two years sober, his eponymous comedy show has been renewed for a second season at MTV and he recently completed his probation.
What worked: Promises Malibu, a treatment facility with a who's who of successes (Charlie Sheen) and failures (Robert Downey, Jr.) on its list of alumni.
Words of wisdom:
"Most of the time you're in a little group in a circle, talking about your problems. It's not a miracle thing where you go and sit in a circle and they wave a magic wand and you're cured. It's up to me to constantly work on my behavior."

 

Keith Olbermann

The ESPN SportsCenter pioneer is a sportscasting legend, but he needed help figuring out his next move after leaving a gig at MSNBC in 1998. Like the Robert Downey, Jr. of corporate malcontents, Olbermann has probably inspired more concern about his mental well-being than any sportscaster: "He lives to make himself miserable," worried one media critic among several who have seemed more concerned with Olbermann's career moves than the man himself. "I'm firmly convinced someday that the American Psychiatric Society will list [doing] television as a form of mental illness," Olbermann said recently. "There's bipolar, there's schizophrenia, and there's television. The three leading causes of mental illness in this country."
Go West, Young Patient:
It seems to be an epidemic lately: Mariah Carey, Ben Affleck, Paula Poundstone, Aaron Sorkin and A. J. McLean have all sought professional help of one kind or another in the last month. But when it comes to rehab, the West Coast is where it's at. Of the names above, only Carey stayed near the nation's Neurosis Capital (well, Connecticut) to work out her issues.

Isn't New York's therapy mill drawing the dysfunctional market it surely breeds? Aerosmith's former therapist, Dr. Lou Cox, thinks New Yorkers are just quieter about psychiatric care. "I know there are tons of celebrities [in NYC] who are in treatment," he reassures. For drug rehab, however, he concedes that security is easier to manage outside the Big Apple.

Or it could be that New Yorkers are just too down-to-business for lots of couch time: Local depression sufferer Rosie O'Donnell wrote recently, "I tried as hard as I could [in therapy] to learn the things I knew somewhere I knew. I never felt much better. ...[My depression] did not leave until I was 37 and started taking medication." Is that why there's a Duane Reade on every corner...?

 

What worked: Therapy has helped the crochety Olbermann at least a little bit: He credited it for bringing him to Fox Sports in 1999. "I will confess, admit, announce and gleefully endorse therapy," he said as he started his Fox gig. Alas, therapy couldn't help him decide whether to stay at the network or not, leading Fox to let him out of his contract this past spring.
Words of wisdom: Still happily accepting Fox paychecks but free to consider his next move, Olbermann recently delivered another therapy endorsement of sorts. "If I don't do anything for the next 30 weeks and it is misinterpreted as some sort of sign I can't get a job in the business -- I would think that anybody who writes that should have a quick mental-health examination."

 

Tommy Lee

Anyone who's seen Behind the Music on VH1 knows about the rollercoaster ride of drugs, spousal abuse and unauthorized sex videos taken by Mötley Crüe's former drummer over the past few years. Since getting out of jail for violating probation last year, Lee seems to have led a quieter lifestyle (notwithstanding the accidental drowning of one of his son's four-year-old friends at a birthday party on Lee's estate) and will be off probation in 2003.
What worked: Time in jail (four months in 1998 for spousal abuse of ex-wife Pamela Anderson and five days last year for violating probation by taking a drink) and the self-help books he read there, along with court-mandated anger-management counseling, have helped Lee learn to keep his explosive temper in check.
Words of wisdom: Despite some bitterness expressed online about his ex-wife's new relationship with Kid Rock, 38-year-old Lee was cool as a cucumber when he saw the two together recently at an MTV event: "Hey, dude, I want to thank you. If it wasn't for you, I would have never met [my new girlfriend, Mayte]," he reportedly said to Kid Rock.


 

Julianne Moore

Of all the traumas that might lead one to professional help, Julianne Moore's seems the least pressing... but who are we to judge? The actress told Vanity Fair earlier this year that filming her role in Hannibal drove her to the couch."I actually talked to my shrink about it," she said of the scary script. "As a parent, as a person -- what is this?"
What worked: Talking it out with her doctor... and with a national magazine. (It's possible her $3 million paycheck may have helped ease the mental strain too.)
Words of wisdom: "Hannibal is the dark side that is part of everyone, the id that you let go. He's evil unchanneled … In our fantasy lives we explore those themes."

 

Cybill Shepherd

Motherhood isn't easy even if you've got plenty of time to spend with Junior. One way to figure out how to deal with the kids? Therapy. Cybill Shepherd's work on Moonlighting in the '80s made finding time to bond with daughter Clementine difficult to say the least. "She worked insane hours. She'd miss a lot of school functions or she'd come for five minutes and have to go back to work," Clementine told People recently.
What worked: Good old-fashioned therapy. "She really learned how to be a fantastic mom," affirms the daughter. "She got all the kinks out by the time I was 14."
Words of wisdom: "It helped things to be more peaceful, but it was never easy," the all-too-open Shepherd said of her Superwoman syndrome treatment.

 

Photos from top: Columbia TriStar; MTV; Richard Drew/AP Wide World; Mitchell Gerber/Corbis; MGM; Cybill.com
 
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