Many talented people use or abuse drugs
Tobey Maguire and Kirsten Dunst of “Spider-Man 3″ are both dynamic and accomplished actors – and drug users, like many other creative and talented people have been.
Tobey Maguire revealed he has been going to Alcoholics Anonymous meetings for more than a third of his life, starting when he was 19.
“I have an addictive nature,” he says, “an obsessive-compulsive nature — well, I don’t know that’s what it is clinically. But I go to addictive extremes, and before I got sober, that became routine.”
[From article: Tobey Maguire reveals AA meetings]
Kirsten Dunst admits to smoking marijuana and trying other drugs. She says, “I drink moderately.. I do like weed. I have a different outlook on marijuana than America does.
“My best friend Sasha’s dad was Carl Sagan, the astronomer. He was the biggest pot smoker in the world and he was a genius.
“I’ve never been a major smoker, but I think America’s view on weed is ridiculous. I mean, are you kidding me? If everyone smoked weed, the world would be a better place.
“I’m not talking about being stoned all day, though. I think if it’s not used properly, it can hamper your creativity and close you up inside.”
[From article Kirsten Dunst is a fan of marijuana.]
Related articles:
The Risks of Experimentation with Pot
Multiple articles on Alcohol Moderation
Many of us at some time use or even abuse substances, or engage in self-harming behavior.
For example, according to surveys, at least 1 in 10 adult Americans has a serious alcohol problem (Institute of Medicine); around twenty percent of both men and women are smokers (Centers for Disease Control), and approximately 1 in 35 over age 12 is an illicit drug user (Institute of Medicine).
Among the many artists who have used drugs, alcohol or other substances are Aldous Huxley, Edgar Allen Poe, Dostoevsky, Allen Ginsberg, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Raymond Chandler, Eugene O’Neill, Edna St. Vincent Millay, Dorothy Parker, William Faulkner, Ernest Hemingway, Thomas Wolfe, John Steinbeck, and Tennessee Williams; composers Beethoven and Musorgski; actors Philip Seymour Hoffman, Tatum O’Neal, Johnny Depp, Ed Harris, Michael J. Fox, and Carrie Fisher, among many others.
Maybe one reason so many intense and sensitive people like actors and other artists use drugs and alcohol is to self-medicate, to deal with a rich inner life that fuels their creative work, but can also be an experience of painful inner turmoil. But using also risks addiction.
All of this is explored more in my articles Actors and Addiction, and Gifted, Talented, Addicted.
See quotes from my article ‘Actors and Addiction’ in the new ABC News article When Really Successful People Crack, By Andrea Canning [my quotes are on page 2].
