I think part of the shame of addiction is that for women drunk still = slag for a lot of dickheads people.
I think if a woman had gone to rehab, then been caught drunk driving and gone back again and dumped her husband for a new man, she would be crucified by the press and laughed at if she claimed her new man had ‘saved’ her to justify the new relationship.
Look at Katie Price: there’s obviously some serious substance abuse and mental health issues going on there, she’s talked about childhood abuse in the past, she’s being done for drink driving too, nobody seems to care about her enough to intervene (I think her Mum is afraid of her and she’s also very ill). She gets no public sympathy.
Ditto Paula Yates with Michael Hutchence and her addictions, that interview with Jerry Springer when they were supposed to be starting a new show together and she turned up off her face. She was laughed at and called ugly and old and compared unfavourably with Helena Christensen.
And Britney Spears was mocked and harassed.
People might say that’s because they had kids, but Lindsay Lohan doesn’t, her career has been destroyed and she was very talented. People laughed at pictures of her boyfriend assaulting her on a beach and made jokes about her suicide attempts. They stick cameras up her skirt and like to get pictures humiliating her or stories about the crazy messes and arguments she gets into - she gets no sympathy. Same with Amanda Bynes - humiliated and mocked in the press. Demi Lovato is mocked, her stories about an abusive childhood are labelled excuses, horrible gossip implying she is slutty and unstable circulated.
But Charlie Sheen is a barrel of laughs (he had kids too and was so incapable along with their mother, his ex wife had to take them in), but yeah, tiger blood, he’s just funny.
And Mel Gibson has his career after awful drunken abusive racist and sexist behaviour.
And Ozzy Osborne is everyone’s favourite cuddly uncle, even though he spent most of his kids childhoods off his face. Can’t see a woman coming back from the same.
It’s much worse for women.