Julie Myerson - why am I not surprised that a book has materialised concerning her own son's drug issues?

[glasjam]

Read this is in today's Observer www.guardian.co.uk/society/2009/mar/01/julie-myerson-novel-drug-addiction

Does anyone else have the uncomfortable feeling that I have on learning that she is writing about her son's drug problems? I know that writers often mine their own personal experiences for material but I think she's putting her literary endeavours ahead of her son here. From what I can gather, he is still young, his drug issues are ongoing, and although he is out of the family home, surely this is risking any possible future reconcilliation? I also baulk at the way she "weaves historical research about Yelloly with her disturbing account of her son's ejection from the family home" It just smacks of middle-class-writer angst.

My cynicism is further fuelled by my very strong suspicion that Julie Myerson is the author of Living with Teenagers - but that's another story...

I don't know what the controversy is regarding Jade Goody as I'm not interested in it. Can someone summarise?

Jade is famous for being FAMOUS - a relatively new phenomena. And she sells her privacy as a commodity, which she is entitled to do, I think.

Myerson is famous for being a good writer. And as her son has said, she has taken his formative years and turned them into a 'work of art' based on a druggie stereotype and sold that as a commodity. Bit different.

"because it encourages an appetite for intrusion into private sadness." Tricky, though, Thready, as you might level the same charge at Terry Pratchett or John Diamond, both of whom were lauded for being candid.

Habbibu - in the recent TV documentary on Terry Practchett, he mentioned at the start that his wife and daughter did not want to appear on screen and that he would respect that. He spoke about his personal experiences and respected the rights of his loved ones.

on the subject of selling death etc, i note that wendy richards was filming a doc about her chemo when she died. it's on next week i think.

i feel similarly to thready with regard to jade. yes, she's entitled to sell her privacy, but it is the only thing that she does, whereas JD, TP etc have a platform because of their talent. tbh what worries me is the blanket coverage, it feels wrong to me, like our whole society is participating in her poor fucked-up head.

JM otoh, is all about the abuse of her son's privacy.

The difference is that TP writes about himself. JM has written about her children arguably without their full and informed consent and arguably illegally. It is simply a matter of law.

I have fondness for Jade as I used to be really into BB when she was on it, and for all her manifest faults she is a true original and a strong character.

But it's a heck of a stretch to say that she is somehow talented because people take pictures of her. The whole point is that she is only capable of being herself, and that no talent or effort is required.

She isn't a working class version of a good middle class writer. She isn't a writer in any sense at all.

i know - I was comparing Terry Pratchett and John Diamond with Jade Goody, in answer to Thready's post - not to Julie Myerson.

oh god, dittany. you are so stuck.

"She spoke of him with nothing but love."

I expect she did, but love alone doesn't make you a good parent or mean that you do things in the best interests of the child. I think she genuinely believes that she is doing the best thing, but as the parent she should be protecting her child not exposing him to the public. I think she is too needy herself.

But the Royal family are famous BECAUSE they are the Royal family

I don't know why we need a Royal family AND a cult of celebrity though

ah yes but royalty is much more SOLID

I agree it is similar

the Queen's house is so much nicer though, dontcha think?

"I was just pointing out the snobbery involved in saying one group who are going public about their cancer or other illnesses are hard-working and talented (the middle class ones) whist the other group is lazy and useless and undeserving (the lower class ones). "

Who has said this dittany? I don't think Jade is useless or lazy or undeserving. I just think that her decision to market publicity shots fot the sleb-ogling market is a bad one. And that the media is bad for buying into it.

To the extent that the royals choose to buy into this sort of thing they are culpable too.

Morris made the point that JM might not have expected a media storm about her son to follow the release of her literary novel. The fact that it has made a dirt-digging storm is testimony to the erosion of respect for privacy in the media. Actually the royals did more than anyone to speed that erosion -- Diana's and Charles' marriage and their arguments via 'friends' revelations in media were a huge soap opera. It really isn't a class thing.

Wasn't it soon after Diana's death that Big Brother etc all started? We swapped Royalty for Reality TV.

"the erosion of respect for privacy in the media" - you are having a laugh. Myerson chose to write about the most intimate details of her childrens' lives, got caught out by the kids whose friends had worked out it was them and THEN went on to write an even worse expose of her eldest.

I didn't mean to exculpate JM at all. She's not a victim. I'm just trying to defend my impulsively made, possibly wrong-headed, but nonetheless to-be-stuck-to-donkeyishly injection of Jade into the thread

have you seen jake myerson in the dailymail today (online I hasten to add) what is he wearing?
Is he trying to look insane on purpose?!

I agree threadworm. the is a common denominator. Cultural hunger for inappropriate information. And the demonisation of those who provide it. But have to agree also with the point that dressing your toddlers up in fairy costumes and splattering them all over the papers is not the same as dissecting your child's life in public. Its about appropriate adult behaviour. Modelling it, if you like. respect begets respect. Or something like that.In some ways we think JM should just have known better, what being middle class and a thinker by trade.