It's More Than Just Being On Camera

Having an assistant in Hollywood is common and it’s no surprise that eventually those assistants will start using. With the job being so demanding and always being on the go. It’s easy for someone to rely on something to keep them going and awake. Sometimes people are brought in to keep an eye on a celebrity while they are in detox or in rehab to make sure that they don’t relapse, but over time those responsibilities start to take their toll on your mental and physical health.

They have a job that not many people will understand, and they will do whatever to takes to keep their job and to make sure their boss is happy even if it means helping them with their addiction.

There are a lot of things to consider when it comes to being an assistant. There’s a lot of anxiety and depression. They want to be able to prove that they are worthy of the job and their boss. There’s a lack of feeling valued. Assistants tend to self-medicate because they want to be able to function and do their job. They want to feel like they belong.

A lot of assistants have been known to be abused by their bosses, either it being verbal, emotional, or physical. When a celebrity gets inside their heads, they tend to take it out on their assistants.

When the “Me Too” movement began, people working in the film industry started to come forward and said that they were being abused or treated unfairly by their bosses. They started to use drugs as a way to cope with work and their emotions. It causes mental health issues because of the trauma they faced, and they felt like nobody would listen or for the fear that they will lose their job and not be able to get another one in the industry, but if they did speak up about the truth, people wanted proof, they want to see evidence. They risk everything just to be heard.

Celebrities claim that they have the power to replace you if you leave or speak up about what really goes on or even making an honest mistake. There are hundreds of people who are willing to do anything to make a name for themselves in Hollywood and they will sacrifice so many things to make that happen. Any job that is considered a non-celebrity job like an assistant is considered “low tier” and looked down on. They are jobs that are underpaid, overworked, and underappreciated. Assistants turn to drugs to be able keep up.

Producers, studio executives and any one behind the scenes deal with a lot of stress when it comes to dealing with production. There are budgets, quotas to meet and dealing with the people who work above them. They need to be able to work under pressure to make sure that everything runs as smooth as possible. One mistake can be costly no matter how small it is. It will hurt everyone involved.

Being in charge of such a big project is challenging just in itself, but when you throw in so many different personalities and opinions, there is bound to be some struggles in your personal life. Some people can hide it and for other people, it brings out the worst in them.

Mental and physical exhaustion can happen when you work as long as someone in the film industry. You need to be aware of how your feeling. People use things like caffeine to be able to stay awake, but after a while that tends to wear off and you go for something stronger. Your body will eventually get used to whatever dose your using making you use more each time.

There’s always burn out. A period in your life when you feel like you’re being pushed to thin, like you’re doing a million things at once. You can’t focus on the task at hand, or you feel like you’re not doing your job because you feel like your pulled in different directions.

An actor on a film or TV show can work multiple jobs during production. Not only do they play a character, but they can also be the director, producer or they can be the one funded it, putting their own money into the project. So, there is a lot going on and if production fails or it doesn’t meet certain standards, it will put a lot of pressure on the person who put so much affect and money into only to see that it bomb at the box office, or the ratings drop as the season goes on.

A lot of celebrities want to try and do everything, and they will work countless hours to try and make it work, but at the end of the day, there’s only so much they can do to make something work. You have to be strong minded to be able to multitask and be able to do so much.

Celebrities tend to step away when they know it’s getting too much, but other people like being in the spotlight and want the attention. They need to be able to get the praise and the support from their fans in a public way to be able to function.

No matter how famous someone is, money is going to be reason they keep working and if you have a drug addiction, the money that you make will go towards feeding your addiction. They will take any role they can for the paycheck, no matter how big the movie or TV show is. They know going in that it’s just to feed their addiction. They don’t know when to stop even when it’s obvious that they can’t afford to keep their addiction alive.

Between the years of 1970 and 2015, there have been over 220 celebrities that have died in a drug related death. Drug addiction tends to thrive in people that have an artistic mind because a lot of the time, people get their best ideas from drugs, so they constantly abuse substances to get their ideas.

There’s something about the thrill of taking drugs that make people want to keep using. It’s the experience they have while high that makes them keep wanting to experiment. One drug will lead you to another drug which will eventually turn into a drug that’s harder and have more of rough recovery process which will lead to keep using just so you wouldn’t have feel yourself coming down off the drugs.

Celebrities tend to get away with a lot more. If a celebrity gets a DUI, chances are that they will get a slap on the waist if they pay a fine. They have the money to do that, or they will use their fame to not have it get leaked to the press, but we all know that if someone gets one DUI or an arrest charge, they will keep doing it. They think their invincible. They have a “I haven’t been caught yet” mindset. As long as they don’t get the police or lawyers involved then they can do whatever they want and not see a day in court. 

Studios tend to hide celebrities’ addictions. If they are the reason why the studio is getting money, they will do whatever it takes to hide an addiction. They will protect their number one star from any negative press, but on the other hand, if people are talking about the star no matter how positive or negative it is, the studio will play along. It will bring attention to whatever film or TV show their producing.

Being open and honest about addiction will hopefully encourage people that they are not alone. It will make the viewers and fans understand that the person that you see on screen isn’t who they are. There is so many things going on behind the scenes that we see what we want to see. Some of us don’t want to admit that our favorite actors struggling with addiction because we don’t want to see them vulnerable. We don’t want to see them struggle, but we all have something going on and we deal with them in different ways.

Musicians are the most to struggle with addiction with 38.6% with actors following at 23.2% with politicians at 1.4%. There’s increase with prescription drugs due to the easy access of hospitals and clinics. It starts off with an injury and pain killers which will lead to going back for more because of how good it makes you feel.  

People need to understand that no matter who you are, what you do to survive, there is always someone there to help. All you have to do is ask.