When I was a kid, actually even a few weeks ago, I had this perfect image of Hollywood. I thought of luxurious lifestyles, awesome parties, and living a carefree and happy life. One of my goals in life is to become a successful actor and musician, so whenever I see all of the cool things that people like Drake, Justin Bieber, or Will Smith are doing, I always feel a little jealous inside, knowing that their lives look so much cooler than mine. The key word in that last sentence is that their lives “look” so much cooler than mine. It turns out that Hollywood is not the perfect place that I thought it was, and now all of the issues in Hollywood are finally coming to the forefront (I think that Drake, Bieber, and Will Smith are awesome and this article has nothing to do with them!)
First, we heard about Harvey Weinstein and all of the sexual harassment allegations that he has been accused of, then Ben Affleck came under fire for knowing about Weinstein and not telling anyone about it. He has also been accused of harassing women on occasion too, specifically groping Hilarie Burton during his appearance on MTV’s “Total Request Live.” Kevin Spacey has been accused of committing sexual assault against many male individuals, which has resulted in him being fired from the Netflix show, “House of Cards,” Dustin Hoffman has been accused of sexual harassment, “Gossip Girl” star Ed Westwick has been accused of rape by actress Kristina Cohen, and actress Jessica Chastain tweeted about director/producer Bryan Singer, saying that he has also been accused of sexual assault in the past. The list continues to grow as time moves on, and who knows how many Hollywood celebrities have committed, or are victims of sexual assault.
With all of these allegations coming forward, it honestly makes me wonder, why everyone (including me) puts Hollywood on a pedestal. If someone is associated with Hollywood in any way, a lot of times that person is considered to be above others. What I am saying is a lot of people think Hollywood celebrities are perfect. Now, obviously we all know that no one is perfect, so why is it that people have posters of celebrities in their houses (I am guilty), or they get nervous when they meet a celebrity (Also guilty)? These people are not that different from you and me, and in fact, it looks like Hollywood has more issues than people might think. Just because the problems of Hollywood may not be known by the public (for example all of these sexual assault allegations) it does not mean that the problems are not there.
Many times, you will hear about a celebrity overdose of some kind, or maybe some abuse that has occurred, but even with all of those issues that we hear about, we still consider Hollywood to be a dreamland that we all want to be a part of. Sure, they have a lot of money, and sure, they live a lifestyle that many of us can only dream about, but these people are human. They have flaws, they are concerned about body image, they have family drama, and the list goes on. So basically, what I am trying to say is we should not strive to be like Hollywood celebrites. We do not know what problems are in their lives. Instead, we should simply strive to be the best person that we can be.
This is the best goal that anyone can have, and as soon as we stop comparing Hollywood to a perfect world, we will live a happier and healthier lifestyle because we will stop comparing every little detail of our lives to our flawed perception of a Hollywood celebrities’ life.
This is something that I am doing, and I can honestly tell you that mentally I am a healthier and happier person. Hopefully, more people will adopt this mindset, and hopefully, these sexual assault issues in Hollywood will be dealt with, and justice will prevail for all victims.