Skip to content

RIP Amy Winhouse: Alberni resident

Alberni reader ponders celebrity drug addiction and judgmental voyeuristic public.

To the Editor,

The death of Amy Winehouse is a tremendously sad loss.

At least she’s at peace now after being relentlessly hounded by gossip-mongering media/paparazzi and bullied by so-called “comics” who think making fun of a person struggling with a life-threatening medical condition such as addiction is OK.

I trust now, as with so many celebs that’ve gone before, the jokes will have died with her.

All this, however, begs the question: Where do well-known people who suffer from drug (including alcohol) addiction go for support to overcome it? Do they have to be so severely ill they require admission to a treatment facility in order to achieve the anonymity Joe public enjoys?

My wish is that an increasingly judgmental and voyeuristic public give their heads a collective shake and that, as a society, we make the bullying of those suffering from addiction as unacceptable as schoolyard bullying or referring to the ‘mentally challenged’ as “retarded”.

Rest in peace, Amy.

Liz Stonard,

Port Alberni