Both were victims of drugs – Farrah because she had to watch her beloved son struggle so – to the point that he couldn’t even be with her when she died because he was in prison for drug abuse-related a parole violation. What heartbreak! Eequally as heartbreaking/gutwrenching is this loss of Michael Jackson. He, too, we are learning, struggled with drugs. It seems as though neither young man would face life without painkillers of some type.
Had Michael Jackson not been above it all with regard to the drug use, he might still be here and have us celebrating his comeback instead grieving of his passing. Had Redmond O’Neil been able to hang on to sobriety perhaps his mother’s angst would have been eased and he could have at least been with her when she died.
Just tying those two deaths – Michael Jackson and Farrah Fawcett -- together was important to me; I didn’t do it within 48 hours of their deaths though I thought about writing about the losses and simply didn’t take the time to write about it then.
Now, however, I didn’t want to let any more time go without saying something about the fact that two shining stars had their shine cut short or dimmed by drug abuse.
Now the question is: What happens to the children? Will Redmond O’Neal be able to square up his drug abuse? Does his mother being gone make a difference?
Will Michael Jackson’s children – who obviously were immersed in a lifestyle punctuated by extremes: work, play, spending, travel, behaviors – will they follow in there father’s footsteps with prescription medications? If statistics tell us anything, it is that children of addicts are much more likely to become addicts themselves. So the guardian of the Jackson children needs to be all over finding healthy ways to help those children feel their feelings.
All I know about these recent deaths is that my heart is heavy for all of those children – Michael Jackson’s three and Farrah Fawcett’s one. Life in the limelight must be so, so hard. I am grateful to be an unknown and hopeful that if some day my book is “discovered” and there is some type of acknowledgement of this work, I have the grace and humility on board to stay close to God and to the people and practices that help me to stay grounded and sober.
