Celebrities With Celiac?

[ms-sillyak-screwed]

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[ms-sillyak-screwed]

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[ms-sillyak-screwed]

I have worked in Film and TV for ten years. ......

People with any chronic disorders, especially something like celiac, which can cause them to lose shooting days, are considered to be high-risk.....

So it a good chance that actors describe anything like that as an "allergy" becuase it makes it harder for them to get work.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

It makes perfect sense "High Risk" = Send celiac celebrities into hiding!

[celiac3270]

From the Listserv:

Date:    Thu, 4 Aug 2005 18:21:34 -0700

From:    Linda Ireland <Linda.Ireland@TIDEWORKS.COM>

Subject: Hans Christian Andersen was a celiac?

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<<Disclaimer: Verify this information before applying it to your situation.>>

Hey, this is kind of fun, evidently there is some research that show

that Hans Christian Andersen, the Danish fairy tale writer, was a

celiac!  OK, so that's added on to the list starting with John F.

Kennedy.  Does anybody else know of famous individuals who supposedly or

actually are celiac? 

Open Original Shared Link

7603

OK, OK, believe it or not... (maybe we should check on Ripley, too?)

Linda Ireland, Seattle

[nogluten-]

Surprised no one mentioned Billy Bob Thornton !!

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I saw Jim Carrey on Oprah once saying he has cut out wheat and other stuff, so I wonder if he also has Celiac.

[Jnkmnky]

Well, I would say it's the highest height of selfishness not to promote awareness when you're in the public spotlight the way a celebrity is. I'd be disgusted with any celebrity I found out had C.D. then concealed it to maintain an image of "health" in order to make tons of money. No one gets out of this life without dying first. You might as well do what you can and share knowledge in order to help each other live the best lives possible. It's even more disturbing when you consider what celebrities WILL reveal..... Drug addictions, alcoholism, physically abusive behavior, cheating on spouses, mental breakdowns, troubles with the law....but please, don't tell the world you have C.D. That would ruin a career?? Gross.

[ms-sillyak-screwed]

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[Jnkmnky]

Oprah already had to deal with the stupid satelite sisters who made those rancid coments about parents of children with Celiac disease in her magazine.

[elonwy]

Well, I would say it's the highest height of selfishness not to promote awareness when you're in the public spotlight the way a celebrity is.  I'd be disgusted with any celebrity I found out had C.D. then concealed it to maintain an image of "health" in order to make tons of money.  No one gets out of this life without dying first.  You might as well do what you can and share knowledge in order to help each other live the best lives possible.  It's even more disturbing when you consider what celebrities WILL reveal.....  Drug addictions, alcoholism, physically abusive behavior, cheating on spouses, mental breakdowns, troubles with the law....but please, don't tell the world you have C.D.  That would ruin a career??  Gross.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

It's a disgusting business. People get married to prove they aren't gay, or for publicity. And the ones that come clean about drugs and stuff, or cause scenes, they get publicity, but after a while, they don't get as much work.

And its not so much about making lots of money, its about working at all. Once you get to "A" list , then you can come out with stuff, but by that point you've been hiding for so long... and your agent thinks its a bad idea...and it might mess up that deal with Universal..... I have friends that act. You're acting the minute you go into an audition, not just when you're reading or on-screen. You're acting every time you're talking to a producer or a director. It's a horrible, disgusting black pit of a business.

These are a few of the reasons I chose to stop Studio work and work at a school, to meet filmmakers who haven't been tainted and beaten down by the sick mentality in this town. (yet)

Also why I'm trying to make an independent film. Well, that and the fact that the studios aren't making very many good movies.

And I'm not requiring physicals for my actors. And will be accomodating all kinds of diets at the crafty table.

Elonwy

[ms-sillyak-screwed]

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[Jnkmnky]

Ok. Now for the obvious question....Who's your famous rock star brother?

[Thomas]

I disagree with "outing" the celebrity celiacs using the smoking gun. A person's health is a private matter.

[Jnkmnky]

I don't equate Celiac disease to a youngish, recently widowed mother just dx with lung cancer the day after the media is foaming at the mouth because Peter Jennings died from lung cancer. The primary problem people with celiac disease face is AWARENESS. Simply put, awareness would bring the harmful aspect of Celiac disease to a significant halt. A celebrity can spread awareness faster than a flea infested rat could spread the plague-- particularly a well liked/known celebrity. Celiac disease needn't replace mental illness as the undiscussed health issue that needs to be kept a dirty little secret. I don't have any sympathy for any celebrity that believes they need to conceal a dx of celiac disease. I don't need to "know the entertainment business" any more than I already do. Seal has Lupus. There are things more scary than Celiac disease....like not knowing what's wrong with your body. Many celiacs find themselves in that position. You can tell me I don't know enough about the entertainment business to support my opinion. But I know enough about life to know it's wrong to conceal something like Celiac disease out of selfishness.

[tarnalberry]

I wonder if "outing" someone's celiac disease would be a violation of the newer health privacy acts...

I can't say I'm for twisting a celebrity's arm to get them to reveal if they're celiac (or even saying they should say it just because they have it), but I'm an ethical egoist, so I do believe in selfishness. ;-)

[Jnkmnky]

Well, selfishness exists. I've seen proof. So I also believe in selfishness. But as a preferred way of life? It's not a choice I would make or recomment or respect. Actually, I would openly disdain anyone for choosing to live a selfish existence as I find it lacks the necessary humanity we need in order to get along. I'd go so far as to suggest accute selfishness is nothing more than a mental illness. In order to negate the needs of others to please yourself first and only, is primary to the function of a serial killer. Casual selfishness would be more of a maturity issue. To each their own. Including me. Who has an opinion on selfish behavior, though it seems not many others agree. Oh, well.

[tarnalberry]

Well, selfishness exists.  I've seen proof.  So I also believe in selfishness.  But as a preferred way of life?  It's not a choice I would make or recomment or respect.  Actually, I would openly disdain anyone for choosing to live a selfish existence as I find it lacks the necessary humanity we need in order to get along.  I'd go so far as to suggest accute selfishness is nothing more than a mental illness.  In order to negate the needs of others to please yourself first and only, is primary to the function of a serial killer.  Casual selfishness would be more of a maturity issue.  To each their own.  Including me.  Who has an opinion on selfish behavior, though it seems not many others agree.  Oh, well.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I don't mean a blanket statement "all selfishness is good", but if you've ever looked into some of the various moral philosophies like egoism or objectivism (though I wouldn't call myself a follower of Ayn Rand; she takes things a bit too far for me), there's a number of moral philosophies that accept that there is a good side to selfishness. (I think that was the title of one of Rand's works - "The Virtue of Selfishness".) Selfishness needn't *negate* the neesd of others, nor does it mean pleasing *only* yourself, but in the equation of deciding what the right thing to do, the decision maker's needs/desires would come first, among many. My take on the premise is that you have to take care of yourself first, which means that sometimes your needs come before someone else's (but not at the exclusion of someone else's) - and that's pretty much the definition of selfish, but (in my view) it's ok. Of course, a "good little egoist" (hehehe...) looks at the grand scheme of life and their place in it before deciding what course of action actually is best for themselves. Given that we live in a cooperative (usually!) world, the right (and selfish) thing to do actually may be making the choice that will benefit others *because* that will better the world you live in in such a manner as to benefit yourself.

Relating it back to the celebrities with celiac thing - if making it known that a celebrity has celiac would keep them from getting work, it's up to that person to make the decision if it is more valuable for them to keep their job or more valuable to put out the word with the celebrity they currently have. If they choose the later earlier in their career, and can no longer get work, then they might lose their celebrity status over time and become ineffective at spreading the word on celiac, which could be an argument for - at the very least - waiting until they are near the end of their career. But if that person's life would be made miserable and unhappy by the spotlight put on them having to advocate for this disease, then it wouldn't be the right choice for them to do it - because it would make their life miserable. (Of course, you could argue that their life wouldn't be miserable by advocating for celiac, but the question is how they would feel about it. Some might feel that way, some might feel overjoyed about being able to get the word out. It'd vary by person.)

As for outing them... that definitely crosses my moral line. (Not saying anyone seriously suggested it, of course!) It's not my decision to choose what personal information someone else reveals about themselves.

[Jnkmnky]

Tiffany, I hardly think you're "selfish". You are definitely a "good little egoist".

[debmidge]

There is a lot of room for celebrities to compromise on celiac diagnosis.

Celiac is not a dread disease and if there was more awareness about it those that are producing the projects would know that it's a minor inconvenience if their actor has celiac disease.

If the celebrity is healthy enough to pursue a show business career, then it appears that the celiac disease is controlled and unlikely to cause an illness that would shut a production down.

Perhaps also the publicity of the celiac disease could be used to make publicity of the film/show, etc. When an actor is just starting out, they aren't famous anyway so they wouldn't need to go public with a celiac disease diagnosis. The ones who are already famous are in a better position to compromise on this.

Now the question is whether or not they want to go public and we go back to that "what's best for me?" issue. If everyone thought that way, then a lot of great things never would have happened in our society as a whole.

But perhaps the ones with celiac disease already use this forum and we don't even know....

[elonwy]

Just so its all very clear - I was never trying to justify - just add perspective.

Part of the problem is, we look at celebrities and think they should be better people because they are famous. Alot of them are, and use their power for good. Alot of them aren't. They're just people. People who are famous for pretending to be something they're not.

Think about how much we talk about how people don't understand us here, teased in high school, misunderstood by relatives, about why we're HERE, talking to each other, needing support.

Then think about that a celebrity, who's every moment is scrutinized, who's followed around by camera's everywhere ( I hate those leeches, but that's an whole other conversation), and think about that ill-timed hurtful joke being the National Enquirer instead of a dumb co-worker.

It shouldn't be that way. No-one should have to hide anything. No-one should ever be treated badly, everyone should be able to talk about themselves and get support for it. But its not like that.

People suck. People are great and valiant and wonderful and especially here on this forum, courageous and amazing. But people also suck.

Hopefully one day soon a famous person will come out and talk about celiac disease, and help awareness. But until then, we expect far too much from them, and just because they're famous it doesn't require them to be saints. Which is unfortunate.

Elonwy

[Jnkmnky]

People with Celiac disease are aware that the disease is often misdx and that others are suffering with it because of the lack of awareness. Famous or not, those dx need to help end the suffering of those who have celiac disease by spreading the word. There are no mitagating factors such as "celebrity status" that absolve you of this responsibility. Choosing to be quiet about it in order to serve your own interests is unforgivable. People die of this disease...not because the disease is a death sentence....but because a lack of awareness kept them from a proper dx. No one should suffer for a single second longer than they have to. No one should remain suffering in order for "Joe or Jane Actor" to land a part in a film. Jmo-

[Corrine]

I haven't read too much of this thread but I was thinking that one way of getting celiac disease known to the general public is via hollywood. But at the same time it's a bit embarassing telling the world that you can have diarreha like a flash flood. It is one thing to say that here as we're all in the same boat but to say that to millions is another thing. I personally don't have a problem with asking where's the bathroom...quickly, but not everyone is as forward as I am.

[Thomas]

Choosing your right to your personal freedom and health is neither unforgivable, or wrong. Judging people for the way they handle their health is wrong.

People (famous or not) have the right to privacy with their health..

[Canadian Karen]

I don't think that just because someone is a celebrity, they forfeit the right to have their health issues kept private. These people are human beings with fears, insecurities, feelings, hopes, dreams and nightmares just like the rest of us. We ourselves cherish the fact that we get to choose who we do and don't tell about this disease. Discussing it with my neighbour would be fine. But as an example, say I was single and was really interested in this amazing Adonis of a guy, and someone outed me by telling him that I have explosive diarrhea 20 times a day, that is a violation of my right to privacy. How would I feel? How would you feel? I know I would be furious and feel "violated".

We can't lose sight of the fact that celebrities are just like you and me only they are in a different line of work and shines the spotlight on them, but to quote something I read that "The Rock" said, "Hey, I am just like anybody else, my breath stinks when I wake up too......"

Celebrities should have the right to choose whether they want to take on the role as advocate for Celiac Disease or not. Why should they lose that right of choice just because they are a celebrity?

Karen

[ms-sillyak-screwed]

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[Canadian Karen]

Now that's quite the dinner conversation!!!! Nobody lost their appetite?

You must have some pretty loyal friends!!!!!

Karen