Holy macaroni ~ the teen years are tough enough without the ‘razzi
April 29, 2008 by angelique
Filed under Women's Health
Geez Louise. I thought my teen years were fraught with terrible ups and downs, but I really feel bad for poor Miley Cyrus. (And no, I’m not being sarcastic.)
I mean, she’s 15. FIFTEEN. Remember when you were that age? Not a pretty sight for most of us.
At 15, I was embroiled in a battle with Ana and was losing it quickly. I hated myself — no, wait, that’s an understatement — I despised myself and thought I was worthless. I was a mess on the inside, though I did fantastic in high school and my grades were strong.
I had all these “problems”, but they are nothing compared with what Miley is experiencing right now. Suddenly, she’s an international phenom, and everyone has decided that they are going to be the ones to catch her in a screw-up moment.
For the foreseeable future, every move she makes — from the french fries she chooses at lunch to the dress she wears to shop for other dresses — will be scrutinized, picked apart, and lauded or… and this is much more likely… damned.
How would that make you feel? Even knowing you’d be a billionaire in a few years couldn’t erase some of the cruel things individuals will say.
I can only hope that she doesn’t fall prey to listening to the people who are trying to “help” her. Good grief. She’s barely out of puberty.
You know, another sad factor in all of this is that the 15 year olds out there who aren’t famous celebrities – you know, the girls who just wake up, go to school, deal with teenage drama, and come home – are seeing these stories (like the one you linked to) and thinking this scrutinizing and criticizing is acceptable and totally OK. It actually probably encourages them to turn around and do the same thing to their peers, other celebrities, etc. It’s a vicious cycle.
Alicia:
You’re right. It promotes a super-vicious cycle, and it’s really tough to help kids out of it. Supportive parents are great, but the cruelty of peers can be hard to ignore. I can still remember very random nasty things said to and about me from 20+ years ago… and they still make me cringe.