Are Women With "Issues" Treated As Sensitively As Men?
LatestThis just in: Eva Mendes is the latest lady rehab. (Hmm, she was “hanging out” with Joaquin Phoenix for a while.) Does this mean she’ll be even more of a paparazzi target? Beverly Hills psychotherapist Rebecca Roy says that troubled young female stars are treated more harshly by the public and media than their male counterparts. “Heath Ledger’s death is being treated with kid gloves, for instance, yet Britney Spears is afforded no privacy at all in dealing with her issues,” Ms. Roy notes. She says that women don’t get the respect men get: See Owen Wilson, who reportedly attempted suicide last year. “Not only do the women have to deal with an impossibly high body image standard, but they are savagely attacked when they don’t meet expectations on that front.” Robert Downey Jr., Colin Farrell, Jesse Metcalfe, Joaquin Phoenix and Jonathan Rhys Meyers all went to rehab with a lot less fanfare than Lindsay Lohan or Amy Winehouse. Sure, Joaquin was never photographed on the beach wearing a bikini and a alcohol-monitoring anklet — but he was never pursued, hounded or relentlessly photographed the way Lindsay is.