Lohan Again by William Moyers on Creators.com

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Lohan Again

Bereft of a topic for this space and pressured by a looming deadline a few months ago, I desperately searched my computer files and stole my own words from something I had written earlier. I assumed it never had been published. I was wrong.

"Ah, William, it's not our practice to recycle old columns and try to pass them off as new," said my authoritatively friendly editor, David, whose memory is obviously much better than mine. "We prefer you come up with fresh material." And so I did.

This week, though, I quote from something I wrote in September 2007. Sadly, it is as relevant right now as it was then — or maybe more so.

"Lindsay Lohan was barely out of a treatment center and back into trouble before the public and the pundits alike began asking that inevitable question all over again: 'Why doesn't she get it?' Just 21, she had fame and fortune brought on by her natural good looks and acting talent. Even in the rarified air of Hollywood, Lohan soared to the top. But her decline and fall are stark reminders that no amount of money or success can match the power of alcohol and other drugs for people who are addicted to them. Hitting bottom is ugly, no matter who you are or what you have."

Lohan isn't 21 anymore. She's burned more bridges and squandered a few more options. Her fresh physical features have rusted around the edges. I doubt that being tabloid fodder has done much for her balance sheet, though there are pathetic rumors she could fetch $500,000 for a jailhouse interview. And her whole life seems to hang in the balance, to the point now that she easily could become the Marilyn Monroe of this generation. Dead.

After her drunken driving arrest in 2007, I cited her story to emphasize the indiscriminate power of addiction.

But I held out hope that her bottom would springboard her to take personal responsibility for her actions and recognize she needed help, the first step toward recovery and healthier living. Not so. Lohan now is going to jail for 90 days for violating probation from that 2007 case.

In that column, I paralleled Lohan's story with that of Lynne P.'s son. He was the 33-year-old carpenter from St. Paul, Minn., who kept drinking despite the consequences, including short stints behind bars. I asked his mother for an update this week.

"When I reached out to you in bewilderment and desperation, I truly did not know what to do because I loved my son but could no longer tolerate what he had done to himself, to all of us," she told me. "I was so angry at him. I was so angry at myself. He couldn't stop. I couldn't make him stop. It was maddening."

Her son wasn't done drinking, she said. In 2008, he was convicted a third time for DWI, a felony that sent him to state prison for 14 months. "He cried in front of the judge just like Lindsay Lohan did (in her televised court hearing). Theirs weren't tears of remorse. Theirs were tears of self-pity."

Prison was his turning point. "He got into a treatment program there and got serious about his life," she said. "He finally realized his way was really no way out. He listened. He learned. He's done it."

And how well has he done? "My son struggles, but he's not had a drink in over a year."

No Hollywood agent, publicist or designated driver will keep Lohan out of trouble. Maybe it's time she find what she needs from a carpenter in St. Paul.

William Moyers is the vice president of foundation relations for the Hazelden Foundation and the author of "Broken," his best-selling memoirs, and "A New Day, A New Life." Please send your questions to William Moyers at wmoyers@hazelden.org. To find out more about William Moyers and read his past columns, visit the Creators Syndicate Web page at www.creators.com.