Dear Lindsay,
I was sad to see you were in the news once again last week for all the wrong reasons. Unlike most who watched your court appearance I don’t think your tears were a performance, or fake or a means of garnering sympathy from the judge.
It must be devastating to be 24-years-old and realize, for the first time, that you’re going to be held accountable for your actions and that shockingly, sometimes those actions have negative consequences.
Lindsay, I know what an incredible talent you are and what a meteoric career you’ve had starting as a child fashion model and catapulting into superstardom at age 11 in the 1998 movie “The Parent Trap.”
I understand the sense of entitlement you feel. Movies, modeling, music… Always a star. Everyone catering to your every wish and need.
I don’t deny, Lindsay how hard it is for most child stars. Our environment in childhood, the period when we move from childhood to adulthood, is how we define our sense of what’s “normal” for the rest of our lives.
When you are the star and the meal ticket for so many you “learn” that you can do what you want and always get your way.
You appear to believe that as a rich, famous and powerful person you “deserve” special treatment.
You think that it’s cool to use drugs, flaunt the legal system, make a mockery of your probation and paint ‘F**K U’ on your finger nail and flash it at the judge.
But Lindsay you’re now facing a defining moment, and choice, in your life: three months of jail time followed by three months of in-patient alcohol and drug rehab.
My hope is that you admit next week that your sentence is deserved, that you have a drug problem and that you will commit your life to becoming clean and sober.
I also hope that you will serve as a role model to child stars everywhere, proving that anyone can indeed overcome adversity and prosper.
Otherwise I fear you will end up like Michael Jackson, Dana Plato, Scotty Beckett and Bobby Driscoll, other child stars who all died much too young.
I leave you with this appropriate verse from the Bible: “When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man/woman, I put childish ways behind me.”
I’m rooting for you Lindsay.
Take Care,
Dr. Dale Archer
Dr. Dale Archer is a psychiatrist and frequent guest on FoxNews.com's "The Strategy Room." For more, visit his Web site: Dr.DaleArcher.com.
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