In what I’ve got to believe is the first example of notable television news breaking on a thrice-rhyming-named radio program, Dr. Drew announced on the Zach Sang & the Gang show that he is officially done with Celebrity Rehab, due mainly to people yelling at him whenever one of his patients dies. And seeing as five former cast members have passed away, that’s a lot of yelling.
“I don’t have plans to do that again, ” Pinsky said. “I’m tired of taking all the heat. It’s just ridiculous.”
Pinsky, who starred in and co-produced five seasons of Celebrity Rehab, said that doing the show has become too stressful for him, due to the fact that everyone is quick to point fingers at him when one of his celebrity patients relapses.
“It’s very stressful and very intense for me, ” Pinsky said. “To have people questioning my motives and taking aim at me because people get sick and die because they have a life-threatening disease, and I take the blame? Rodney King has a heart attack and I take blame for that?” [Today.com]
On one hand, he’s right. It’s not really fair to blame the doctor for the patient’s illness, especially when that illness is addiction, because addiction suuuuuuuuuucks and patients end up relapsing 50-90% time, depending on where you get your numbers (and how you define “relapse”). But on the other hand, there was always something that made my skin crawl about the concept of a show where people used rehab as a way to jump-start their struggling careers, and as a doctor I know once said of Dr. Oz, “Never trust doctors who spend a lot of time on camera.” So I’m not exactly heartbroken that the show is over.
In conclusion, here is a picture of a goat on a leash dragging a woman across a field. Have a nice day.
Image via Shutterstock, goat pic via
