The Lindsey Lohan Deathwatch

Lindsay Lohan is now 20 years old. Marilyn Monroe died when she was 36. She was, despite her beauty and talent, alone, childless, loveless and miserable. As surely as my fingers are now touching the keyboard, Lohan will die young and alone from the substances she needs to survive the world of fame and celebrity that she, or her parents, chose. To save herself, she must get out of show business and out of the spotlight, now.

If she cannot do this for herself, then it is the obligation of the adults around her to do the moral thing and stop facilitating her disease. Her agent should stop all efforts to find work for her. Producers should not hire her. Any adults or true friends she has must push her to quit the business.

After all, she is, at 20, young enough to abandon Hollywood. She could find the privacy and room for growth she needs at a good university. If she is a good student, in four years she can seek a Masters at the Yale Drama School or Julliard. Hopefully by then she will have matured and found meaning in life that does not demand that she suffer such pain that only booze and heroin will make it tolerable. A long round of therapy would also help. She will only be 25 or so. Yes, she will be beyond the prime bloom of her young womanhood. But the effort to capture that moment is about to cost her her life. That is too high a price for anyone to pay. Imagine the later career she could have as one of America's fine actresses. Think Meryl Streep, Jodie Foster or Kate Winslet as examples to follow.

Perhaps she is overwhelmed by the obligation to financially support all the people in the entourage she has acquired in her short career. If those people are talented they will survive and find another way to earn their ways in the world. If they are not, then they are leeches sucking her blood at the cost of her life.

Freed to be herself among peers who are seeking their own individual paths in life, Lohan will be liked for who she is and she will be free to find out who that person is and develop into the adult she is meant to become. If millions admire her from afar, surely there is some spark that will be obvious up close. She should imagine meeting people who seek nothing from her except to find out who she is. The longer she is out of the spotlight the truer will be the friends she will make. She may even find that being loved for herself, she will no longer need to be loved by the masses. As she already no doubt knows, their affection is transient and it hurts too much to bear.

Update: I need to correct the age I provided for Lindsay. She turned 21 a few days ago. Also, the early reports that the white powder found in her possession was an opiate. It has now been identified as cocaine.