Message to Sage Stallone’s attorney: you really don’t know if your client “drinks.”
Headline of the month:
“Sage Stallone ‘Didn’t Drink’ Says Attorney”
So said Stallone’s lawyer and close friend George Braunstein in commenting on Sage Stallone’s tragic death at age 36. “There was a report that his room was filled with liquor bottles. Actually, they were empty bottles of Dr Brown’s Cream Soda….I don’t think it has anything to do with drugs, he wasn’t that kind of guy.” Braunstein insisted (his words), “He wasn’t anyone trying to take his life.” Mr. Braunstein, I hardly know where to begin, but let’s try to dispel the myths you are helping to promulgate. 1. The annals of alcoholism are filled with those who managed to hide their use from friends, co-workers, parents and even spouses for years. We must always bear in mind Nassim Taleb’s admonition, especially when dealing with alcoholism, “we don’t know what we don’t know.” Jodie Sweetin’s LAPD cop husband, to whom she was married for five years, didn’t know: she was a full-on methamphetamine addict for at least two of those years. Sage’s famous father Sylvester Stallone may even have been flummoxed. 2. Your comment, “he wasn’t that kind of guy,” implies only “bad” people use drugs. Mr. Braunstein, addiction is inherited. It has nothing to do with morality or lack thereof. Addicts are born with an ability to use drugs addictively. If you are not an addict, try using like one; you will find you can’t. In recovery, most addicts prove to be wonderful, endearing and highly intelligent individuals. If Stallone died of a drug overdose, it’s tragic. It doesn’t mean he was a bad person; get past the stigma, so you can view with an open mind whatever evidence appears. 3. Most overdoses are not attempts at suicide; they are inadvertent. If Mr. Stallone’s death proves to have been a drug overdose, Mr. Braunstein, the behaviors were probably right in front of you for years.
Robert Rhine, editor-in-chief of Girls and Corpses magazine, might agree. He is troubled by the fact that he saw “the signs,” while people around him claim “there were no signs.” He told TMZ he did a photo shoot of a friend of Sage’s for the magazine at Sage’s home in May. According to www.hollywoodlife.com, Rhine “waited 45 minutes for Sage to answer the door,” who then stumbled around appearing as if he was “on something” while slurring his words, acting “very similar to Ozzy Osbourne.” Anything close to Ozzy suggests longstanding addiction. Both Rhine and police officers reported that Sage’s house was “disgusting,” which is consistent with late-stage poly-drug addiction. Mr. Braunstein, just because you never saw Sage drink or use doesn’t mean he didn’t. And get over the idea he “couldn’t have been one.” Some of the nicest, most productive and most successful people in history have been drug addicts.