Addict Don Simpson, Producer, a euphemized life
AUGUST 2004
Alcoholic Myth-of-the-Month
There are countless myths about alcoholism. When I began writing my upcoming book, “Myths and Realities of Alcoholism: Removing the Stigma from Mankind’s Most Destructive Disease,” I figured I’d come up with a few dozen myths. I had to stop at over 100. The problem with myths is that they often lead to stigma, serving to reduce the odds of its identification in others. Unidentified disease cannot be treated, and without treatment, tragedy will inevitably occur. Therefore, the myths desperately need discrediting. The tragedy of movie producer Don Simpson was one of those that might have been prevented if close persons had identified addiction as the root of practically all his other problems”and if those persons had forcefully and without compromise intervened.
Film writer Robert Strauss, in a piece on producer Jerry Bruckheimer (“The man with the ‘golden gut’,”Los Angeles Daily News, July 11, 2004), wrote in regards to Bruckheimer’s partner Don Simpson:
“An excess-loving and often abusive wild man in the more stereotypical Hollywood egomaniac mold, Simpson, whose heart gave out at the age of 52 in 1996, also showed Bruckheimer what not to do.”
This description is filled with misinformation and euphemisms, serving only to perpetuate the myths of alcoholism. Simpson’s heart didn’t just “give out.”He was a multiple-drug addict, whose body was found “loaded with a combination of prescription and nonprescription medications,”including Cocaine, Unisom, Atarax/Vistaril, Librium, Valium, Compazine, Xanax, Desyrel and Tigan. According to The Wall Street Journal, he died of an overdose (March 27, 1996). Even if the immediate trigger was that his “heart gave out,”the true underlying cause of death was drug addiction. Euphemizing only confuses, keeping us from looking at addiction as the source of many (if not most) of society’s ills, woes and dysfunctions.
Yes, the addict in him loved “excess.”Because of damage to the neo-cortex (the human part of the brain capable of reason and logic), the limbic system (the reptilian brain responsible for survival and impulsive actions and reactions) was allowed free reign”resulting in behaviors that many would call “excessive.”
While no doubt abusive, addiction drove this. The real Don Simpson was likely a decent non-abusive person, as are most addicts before their disease is triggered, as well as in recovery. Likewise, addiction drives recklessness, which often looks like “wild man.”While non-addicts can take excessive risks, it’s generally only with their own lives, and usually well calculated. Addicts, on the other hand, can be mindlessly unconcerned with the lives of others. They almost always risk the safety of other people, if only by drinking beyond the legal limit and driving, which the typical alcoholic does an average of 80 times per year.
The “stereotypical Hollywood egomaniac mold”is one of addiction. Alcoholism is generally triggered during the first drinking episode, average age 13. Later, the alcoholic subconsciously asks himself, what profession or occupation will allow me to inflate my ego by wielding power over others? Those having a natural affinity for the arts become actors and others in the film industry, excellent occupations from which to wield power over fans and co-workers. Lucy Barry Robe in Co-Starring Famous Women and Alcohol identified 30% of Academy Award winning actors/actresses as having been alcohol or other drug addicts. Addiction drives egomania; no wonder it’s the Hollywood stereotype. But it’s really addiction and would, therefore, be more accurately described as the “stereotypical Hollywood addiction mold.”
Finally, an addict like Simpson couldn’t possibly have taught Bruckheimer what “not to do.”The odds of Bruckheimer engaging in such behaviors are remote since it appears he does not have the disease of addiction. An abusive egomaniac is almost always an addict first. The addiction causes and fuels the egomania that can result in multiple tragedies. As author James Graham wrote in regards to a far more destructive alcoholic, Ted Bundy, tragedy would likely have never occurred had diagnosis and intervention taken place early in the course of the disease.