I often feel frustrated and disappointed in our celebrity-seeking culture. The impact of television and the movie industry is such that North Americans often seem more interested in the fashions and marital status of movie stars than most anything else. At least it seems that way when one looks at the magazine racks in stores. Currently though, I am grateful to celebrities for their truth-telling.
Michael Douglas, shocked anyone who was paying attention when he said in a recent interview that the throat cancer that he battled in 2010 was caused by having contracted HPV (the human papillomavirus) through performing oral sex on women who have the sexually-transmitted disease. This surprising admission is being ‘corrected’ by his agent who claims that this is not exactly what Douglas said even though the newspaper stands by its story.
Despite the moral issues and whether he actually said this is what caused his cancer or not, the fact remains that oral sex can be linked to the rise in occurence of this kind of cancer. That a famous celebrity would name it and claim it brings it out into the open. A doctor being interviewed on the news said he was grateful to Douglas for making public a concern that most people won’t talk about.
All of this follows hard on the heels of Angelina Jolie’s essay in the New York Times explaining why she had both breasts removed after being diagnosed with a rare mutation of the BRCA gene that put her risk of developming breast cancer at nearly 90%. (Like her mother and aunt who have both died from the disease.)
In revealing her situation Jolie instantly created global awareness for genetic screening and preemptive medical procedures.
Catherine Zeta-Jones (married to Michael Douglas) has been pretty open about how her life is impacted by bi-polar disorder. She lives proactively with the disorder – refreshing news for the many people who struggle with bi-polar, a mental health issue that many try to hide.
So, I must today say thank you to those celebrities who use their celebrity status to bring to our attention those important issues that many of us would rather not talk about. These individuals have brought personal health struggles out into the open and by doing so likely have saved lives.
