Corey Haim and I were the same age and we grew up in the same neighbourhood. He went to Zion Heights Junior High across the road from "my" plaza - the one with my library, McDonald's, Mac's Milk, and Pickle Barrel.
I didn't know Corey Haim, but I certainly knew of him, especially when he made it big in 1986. The thing that I remember most is how JEALOUS I was of him. Here's another scrawny teenager from Willowdale getting the break that should have been mine. There was a picture of him hugging his dog that girls I knew had hanging in his locker. He had the best 80s hair ever (and I wanted it soooo bad). Within a few years, he was everywhere and engaged to Nicole Eggert!
Then the drug and rehab stories came out. By the time I saw him on a couple of episodes of The Two Coreys two years ago, he looked awful - about ten years older than his age.
Watching him took me into a new paradigm. All those years, you could say the name "Corey Haim" and the green monster would wake up in my brain. Suddenly, I only felt bad for him and wished I could help him. I was really cheering for him - not for a comeback, but for some sense of normalcy in his life. Maybe he'd leave the industry behind and move back home. Alas, Hollywood got another one this morning.
This ending is certainly not unexpected, but it's still sad. I hope there's some peace for his soul and some comfort for his family and friends.
What's the lesson here? 25 years ago, there were two kids raised in similar circumstances. One became popular, the other was insanely jealous. The popular kid hit a massive high, then awful lows, and now he's dead.
The point is that maybe I should have been just living my life to my best definition of success without comparing myself to others. Who knows the real story behind that person in the paper, or on that magazine cover, or on TV? Their life could be a living hell behind the scenes.
It's something I need to remind myself of almost every day.
RIP Corey.
3 comments:
This will also be an amazing story/teaching opportunity to pull from some day, when your little bean is battling his or her own green monster.
I'm sad for Corey, but also glad Hollywood didn't get you instead.
Oddly enough, my musing about this elsewhere led me to be quoted for the first (and probably last) time on Gawker:
Big time
Cool!
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