Michael Jackson And The 'Extreme' Price Of Fame

(CNN) -- The celebrity flameout is a Hollywood cliché -- a mantel worn tragically by the likes of Lenny Bruce and John Belushi and handed down through the years to tabloid-populating stars such as Lindsay Lohan and Britney Spears.


Jackson arrives at his child molestation trial in 2005. A jury later acquitted him of the charges.


Michael Jackson waves to a crowd of fans and photographers in New York's Times Square.
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But Michael Jackson, dead at 50 after a life marked by unrivaled heights of pop brilliance and bizarre behavior that threatened to overshadow it, stood at the pinnacle of celebrity and embodied all the turmoil it can entail.

It's a perch experts say played a major role in his troubles in life and, perhaps, his untimely death.

"He sums up every aspect of it, having the ultimate fame, the ultimate power, the ultimate influence," said Patrick Wanis, a therapist and counselor who counts celebrities among his clients. "He also sums it up in every extreme aspect of the word."

Jackson, who died Thursday in Los Angeles, California, spoke repeatedly about the toll that a life spent in the public eye took on him emotionally, particularly as a child star singing with his brothers in the group Jackson 5.


By Doug Gross
CNN