Scooters continuing Hollywood experience
March 17, 2006
Hollywood, California
As most of you know, Scooter had gone from a regular guy to superstar literally overnight. After shacking-up with the well-known producer who gave him his first major film role in the gay cowboy film, "Home On The Strange," Scooter then went on to a series of gay and straight relationships with some of the biggest stars in Hollywood. I couldn't pick up a tabloid without seeing his face on the cover with his love-interest-of-the-moment.
In no time, Scooter was commanding tens of millions of dollars a film and his name was on the lips of everyone in the business. I was lucky just to speak to him on the phone once in a while. When we were finally able to get together for lunch, it was a frantic and uncomfortable affair, as one person after another interrupted us for his autograph and the paparazzi shadowed our every move. I even obtained a certain amount of notoriety by just being seen with him and for a short time was referred to by the press as "the mystery woman in Scooter's life."
A mansion in the hills, a vacation villa in the south of France, fast cars, boats, expensive jewelry, "S" had it all. One magazine reported he owned so many Ferraris, he could drive a different one every day of the month and never drive the same one twice. He told me he hadn't even been in some of them, as he pretty much took a limo everywhere. Wow, Scooter truly had it all.
Despite his fairytale life, there was a dark side, though. Before long, the pressures of fame caused Scooter to develop a drug and alcohol problem that compromised his acting ability and undercut his personal relationships. Once the studios got wind of his problems, the big scripts dried up and he was left doing "B" movies for "C" money. Slowly but surely, it all started to unravel. Several drunk driving arrests kept him on the front pages of the tabloids. Finally, his arrest at a seedy crack house signified his reaching bottom. He was a junkie, bankrupt, alone, and broken. After a dizzying freefall from the heights of superstardom to the lowest filthy gutter, the only direction was up.
I brought Scooter home from the Betty Ford Clinic yesterday and he's doing pretty good. While in recovery he discovered God and is slowly picking up the pieces of his shattered life. As for myself, it's just good having my friend back like he was a week ago, before Hollywood seduced him.