I'm very vapid, and so celebrity click-baiting ALWAYS works on me. This time, the headline read, "20 celebrities with severe illnesses." So I'm into it. Get a sense of shared humanity and also add more information to bolster the frightening number of parasocial relationships I have.
If you've studied communication theory, you may know that a parasocial relationship is when a person feels like they know someone famous. For some troubled young maidens, Kim Kardashian feels like a big sister. I am looking forward to the time—and I know it will come—that I have tea with Angela Jolie and commiserate about the stresses of parenthood, of creative work and of being preternaturally beautiful.
Anyhow, so I clicked on the link and the first thing I learned is that Andrew Phelps' "severe illness" is ADHD. Got it myself a bit, and I know it can hinder someone considerably, but a severe illness? Ultimately, it helped the guy swim faster. His academic challenges were likely transmogrified into kinesthetic victories.
And so I just couldn't get past slide 1. I'd been used. I was poised to learn that Jennifer Lawrence had narcolepsy or Tom Cruise had St. Vitus' Dance. ADHD, indeed.
And another thing. Wait, what was I doing?
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