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Celebrity Psychological Issues No. 14 – Denial & delusions of grandeur

“[He]…is the Chosen One. He’ll have the power to impact nations.” Tiger Woods’ father, Earl Tiger Woods on the cover of the February 2010 issue of Vanity Fair Photograph: Annie Leibovitz/AP
“[He]…is the Chosen One. He’ll have the power to impact nations.” Tiger Woods’ father, Earl Tiger Woods on the cover of the February 2010 issue of Vanity Fair Photograph: Annie Leibovitz/AP
Here is issue No. 14 of the Top 20 psychological issues of celebrities. Click here for the previous article, for issue No. 13.

14. “I am invincible & almighty” – Denial and delusions of grandeur

By now it is clear that the people around you are going to build you up – your fans, audience and those with vested interests in you i.e. parasites, enablers, entourage and handlers. They will constantly mold and edify your ego; they will give you hypnotic suggestions reinforcing your power, greatness, significance, value and godlike status.

What is the result?

Delusions of grandeur, and denial about your reality.

“I really do believe he was put here for a bigger reason than just to play golf. I don’t think that he is a god, but I do believe that he was sent by one.” – Michael Jordan discussing Tiger Woods

“[He]…is the Chosen One. He’ll have the power to impact nations.” – Tiger Woods’ father, Earl, in 1996 predicting his son’s rise to the heavens, saying he will be bigger than Ghandi or Buddha

Some of the forms of delusions of grandeur have already been noted above – lack of boundaries, ‘the law doesn’t apply to me’, ‘It’s all about me’, ‘Don’t you know who I am’, ‘I am entitled’ and so forth. However, the other aspect of delusions of grandeur is the belief that money will continue to pour in forever, and abundance will never end.

Musician Sting is the exception. Sting employs 100 people; in 2014, he warned his children there is no inheritance for them: “I told them there won’t be much money left because we are spending it. We have a lot of commitments. What comes in we spend, and there isn’t much left.”

Of course, there is also the belief that the lifestyle is eternal – the parties, power, and influence, and, the resulting delusion that ‘I am physically invincible.’

Many celebrities crash hard after a life of partying – alcohol and substance abuse, lack of sleep and proper self-care.

This leads to the second point about denial of reality:

The inability to grasp the real world.

When everything is exaggerated to the extreme – the attention, adulation, parties, mansions, jets, money, etc – then it is impossible to understand and fully appreciate the small things in life along with the real problems that face average people who lack the same resources. Thus, ungratefulness and entitlement reign and destroy gratitude and mental health.

After the fame comes the famine and mental health issues. The breakdown in the physical body and the lack of nourishment for the soul lead to a host of mental health problems: depression, suicidal tendencies, addictions, self-sabotage and potential destruction of one’s life.

For the next celebrity psychological issues, No. 15, click here

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