a publicist's worst nightmare, well, maybe

Did anyone catch Paula Abdul on QVC last week? It was Friday, I believe, when she touted her wares on the shop-at-home-extravaganza channel and sounded like a complete lunatic. You have to check out the MSN video so you can watch her total and utter inability to complete thought. I wonder if her back pain medication is set at too a high a dosage. Normal people can find their nouns most of the time. At any rate, she does seem like she is struggling with something, and I hope she gets some help.

However, if she does just enjoy acting ridiculous, why not go for cooky or eccentric rather than substance abusive? To me, that doesn't seem like the image a major celebrity should shoot for. I've heard the conspiracy theory that the American Idol producers want Paula to act like this to fuel the rumor mill and drive up ratings. Yeah, maybe, but honestly you can't fake crazy like that and make it so consistent.

Did you catch the quote by her PR rep (Howard Bragman in case you were wondering), "Paula had a great time and sold a lot of beautiful merchandise." Way to evade the question Howard. But honestly, I think I might have done the same thing. If she is struggling with substance abuse, then it's her rep's job to protect her privacy and personal medical information. As a PR rep you also need to control when and how the message is released about your client's substance abuse problem and recovery if he or she is going through that. There's a very delicate way that information like that needs to be handled.

At the same time, how do you reign in the crazy? I mean, it's your job to look out for your client's image. You can't be with them every second of the day when they're out and about having contact with the other humans. And those seem to be the times when they cause the most damage.

This is why I could never be a personal PR rep. I can't deal with the crazy. I would lose my mind trying to come up with a way to fix their weird problems. My first reaction would be something along the lines of, "Why again am I digging you out of this hole that you dug for yourself? The fact that it's my job is no longer a good enough reason." It's not to say that I don't have sympathy, it's just celebrities do some really stupid things sometimes. If Britney Spears hasn't run her rep off yet, he or she must have gone into voluntary hiding by now.

Someone has to be there to put them back together, and I applaud people who have the sanity to do it for a living. Besides, no celebrity would want me to be their rep because I would never let them leave the house. That's how I would reign in the crazy.