By JOHN HISCOCK
There is so much hypocrisy surrounding the death of Philip Seymour Hoffman who died in his Manhattan apartment bathroom with a needle stuck in his arm and 70 bags of heroin within reach.
So many people who knew him have called his death “a shock.”
No it wasn’t.
Because all those who knew him knew only too well his addiction. He was last in rehab in May, he was unkempt, scruffy and appeared strung out at Sundance and only three days before his death he was totally out of it in an Atlanta restaurant and later on the plane to New York.
On the one occasion I interviewed him and at several press conferences I attended, although not doing drugs at the time, he was occasionally incoherent, mumbling and found it difficult to construct sentences.
Yes, he was a fine actor, no doubt about it. But not much of a father. Did he think about his three young children when he was sticking the needle in his arm to get yet another high?
His death has led to calls for tighter controls of drugs and an investigation into the easy availability of heroin. Yet if he had been a homeless bum, found in a back alley with a needle in his arm, would there have been such an outcry and outpouring of grief? I think not.
John Hiscock is a former Fleet Street journalist and foreign correspondent, now living in Santa Monica California, covering mainly entertainment news and features for the Daily Telegraph and other outlets. To follow his blog, visit www.johnhiscock.com
