DJ AM Found Dead

@south2nd: The only treatment he seems to have had by all public accounts was to work on an "Intervention"-like show for MTV. Basically, not treating the problem but working with a major corporation to capitalize on his pain. Not cure the problem. Who goes on a TV show to solve their problems?

And now that it's turned out he was indeed smoking crack when he died and had it mixed with other drugs, I would really love to hear a few more elaborate explanations about how this was inevitable.

Paris Hilton and others Tweeted about him. How many of them actually made efforts to reach out and help? Pretty sure that count is: 0.

Really sad. I wonder what led police to his apartment - were friends and/or loved ones trying to reach him and couldn't?

OrneryBabe

I found this interview with DJ AM, it was published exactly a month ago. I will let his words speak for themselves. He was working on a show for MTV helping teenagers overcome substance abuse. To anyone who reads this and anyone who has commented on here, I'm asking you to read it. I didn't follow AM's career but his answers in this interview and everything he had to say touched me. I think it will give you invaluable insight into who he was as a person. RIP Adam.

[www.huffingtonpost.com]

another one from People mag via:
[evilbeetgossip.film.com]

As for those who come here to express judgment or ill will, I leave these quotes:

"Condemnation without investigation is the highest form of ignorance"-Albert Einstein

"I am you and you are me. What I do to you I do to myself."-Mayan saying

"I do not think the measure of a civilization is how tall its buildings of concrete are, But rather how well its people have learned to relate to their environment and fellow man."-Sun Bear of the Chippewa Tribe

"What we now want is closer contact and better understanding between individuals and communities all over the earth, and the elimination of egoism and pride... Peace can only come as a natural consequence of universal enlightment."-Nikola Tesla, 1919

"It is not the brains that matter most, but that which guides them -- the character, the heart, generous qualities, progressive ideas."-Fyodor Dostoyevsky

Adam may have been getting daily treatment for all we know. Unfortunately, psychiatric disorders aren't as easily fixed as a broken collar bone.

My acupuncture school is currently in a pilot program to treat soldiers with PTSD. We can make great inroads with hyper-arousal, anxiety and insomnia, but the best medical care in the world can't erase your experiences or magically create coping mechanisms where none exist.

@Novaload Is Just Plain Novaload Again: No, I'm calling him an insensitive asshole for being an insensitive asshole. Just because Adam had resources doesn't mean that his PTSD was any less hellish an experience than some uninsured survivor of a horrific accident. Sympathy is not a zero sum game, and feeling bad for this kid and his family doesn't cost any of us one red cent.

It's very sad. I suppose everyone expected him to just be grateful he'd survived and leave it at that. Not so easy. In a world where most people can't handle having their five thousand calorie latte served under-warm without popping a Xanax, I'm sure this poor chap had more than his share of guilt combined with his pre-existing problems. Bookish, I'm sorry if he was a friend of yours. TroisFilles.

TroisFilles

@BBooms: I was really drunk last night, the amount of vitriol in my last comment was unwarranted. Sorry.

@ian spiegelman: We were not friends, but I met him a few times and he was tight with a friend of mine, so yes, sweetie, I guess I care that he died because it did not have to be that way.

I knew he had an ongoing thing with drugs, but the last time I saw him he was doing pretty well with it. As a former gossip reporter, I am sure you know a lot about a lot of people and their drug use. And so you have a cynical edge about that topic. So do I, actually, but it comes out of fury, not disgust.

You know, he was a sweet guy who really understood music and how it moves people and it sucks that he had to die so young.

BookishLookish

@Novaload Is Just Plain Novaload Again: Who the fuck is giving out the stars around here? Novaload, are you incapable of responding to multiple thoughts in one comment?

And, regardless, just please confirm for me: you don't think people should mourn those who you consider "addicts," especially if they had money. Fuck them, right? They could have done it better, but they didn't, so they're worthless!

What. the. fuck. is. wrong. with. you.

Some people have a harder time with things, and you blame them for falling too deeply into the actions that provide them relief? You really think you're a different, better, human being?

Do you realize that this entire comment hellswamp was created because SpyMagician (and clearly yourself) have a problem with people expressing their sympathy over the death of a guy who by all accounts was a good person?

@Novaload Is Just Plain Novaload Again: The original poster stated that people who were expressing condolences over DJ AM's death were "apologists." He justified this partly by creating a false dilemma, suggesting those of us who feel sad that a troubled man met a premature death must NOT care about mentally ill homeless people. Because clearly, it's one or the other. And you fueled this by repeatedly criticizing AM for not being able to overcome his problems through therapy and medication. This shows that you are extremely ignorant to the issues that surround addiction and mental illness.

It is the fact that we are able to think rationally and logically, because we are not in the depth of an addiction, or a mental illness that allows most of us to take care of ourselves, and get physical and mental help where we need it. Delusional thinking, and dependence are two of the hallmarks of mental illness and addiction, and are what make it very difficult for addicts and mentally ill people to get help when they need it. This is why a known addict, like DJ AM could be clean for 11 years and relapse after undergoing what truly must have been a horrific ordeal when his plane crashed.

I'm not sure why you'd think I would blame my mother MORE than I blame DJ AM, since I've done nothing but state that mental illness can be very difficult to treat, and therefore one shouldn't be quick to judge how any person with a true mental illness or addiction ended up hitting rock bottom or dying. In fact, you're the one that has suggested that someone who had resources, yet still could not overcome the PTSD, addiction, schizophrenia, etc. was responsible for his or her downfall. And I was stating the exact opposite. I think it's because you still don't understand that a person can have both empathy for the very rich and the very poor who suffer from mental illness and addiction. These are not things you can just throw money at, I really wish people were more educated about these illnesses.

And really, having family that is able to help you out is as valuable to helping those with an illness as money is. Now I'm NOT trying to say that those with resources and access to healthcare are not in an infinitely better position to deal with their illness than those who have no resources. I absolutely agree with Spymagician about that. As much as I hate to get back to the personal, I already opened that door. My family's resources have always been fairly modest, and when the monetary resources were depleted, they relied on state institutions and funding to provide care for my mother. These are resources that are available to every single person in the state I lived in. And my mother has absolutely been a success story, despite having spent periods of time being homeless. More money could not have stopped her from hitting that bottom. We need to make these level of resources available across the country, and not just in some states! Support Obamacare!

You suggest I need therapy, based on two comments you've read that I've made online. This is probably why people don't reveal anything deeply personal about themselves online- trolls will latch onto that painful event because it's an extremely easy way to try to discredit and hurt the person they disagree with. It's probably much easier for you to do that, than to actually think about the substance of my comments.

Also, if you don't want someone to write a novel after they get home from the bar, don't suggest they need therapy. So, lesson learned for everyone!

@fuzzymuffins: I know right? As the guy in the music video that you didn't wanna fuck...

bongenre

@ContactAllergy:
American Suicidol?

Btwbfdimho

@Dürer's Rhino: What a profoundly asshole comment. It's also illogical and an ad hominem fallacy and so doesn't actually rebut spymagician's point. Money matters. Money affects the kind of care you get and your overall health and wellbeing. And you're calling him an insensitive asshole for stating that truth?

@goldengirl11: I did read this; and you don't know anything about me or my life, either. Setting that aside, you comment "For whatever reasons" your mother ended up on the street is the key here--that is exactly what we are debating here. And whlie you are so very hostile--accusing me of being an "asshole" who would have passed her on the street--let me advise you to go get some therapy yourself, because you are obviously very angry and troubled about your mother's illness and obviously harbor some blame toward her. Don't let that ruin your life. Get some therapy.

@merc6point9: Wah, wah, wah. There are people who have had MUCH WORSE childhoods and issues and didn't become junkies. He oculd have checked into a hospital and been safe, end of story.

@merc6point9: The difference is, some people have access to the key; some people don't. He was first and foremost an addict. He could have checked into any fine private hospital he chose. He could have checked into rehab if he thought he was about to falter. He could have made himself safe.

@nikkilove: He was a junkie BEFORE the crash.

Bookish... That's the guy you care about? His drug problem was very much a pre-existing condition before the crash.

@Thomas Paladino: you need to quit watching reefer madness. i've been smokin weed over 35 years and have never known anybody to have a "psychotic break". i call bullshit.

fuckingoldman

@BenderingTimeV2: I did not mean to be callous. I seriously think it is a sad song.

Please downgrade me from "unhip" to "clueless."

...at least his crazy town legacy will live on....

@BxgrlJeri: and working in night clubs. i mean, how sober can one stay when you're the entertainment to a room full of sinners?

@Wrapitup: I didn't know that either until I read the Glamor article linked in the story. His description of his thoughts, even at that stage (January 08), sounded like he was still struggling with some self-loathing and with forgiving himself for what he'd done in his life in the past (not uncommon for addicts and others with mental health concerns--hell, not uncommon for most of us I suspect!). I cannot imagine the horrible PTSD from surviving a crash like the one he lived through, and the scarring (physical and emotional) no doubt served as a constant reminder (how often do you see your own hands, especially as a DJ?). For someone who was still struggling with body issues the scars alone would have been tough to deal with. Add to that all of the other elements and you truly have a sort of "perfect storm".

merc6point9

@AjaxAnya: Well said. Rest in peace, Adam.

@merc6point9: Wow, I didn't know the poor guy was abused as a kid. That explains a lot. I suspected it given his history of drug addiction and depression. The emotional pain from an abusive childhood combined with survivor's guilt and the aftermath of the plane crash must be devastating. He must already have had PTSD from being abused as a kid.

@merc6point9: Please keep commenting. You're very right in saying that treatment, even if it includes therapy, for PTSD takes time.

@Novaload Is Just Plain Novaload Again: The reason I even ventured into this shitstorm of comments is because my mother, in fact, has been a "homeless mentally ill person," and it pisses me off to no end to see assholes, who I am certain would have passed her on the street without a second thought, reference people like her in order to make others feel guilty for expressing empathy for another person who either suffered from addiction or illness.

But then, I doubt you seriously read my comment, because it's so much easier to accuse me of not having empathy for homeless people than it is to acknowledge someone else could have a valid point.

Like many of the other sick people she knew, my mother came from a good home, with good resources, yet over the 25 year period she suffered from schizophrenia and alcoholism, there were times, for whatever reasons, she ended up on the streets.

My point was EXACTLY the opposite of what you got from my comment. I'm not saying that homeless people chose to be homeless, and should be judged for it, but that you can't look at any one addict or mentally ill person and judge the reasons he or she has OD'ed, become homeless, or committed suicide. Because if you went to the streets, and started judging the people there with the same criteria AM is being judged by (having resources at some point to get help), I can guarantee you that your empathy for some of them would not be going so far.

My point is that it's HARD to treat mental illnesses and addictions, and AM is proof of this. You can't start deciding which people "deserve" to be ill, and which don't.

DJ AM publicly gave an interview to People about how he was trying to seek therapy for PTSD, and has spoken frequently about his battles with addiction. In fact, he was supposed to be producing a show with MTV about interventions in young addicts' lives, so I highly doubt he chose to have an untreated illness or addiction like you are implying.

And you know, I didn't cry or get upset when I heard about DJ AM, I just thought, "god, that's really sad." And that is what a lot of people are expressing here. You forget that AM was in an industry where he worked with, and made an impression on a great number of people, and he had a fantastic reputation. Even though many of us never got a chance to meet him, I know a DJ who worked with him, and commented on how nice he was. I'm sure many other people have heard what a nice guy he was too. It doesn't take much energy to say that it's too bad that such a nice guy died a premature death.

@SpyMagician: So it's his fault because he had money. Got it. What a wonderful view of the world you must have.

@SpyMagician: I'd also like to point out that, although I didn't know much about him, a quick review of the links in this article shows that he had a history of an abusive childhood, early severe drug addition, depression, suicide attempt, binge eating, and other serious mental health issues before the age of 25. He apparently was sent away to treatment while still a teenager and had a very negative experience where he was certainly not "taken care of". He had successfully dealt with all of that before the plane crash, after which I am certain many of those earlier issues returned with a vengeance. Former addicts frequently struggle with relapse after being given necessary pain medications in the hospitals. It stands to reason as well that a young man with a history of emotional abuse and depression would suffer some mental health setbacks after being burned and watching as four other people died.

On another note, it seems as if you may be letting your experience of growing up poor skew your opinions by making you feel less sympathetic toward those who have/had more than you. I'd encourage you to try not to carry that burden with you for your whole life. It will make you a very angry person. (I mean that genuinely, not as an ass.) I forget who said it, but "the poor are better off than the rich, for they still think money can solve all their problems". I wouldn't say I totally agree with that statement, but I think there is some truth in it. Access to resources does help, but it isn't everything.

merc6point9

@SpyMagician: Alright alright alright...I think the truth lies somewhere in the middle. Does it suck to be homeless, mentally ill, and drug addicted? Absolutely. Does it suck to be rich, mentally ill, and drug addicted? Absolutely. The cages look different, but they have the same key.

I think it's imperative that none of us belittles anyone else's struggles. Until you walk in those shoes, don't judge.

I didn't know the guy, didn't know anyone in his family or circle of friends, but I don't need to know any of them to have a sense of compassion for someone who lived through something so rough. My immediate reaction after reading the headline that he was dead was that it was a direct result of survivor's guilt/PTSD. Those are not easily treatable conditions.

As someone who works in mental health I'd like to point out that even if he had been seeking treatment and was having regular therapy sessions that doesn't mean that he would suddenly be okay with everything in his life. It takes time to work through these issues and, sadly, sometimes people can't hang on that long.

merc6point9

@bongenre: I'm not a doctor, but I trust that she's not making it up. I'd actually never heard that until she told me either. I don't know how frequent it is or anything, but like I said, I believer her, you believe whatever you want, I don't care. I do think it's hysterical how people rush to defend weed like it's a family member though.

Thomas Paladino

@SpyMagician:

Amen. I think The Superficial summed up how I feel about the whole thing with "Way to make the most of a second chance at life"

@SpyMagician: I had PTSD fram a car accident. It was a nightmare. I almost died...you would think I would have come out happy, and grateful. I wasn't. All I could remember was the sight and smell of the charred man who was laid next to me in triage to die. I refused to sleep, or else I would see visions of my children, dead in the backseat (they survived the crash with little injury).

That said, I did seek help...I live in Southern California, and pursued a discipline called EMDR. It was my miracle...but again, MY miracle. It doesn't work for everyone.

No one can ever understand the pain of PTSD. Those demons are insidious....they are ruthless. They never give you a break, and they never let you rest. In fact, they sense when you cannot take it anymore..and it is then that they hit you the hardest.

I can only imagine what Adam saw...heard...smelled. Burning flesh is a wicked smell...and is stays with you. No amount of Cristal, LearJets, fancy hotels and vacations can ever make up for the tricks your PTSD mind can play on you.

Believe me.

nikkilove

@bongenre: My best bong (for weed) was actually a crack pipe of sorts

PrissyCatheadBiscuit

@SpyMagician: Wow, so edgy. Were you born an insensitive asshole or have you worked hard at it? Either way, you're really good at it.

@Thomas Paladino: Many people being who? Medical journals? articles even?
We've all heard that so I'd like to know if you're aware of a single specific example.

bongenre

@BBooms: I don't have to know him personally to know that anyone whose career is "DJ" and who has a drug problem and whose last tragedy was a Learjet accident is far more privileged—and had access to far more resources—than average "nobodies." Who is poor, without resources and a career DJ who flies around in private jets? Hint: Nobody who is poor.

And if you think money and access to resources can't help you? Give us all a break. I'm a white Jew-boy but the idea that money can't solve problems is the whitest of white canards ever.

And in my experience growing up white and poor in NYC but having some middle class friends, if you were poor—regardless of race—and fell into drugs or depression you were screwed. If you were middle class and your parents whisked you away for treatment you were taken care of.

@Stream Of Consciousness: My fiance is a psychiatrist at Bellvue. Believe whatever you want, I'll listen to her.

Thomas Paladino

@kolacek: Yes. The American medical establishment has failed quite spectacularly in even recognizing, leave alone treating, the various facets and dimensions of PTSD. I have known PTSD-sufferers to develop ADD, hallucinations, personality changes, rapid weight loss or weight gain and yes, drug and alcohol addiction ...the list goes on. Their psychiatrists never once helped them understand what was going on and how they could navigate their scary symptoms, and instead only prescribed stronger and stronger medication. This of course did nothing to actually help them feel better or at least understand what was happening to them.

The medical establishment has thus also failed to develop nuanced lines of treatment for different types of trauma. While the war veteran, the childhood incest survivor, the accident victim, the prison rape survivor, the Holocaust survivor and the battered wife all suffer from PTSD, each one of them has symptoms that are specific to the kind of trauma they suffered. But they all get lumped in under one category of "PTSD patient'.

Billions of dollars are invested into lucrative pharmaceuticals that do little over the long-term to heal PTSD while the real pain, confusion and terror that PTSD patients go through is largely left untreated in most cases. In such situations, blaming someone for trying drugs as a last recourse is utterly naive. DJ AM's death is a symptom of the utter inadequacy of modern PTSD treatment and not an example of drug addicts being weak or any such simplistic belief.

@Thomas Paladino: Many people have had a permanent psychotic break from reading the Catcher in the Rye or the Book of Revelations. It's not a OD in the typical sense, but it definitely happens.

otakugirl

@Thomas Paladino: "Reefer Madness"? Get out of here with that nonsense.

@BookishLookish: For a person in recovery to need heavy pain killers and be suffering from PTSD is an awful combination - add to that a troubled personal life and emotional issues, and this isn't surprising. He also had gastric bypass surgery, which isn't very good for the body could very well weakened his heart.

It's a real shame.

@SuryakantiTheia: Lisa 'Left Eye' Lopes was the only fatality in a car crash involving 5+ people, so there goes your crackpot theory!

Understater

@Novaload Is Just Plain Novaload Again:

Thanks for saying that. Depression is now widely though of only as a chemical imabalance. Most people don't know that the right kind of therapy is vastly more effective than medication for most people.

squeakel

PM sadly falls upon AM.

Adieu.

J. Frank Parnell

@goldengirl11: I read your comment again and I have to say this: Try to find out what the resources are for mentally ill people. There are NO places for them to go; there used to be but those all closed, thanks to Reagan, who thought he was liberating zoo animals I guess. They have to find some help to get meds, to get therapy, there are almost no charities left, over the last couple of decades to help them. There's a whole series of issues that cause people to end up ill and on the streets---but you imply that it's their own fault, they just rejected all these choices. Shame on you. And you dare to criticize someone who doesn't feel sorry for someone with resources who junked out? You just severely and wrongly judged thousands and thousands of people who fell through the cracks. You have A LOT to learn about empathy.

Ugh, I feel gutted. I missed all this last night.

I met him a few times. Such a sweetie.

How can I explain what a lovely person he was? You can see it in his eyes in that picture. How hard it must have been for him to have narcotics back in his life after kicking, all the legal and appropriate painkillers he needed and was given after the plane crash. Then along with dealing with that horror, he was shoved back on the drug train, then that train crashed.

So sad. RIP, Adam. It is no way near as good without you now.

BookishLookish

@stew: Zing! Brilliant.

@Baroness: No man is an island, yadda yadda yadda--but there is a point in what spy magician said. Where were all these people when Jasmine was murdered? Very little sympathy here--in fact, outrageous post about "You go girl." And elsewhere her death was pretty much treated as a joke.
There are degrees here, from your personal family to some stranger on the other side of the world. There are people who die in innocence, people who couldn't get help, and people who could but don't, and give in to their weakness. That's worthy of pity, maybe, but it's still bad choices.

Spymagician never said he was god and he's entitled to his opinion. There are people who, when they finally die, I will laugh and feel relieved, even when said corpse had a family--I felt really great when Ted Bundy died, for one, and I'll be happy when Bernie Madoff dies.
We all pass judgments all the time--andin the real world, we are not required to be "sensitive" to other people's sacred cows.
Ever watch "Intervention"? Do you see how none of these addictions are possible without the active enabling of the people around them? How every addict is a selfish freak, ultimately, who takes the easy way of killing the pain rather than dealing with it? Where were all these bereaved people then? When he's dead, it's too late. Where were they when he was alive and in trouble?

[www.box.net]

loseroftheyear

@ContactAllergy: Seriously. Final Destination much?

@theMoJo: My pary are with the family. Where will they take him too lady him to rest?

@SpyMagician: I completely agree with you, but it's probably in poor taste to say it the day after he died. This is, after all, a gossip site.

@SpyMagician: I don't want to turn this into some kind of comment war, but I think what's going on is that you think people are way more upset than they are. I'm not torn up about it; I just think that it's a sad event and that there's nothing wrong with expressing sympathy when another human being (who by many accounts was a good guy) passes away.

Perhaps you should take a step back and wonder why this simple act is bothering you so much, and why you're so intent on casting a guy you didn't know as a "privileged drug addict." Don't even try to tell me there isn't a negative connotation to that phrase. I thought you weren't speaking ill of the dead?

@Thomas Paladino: Yeah, I saw that movie in the 60s too. File that right up there with "acid flashbacks" -- if only.

@goldengirl11: I don't recall anyone mentioning that he had an actual therapist or got counseling, which, you know, unlike drugs, will not actually kill you. So one of his "resources"--which, contrary to what you say, millions of people DON'T have--would have been going to therapy. Instead he loaded up on drugs. You should be frustrated that maybe therapy is stigmatized still or that he was too stubborn to go or took the easy solution of drugs. If you don't get therapy, you're not really doing everything you can to beat the demons.

@BBooms: Yes, I can think that. Have you ever stepped back to analyze why you are upset over the death of a privileged drug addict who you don't know at all and who would never give you the time of day if you passed him on the street?

@bongenre: When was the last time you heard of someone overdosing on pot?

I can't stand Perez Hilton, but there are "legitimate" news orgs printing the same thing.

So who's going to be the Martha Dunnstock of this Heathers-esque "Summer of Death?" I'm looking at you, Paula Abdul...

ContactAllergy

@Sigerson: That's a myth. Many people have had a permanent psychotic break from smoking weed. It's not a OD in the typical sense, but it definitely happens.

Thomas Paladino

That is practically my mantra.

CarlinaZeikfried

@CarlinaZeikfried: To true. It needs to be repeated far and wide that NO ONE HAS EVER OD'D ON WEED

First Madonna lives, then both Barbara Boxer AND Diane Feinstein continue to breathe. Joe Nameth, Lorenzo Lamas, Bill Gates - all alive.....Elizabeth Taylor......Stephen Hawking......WTF!?!?!?!?1!!11!!!

These deaths are always sad, but NEVER instructive. I'm 50. Its a little after 7AM and I'm into the weed already, so no judgement from team-me. DONT be surprised if the Gastric bypass is somehow a contributer.

CarlinaZeikfried

@SpyMagician: I'm in awe of your presumptuous attitude and blind arrogance. Unless *you* knew the man, you're not exactly in a position to cast aspersions or critique his methodology for handling his deamons. Perhaps he was engaged in addiction counselling and intensive psychotherapy? You have no way of knowing. To say that you cannot find the energy or the sympathy to feel sorry for someone based entirely on his socio-economic standing and past issues is to say to the world that you know far better than we addled-minds do. I wonder - if you were going through an exceptional rough patch, would you want us to speak of you in the same vein? Your post only leads me to believe that you have the emotional intelligence of a toddler.

Staying clean and sober is hard enough without almost dying in a plane crash and having a bunch of surgeries. Sorry to hear of his passing.

@SpyMagician:
In this moment, please do not use this as a forum for your own ignorance and blind self-righteousness.

please learn to take responsibility for your words. Judging those you do not know does not make you more righteous. We are all on this path together.

AM was a complex and genuine soul. Understand that fame and art and work are not necessarily inclusive with an easy life of luxury.

piedra

@Dave J.:
What an incredibly insensitive comment. As someone who knows PTSD victims and people recovering from drug abuse, I find it offensive that HUMAN BEINGS find it necessary to disregard a HUMAN BEINGS' life because of trauma he faced. Life is too complex for many of us to understand. Educated yourself. AM was a dynamic, complicated, and genuine soul, with a heart of gold. I hope he is remembered as such.

please learn to take responsibility for your words. Judging those you do not know does not make you more righteous. We are all on this path together.

piedra

Many of you have articulated the problems with Spy Magician's post better than I could have. One thing about which there can't be enough understanding is the disease of addiction (which goldengirl11 touched on). It's a horrible illness that doesn't care if you're living on the street or flying in a fucking lear jet. Sure, DJ AM had the money, and therefore, the resources at his disposal to conquer his drug problems, and for nine years, he did. But he'd hit a moment of weakness and, for whatever reason, he felt overwhelmed by it. And that's the shitty, insidious nature behind addiction; it's like a demon that knows just when you're at your lowest and how to sneak into that one crevice of your psyche that will justify revisiting a bad habit. It takes over until you're ready to face it, tackle it, and commit to sobriety. No amount of money makes this decision any easier.

No, I didn't know him, but I've known my share of addicts, some of whom have left open an intimate window into their struggles, and I'm humbled by their generosity. Losing someone high-profile is a blatant reminder of how easily I could lose someone I do know should they experience their own moment of weakness.
So while I might not be tied up in knots, you'll have to forgive me if this does give me pause and a desire to express compassion toward yet another human being who couldn't beat the odds.

noonecaresowen

@OrneryBabe: The shame and guilt that you saved yourself and that I endured will probably hit you next week anyway when fate conspires against you.

sloanish

@SpyMagician: What is your problem? By all accounts DJ AM was a good guy. Yeah, most people commenting (including myself) may not have known him, and it's true that good people die every day and don't receive press, but how on earth does this guy's fame invalidate an outpouring of sympathy?

All you can think is, "well I've never flown in a Learjet, so fuck him." Really?

@SpyMagician: "It's called perspective."

No, shithead, it's called empathy. It's the ability to feel something for a complete stranger--to relate to their struggle or sadness...or, maybe in this case, just to the fact that they died before they wanted to die. Isn't that enough?

It really saddens me to see bickering on this thread. It's not respectful to Adam or the people in his life who loved him and cared for him. He was a person, just like you, with fears and dreams and virtues and vices. And now he's left us, and this is irreversible.

Please stop villainizing him because of his struggle with drug abuse. Using drugs doesn't make you a bad person. Don't let the government or your culture moralize the issue to the point where you view people who have tried drugs as evil or unfit people. That's a ludicrous conclusion, and it’s frightening how many people settle on that view.

I wish we passed less judgment on the choices people make and started trying to understand why they made those choices. The choices we make inevitably take us down varying paths, and sometimes we make the wrong choices and end up in a place we wish we didn't know about. But then you've come so far, and it's a long hard trek back. But to help that person, you have to understand how they got there, so that you can help them find their way back.

Adam was in the public eye, so it’s understandable that people who don’t know him personally would sympathize for him and his family. Or are you just an unfeeling un-empathetic person? I hope not. Haven’t you ever been sad when you read a story and one of the characters dies unexpectantly? Well, a lot of people are familiar with this artist’s story, but in this case, his story his real. Rest in peace, Adam. My condolences to his friends and family.

AjaxAnya

I am truely sorry for your lots

theMoJo

@SpyMagician: you're a sad, sad person. Have some respect.

lalajessica

@goldengirl11: You hit the nail on the head.

lalajessica

@SpyMagician: dude, he was FAMOUS. Famous people dying, even in stupid ways = giant pity party. Did you you not get the memo?

My celeb crack addict flag is at half mast. I hurt.

@bongenre: We have a government run organization called the CRTC - Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission. They are basically the rule-enforcers, but if something is serious enough it will go to the actual courts. The Comission creates and enforces guidelines that all stations must follow, and all companies have to apply to them if they want to open a new station, buy another media company or merge with them, make changes to existing formats and other notable things. If viewer makes a formal complaint to the comission, they have the right to investigate a newsroom and if fault is found, lay charges.
Also... our legal system is much tighter than the US. Cameras are not allowed in courtrooms or even in the courthouse (In most cases reporters can be in there, but no cameras or other recording devices), and if a publication ban is put in place, absolutely none of the details of that trial can be reported. Many publication bans are permanently enforced, meaning even after the trial the details are never allowed to be revealed. We've had many high profile murder and other criminal trials, and even years after the fact have never learned the details. So yes... if a newspaper, television or radio station publishes information that is false or defamatory, they can be sued. And sometimes are.

DeadliestSin

@SpyMagician:
I really hate it when people get on the soapbox about giving a shit about a rich person's mental health problems because there are "mentally ill homeless people," and the rest of us clearly don't give a fuck about them if we think it's sad that this man's life prematurely ended. These aren't mutually exclusive things. You can wish both AM and less fortunate mentally ill people got the help they needed. In fact, that would be the compassionate, consistent way to think about this.

I also don't understand where you think these poor homeless mentally ill people came from. They don't just sprout up on the streets all crazy. Many of them came from good homes, came from good families and still aren't able to overcome their addictions and illnesses and that is WHY they end up on the streets. Obviously better access to better healthcare would help many of them, but in many cases, it's not like someone can just magically throw money at the problem and make it get better. And if you look at Britney Spears and DJ AM, this should be very clear.

That's what makes a death like DJ AM's so frustrating to me, because even with all of his resources, and all of his money, he still was not able to beat his demons, whether he committed suicide or accidentally overdosed.

Didn't know the guy.

I have in fact dealt with PTSD by using a pile of cocaine. It's terrible medicine, but medicine it is.

Trauma is some heavy shit, and PTSD and drug abuse go together like peanut butter and jelly.

Please, don't judge anyone...whether it's a guy lying in his own piss on a sidewalk or a rich guy sleeping on a bed of Ben Franklins.

If they both have PTSD they are both going through major fucking Hell.

@Baroness: Thank you for this.

I didn't know the man, but this news nonetheless deeply saddened me. I hope he is at peace.

karion

I don't know much about DJ AM. But I do know about PTSD and I know that there is no magic cure- the only thing that got me through it was time.

I read this-and it speaks volumes:
#
Please Read
December 30, 2008

Hello All -

Normally I don't feel like I NEED to make a statement like this, but after I read some recently reported untruths I feel like I have to. I want to take a second to address the hurtful posts and clear up any misunderstandings any of you may have about my law suit. I would NEVER sue the deceased pilots' estates or personal holdings. I am more than grateful that I survived this horrible accident and I'd never try to take anything from those that didn't. Despite the misinterpretations of the lawsuit, this suit is against the insurance companies that insured the pilots. I'm not after Sarah's or James' personal estates nor their property. Everyone involved in this suit has suffered a great deal, and I would not do anything to make matters worse for the deceased family and friends. Daily I live with the guilt and grief of what happened that night, what I saw, who was lost and why I was spared. I have no words to express the pain that comes with knowing four people died, while I lived.

Adam "DJ AM" Goldstein

@SpyMagician: I did not know him, but I have two friends who did, a musician and a DJ. They are shocked and saddened, they said he was a delightful, unpretentious guy. So what? You're still being insensitive about a young man's death.

May I ask why it matters whether I knew him? No, I'm not tied up in knots, that's your projection. Are you in music? Because there's an animus from you on this topic. Actually don't answer, i don't care.

No, you're not "questioning why total strangers care". You accused DJ AM of being a privileged brat who "chose" not to deal with his demons. Not the same thing at all.

"Let me make it simpler"- no, don't. You could not be simpler. You've chosen to declare you have no sympathy here at a man's death. No one asked, and I wonder what pleasure you get from declaring these utterly useless feelings of yours. Criticizing the dead guy. Oh, do stop now, because your meanspiritedness here is clear, and indefensible.

@Baroness: Let me make it simpler- Did you know him personally? As in hung out with him personally and had a social life together? If so, I am sorry for your loss.

But if you did not know him personally, the idea that you will tie yourself up in knots and mourn his death as if he was a personal friend is utterly baffling to me.

I'm not speaking ill of the dead as much as questioning why total strangers would feel a loss in the death of someone they never knew and someone who most likely would never mourn your own death if the tables were turned.

It's called perspective.

Too many people dying like this--and without possible fame and fortune, even. This is the type of news that gets one going.

Now that is the question taking into acount of a variable of some god/world-view of a god who "loves those who help themselves" type of thing. j

I've begun to recount the number of deaths of this nature.

@SpyMagician: I'm sorry simple human sympathy eludes you at the death of a 36 year old who by all accounts was a shy and nice guy, who made people happy playing records . He was someone's son, someone's brother, someone's friend. I don't know why you feel the need to comment, to pass judgement on his life.

How do you know he "chose" not to deal with his demons? How do you know what being half scorched to death in an airplane crash is like, and the painkillers needed? He'd had drug issues in the past. Who are you to judge, on the day this young man died? Are you God?

I've rather had it with the grave-dancing this week. The Internet is full of judgemental people dying to give their negative personal opinions on the very recently deceased. Speculation about their lives. I do believe in karma, and pray people like this consider the hour of their own deaths. And think twice about speaking so ill of the dead, in this case tragically young.

@SpyMagician: I think it's sad if someone dies who never hurt anyone (that I know of), no matter what it's from. It's sad that people have to turn to drugs to deal with their problems. So yes, although I didn't know DJ AM personally, I do feel bad for his family and friends. Is that really so terrible to have compassion when someone dies?

mharker

@Shelwood: It's a tragic reality that many people believe your life becomes easier proportionately with the amount of money you earn. It's tragic because that mindset does not readily go away if one achieves wealth, which in itself brings many challenges.

bongenre

@Shelwood: Never said his life had less value, but he simply had more access to resources that could help him than folks less famous or connected than him.

We're having a national health care debate in the U.S. over the value of covering the poor and even relating stories of folks who are homeless, mentally ill and have 100% no resources beyond the street.

DJ AM had more resources than the homeless mentally ill (thank you Ronald Reagan!) and more resources than most people commenting, posting or even working at this site. And he chose a path that destroyed him by not dealing with it.

If anyone knows him personally, I feel sorry for your loss. But I think most of the people posting here not only don't know him, but would never even get a "Hello!" or any bit of politeness if you ran into him on the street. So while I understand the gloss of fame, my general attitude towards someone who has resources, is an addict and has apparently died because of their addiction is: There are better things to think about.

@Dave J.: It can be imagined that such an astonishing ordeal would render concerns as petty and malevolent as that unimportant.

bongenre

@DeadliestSin: I'm astounded by what passes for serious news on many American based sites (not Gawker, where all the news is fit to print, I savour the lack of pretense.) I occasionally cringe when I find myself reading an entirely fabricated journalists' fantasy based on a miniscule news clipping and embellished by one of Tina Brown's hacks to an unrecognizable tangent.

Shit, if I'm in Canada can I get sued for that? Don't hurt me, Tina.

bongenre

@SpyMagician: I'm not sure what you think the treatment is for PTSD. Having money isn't going to make it any less painful. There's no pill to make it go away. The best resources these days encourage trauma victims to allow the memories and emotions happen and give behavioral tools to help tolerate it, so having the money for better treatment might actually be a more difficult path than repressing everything.

Whether this was suicide or a drug relapse, he'd still have to choose to tell someone what's going on in his head. Most people reflexively cover up a depression.

You don't have to mourn him, but it's strange to claim his life has less value because he had a higher net worth than most.

Shelwood

@ChampsWife: True facts, Teed Kennedy, the hockey player, died on the 18th.

@SpyMagician: My guess is that the "dots behind the thing" can be sad and lead to the great big end.

I'm going to say there are times of no choice.

@DeadliestSin: perez is not doing original reporting--he's most likely taking it from tmz. and as we've seen this summer, tmz is pretty accurate and getting good sourcing.

@paintedangel: he's also writing about how sad and depressed he is. so it's confusing.

that was at spy mag ... with respect

AjaxNangerini

There is so much about your comment that makes me want to hold you and rock you. Sometimes depression can relate to a chemical imbalance. As the brain is just an organ, which does not relate to bank accounts but sometimes endorphins or hormones. Some folks try to self medicate with illegal drugs or alcohol. I'm not making a comparison to Papa Hemingway or other famous people who suffered depression but I lost a family member to depression, and I nearly lost "sucessful" brilliant friends. I am willing to give DJ AM the benefit of the doubt and wish him peace, that just seems the human and humane thing to do.

AjaxNangerini

@Dave J.: I don't know...pain is pain. Who knows what all went into shaping him, although I'm sure the plane crash was major, as it should have been. But depression is a much more common reaction to an experience like that than elation is.

But I know where you're coming from. I had similar thoughts when I found out that the one (I'm pretty sure the only one) Columbine parent who killed herself was the mother of a girl who was wounded but not killed. I thought "how would that make the parents of the dead feel?" But I have even less information on what was going on in her head than I do about DJ AM, which isn't much. I don't know if he killed himself or not, but I do know that no one is depressed because they want to be.

@bongenre: I'd promote your comment if I could.

@Wrapitup: When you think of it that way his death this way it is especially poignant.

@bongenre: Are the defamation laws so lax in the States that 'Media' companies (I say "Media" very loosely, Perez is scum and does not deserve to be called such) can get away with such assumptions? If someone in the Canadian media were to publish such findings without proof, we'd be taken to court. I work for a TV network up here and It's rather flabbergasting just how free the American media is to say and do whatever they want. Sometimes it's beneficial to have more freedom and access to information, but it's often to the detriment of those in focus.

DeadliestSin

What's up with all of the apologists and people scrambling to imply intent or connect the dots behind this? The thing is he could have equally just gotten bad dope and OD'ed. Nothing more and nothing less.

And you know he might have felt saddened by surviving such a horrible crash while others died, but let's face some facts. This is a guy who had a fairly cushy life despite his demons. A Learjet crash? How many folks with little-to-no resources even fly in Learjets.

Whatever his personal demons were, he had far, far, far more resources at his disposal to deal with the issues. But he chose not to.

Heck, there are tons of folks out there with less resources, no fame and they still fight to do better.

Death is never a happy thing, but I can't find the energy or sympathy to feel sorry for someone like this.

@goldengirl11: Yup Agreed!

paintedangel

@AjaxNangerini: I met both him and Barker at a tattoo convention I was working...Barker was an ass but he seemed very down to earth and just a nice kid..RIIIIIIPPP man.

paintedangel

@bongenre: Fully agree Perez is the epitome of bad taste...why do people even read his hateful drivel?

paintedangel

@The Marble Faun: In the DJ world, yeah, he was a legend.

@LaurieStrodeTheBoatAshore: I mean, and TED Kennedy.

ChampsWife

@LaurieStrodeTheBoatAshore: And Teed Kennedy!

ChampsWife

@labyrinthine IS DOING THIS: Another random internet poster saying something completely unnecessary and bitchy, when he/she could have just SHUT THE FUCK UP. This, this is not surprising.

I think Gawker might like to note that Perez Hilton (& co) have taken the liberty of presuming and announcing that the pipe found in the vicinity of AM along with prescription bottles was a crack pipe. I think this is particularly despicable. It very well may have been, as he had a history of problems with drugs, but it very well may have been a good old fashioned pot pipe. It is at the least highly untoward to deride the memory of someone who has just passed by declaring them addicted to crack, where many reports state that he'd been clean for years and had only recently sunk into depression. Not that it could come as a surprise, but I'm still floored by the trash that gets printed by that guy.

If it was a crack pipe, I certainly pass no judgement on the man. Drugs are something formidable and terrifying even without the horrible experiences of the last year for AM.

bongenre

@Wrapitup: Agree. PTSD is a real whammer jammer on an already stressed system.

DJ AM and Dominick Dunne in the same week. What is going on?

@OldTowneTavern: My first thought as well. For that sort of pain, he was on some very heavy meds.

theysaidwhat

It makes a lot of sense that DJ AM felt such extreme depression following the plane crash that he felt compelled to end his life. He went through an event that probably raised very disturbing questions for him about his mortality and his identity. Close brushes with death are profoundly traumatizing events, contrary to what popular culture says. Survivors don't often emerge feeling grateful for being alive and all that. Instead they're left with numbness, emptiness, despair and even great anger. I don't know if Peter Weir's Fearless portrays this reaction accurately or not but at least it honestly faces it.

For someone who already had addiction problems and depression, it must have been very overwhelming to go through intense PTSD and constant physical pain after almost dying. His suicide goes to show how much progress remains to be made in giving ex-addicts and PTSD patients the constant support and companionship they need.

I'm not even that big of a fan but am just feeling the sadness. Wow. Thoughts and prayers with his family and loved ones. This effing sucks.

rubyruby

@The Marble Faun: Although this situation is tragic, can anyone actually name a DJ AM song, or has anyone been to a show of his?

BenderingTimeV2

@Le_Horla: What award show are we talking about again? Teddy Kennedy, DJ AM, MJ and Dominick Dunne in one montage? I'd like to see that.

Guy Whitey Corngood

My last thought is the Grandmaster Flash song, which is a touch of magic under the particular circumstances. Like finding a body to the the soundtrack of Joy Division, "A Means to An End."

Ai, another possible drug thing with an "It's complicated" clause; another long, sad story that could really be anyone.

@HappyHollister: Bananarama always comes to mind during tragic times.

BenderingTimeV2

Sad. Just sad. There is nothing more to say.

momof3wildkids

@OldTowneTavern: This was my thought.

@ElleL: It's horrifying. After that crash (on my birthday last year!) I thought he was charmed.

@sloanish: You know, Final Destination came to my mind, too Thanks for boldly going where I was too chicken to go.

Very sad, though.

OrneryBabe

@labyrinthine IS DOING THIS: I'm sorry, I didn't realize you had a close relationship with him? Have you ever had demons? Ugh, this is the kind of shit that makes people want to remove themselves from the world.

As for it being "surprising," I can't say because I didn't know the dude. He seemed cool, a lot of people overcome addiction, obviously he didn't.

@jasonelias: hee.

labyrinthine IS DOING THIS

@Atilla the Bun: look at the rest of the stuff he put himself through in his life (I'm not talking about weight problems either). yes, I stand by my original comment.

labyrinthine IS DOING THIS

@mharker: what it doesn't make it is any MORE tragic.

labyrinthine IS DOING THIS

I guess it's PM now, what a sad end to a good set.

I'm assuming taking painkillers after the plane accident played havoc with his sobriety. I doubt there's any way to avoid them when you're dealing with severe burns.

@Dave J.: I know from a Rolling Stone interview that Travis Barker is going through some serious PTSD right now, not to mention the physical pain of the burns and skin grafts he's had. Just because someone survived something so drastic doesn't mean they won't have to live with overwhelming guilt and trauma. Sometimes it can be even more painful to be a survivor.

mharker

@mharker: that and also he had been clean for years, so I think saying he was "hellbent on destroying himself" is a bit harsh.

It sounds more likely he was seeking a temporary escape from a bad emotional situation.

Man. To survive, but for what- for naught? I just hope he didn't decide to take his pain into his own hands, alone...I feel so much sadness, yet respect, for his close friends and family.

straightbuggin

@labyrinthine IS DOING THIS: It doesn't make it any less tragic.

mharker

@labyrinthine IS DOING THIS: LOL! Or maybe they can give everyone DVDs to watch at home later.

Le_Horla

TMZ says his girlfriend recently broke up with him (as in this week) and he was "devastated" and most likely contributed to the drugs.

To survive a plane crash, and die like this... sadness.

@AjaxNangerini: Can't say I know his work at all, but he did seem like a gentle, self-effacing guy in interviews. A self-described former chubby kid, finding himself among the cool kids in LA. He seemed like a good guy. Very sorry news.

He seemed like a nice guy and a gentle soul. I saw his show at Coachella and it was amazing. He's definately an artist in the league of the best DJs in the world. I understand that his stuff didn't appeal to everyone, but his work brought joy and created lasting memories for his fans.

AjaxNangerini

@E=MD²: Legendary?

The Marble Faun

@92BuickLeSabre: It's back to one, now I'm sad...

I meant to write: DJ AM, Ron Silver and Michael Jackson were all in that Gossip Roundup at the top. At the time it was written, only Silver was dead. Sorry. This whole thing is creeping me out.

FarleyPapus

@Le_Horla: at some point, they'll just have to say "we grieve for everyone's families and we'll miss all of you. every single one."

labyrinthine IS DOING THIS

@AmishOrSomething: it's better than the "raise the roof, white boy!" one on the main page. :D

labyrinthine IS DOING THIS

@AmishOrSomething: I don't like this one, it's like he's looking at me or something.

@Dave J.: This just... isn't even applicable. Apples and oranges. This guy clearly had emotional issues and a history of depression and addiction, he pulled himself out of it and created a pretty vibrant career, and then was in a horrific crash and sustained burns that would've needed enormous amounts of meds.

I can't imagine what it must have been like for him to have to break sobriety with the sort of pain meds he'd require, and then to have to deal with survivor's guilt like you're ladling on? Just -- no.

limber

C'mon, get the guy a better picture.

AmishOrSomething

He was so young! This summer is just getting creepier and creepier. It's like every day now, a celebrity dies. Can you imagine how long the death montages are going to be on the award shows?

Le_Horla

@jasonelias: Ron Silver doesn't count. It's only four.

@Dave J.: I have heard and read many times that severe burns can lead to unrelenting pain, so that may have been a factor here. I am reluctant to speculate, but I do think it merits pointing out that we can't know what he was going through.

@labyrinthine IS DOING THIS: Let's count him again. It's five if you add Ron Silver.

someone so clearly hellbent on destroying himself finally did. drug addicts overdosing...this is surprising how?

labyrinthine IS DOING THIS

@FarleyPapus: four, if you also count Ron Silver.

labyrinthine IS DOING THIS

What a waste.

Sullygulliver

The second legendary DJ to die in under a week. Terrible news.

Imagine how angry the relatives of the guys who died in that plane crash must be right now. Their loved ones die, and one of the guys blessed with a second chance goes and screws it up all on his own. Sad story, in many ways.

Silver Lining: Abe Vigoda is still alive!

[www.abevigoda.com]

Island of Misfit Toys

YIKES. The creepiest thing about this entry is that the gossip roundup accompanying this story (re: Ron Silver) includes THREE now dead famous people: Ron Silver, Michael Jackson AND Ron Silver.

FarleyPapus

@HeinzDoofenshmirtz: Yes, his death is beyond tragic. But there is no "eliminating things as dicey as drugs" if you're an addict. You will pursue that road until the end. Unless you AA-up and and become committed to cutting that shit out of your life. Poor guy, RIP. He was too young.

snugbug

@HeinzDoofenshmirtz: Honestly, a near death experience can make a person return to drugs just as much as it would make a person think again about doing them. It's not a celebrity rule; it's usually an addict rule.

This is so extremely sad. Even after all of that clean time, it can still bite you so incredibly hard, and make you come back. Ug.

May he rest in peace. I just can't help but feel his death was pretty reckless and tragic, I would think having a near death experience generally made people more thankful their life and have a new outlook on life which includes eliminating things as dicey as drugs. Then again celebrity have a completely different set of rules they follow so I just hope Lilo takes caution from this.

HeinzDoofenshmirtz

It's a cruel, cruel summer.

WTF?! To survive a horrific plane crash only to die of a drug overdose a year later...tragic and sad.

So sad. RIP.

On the same day that Final Destination opens. PR is a sick, sick world.

sloanish

Yikes.

what is with this week?!

paloma loves a wild rumpus