Free INFAMOUS SCANDALS (True Crime) by Anne Williams, Vivian Head

her to drop out of her latest movie. The following month she went to visit Dr Jules Lusman, breaking down in his office because she said she was in so much pain. He diagnosed it as a spinal condition that had been caused by the fall during her filming of Alien , and recommended that she took an opiate-based painkiller to kill the pain. However, the painkiller itself was known to be highly addictive and, added to this he prescribed her Valium, a fashionable drug among the celebrity set. The doctor had been recommended to her by one of her friends, but little did Ryder realise at the time that the physician was not actually doing her any favours. In fact, Lusman had been under investigation for ‘over-prescribing’ since 1997, but it was too late for Ryder, who was already on a slippery slope.
    In December 2001 Ryder was caught up in a scandal when she was caught shoplifting at Saks Fifth Avenue. Having already paid around $4,000 for purchases, she was found to have a further 20 items on her for which she had no receipts. These items included a Gucci dress, five handbags and four hairpieces, valued at around $5,500. It was alleged that not only had she taken tissue paper with her to wrap the goods up, but that she also carried scissors to cut off the security tags. Worse still, when she was searched, the police found she was in the possession a variety of toxic drugs, and couldn’t produce a prescription for one of them.
    Ryder tried to explain her actions by saying that she was just acting out a role for a part in Steve Martin’s Shopgirl . However, but with public opinion high that celebrities could get away with anything, the prosecutors were determined to make an example of her. If found guilty, Ryder could face up to
    three years in jail.
    At the trial, the jury heard a lot of damning evidence and it was said that Ryder had received 37 prescriptions from as many as 20 different doctors between January 1996 and December 1998. Lusman, whose offices had been searched after Ryder’s arrest, was himself being charged for over-prescribing, but backed his patient’s claim that he had actually prescribed her the Endocet. Lusman had prescribed Endocet to relieve the pain, but not only was it a highly addictive substance, it was although known to have other side effects such as impairing a person’s thinking or reactions.
    On the same say that Lusman had his licence revoked – 6 December 2002 – Ryder was acquitted of burglary, but was found guilty of vandalism and grand theft. She was sentenced to 480 hours of community service and three years’ probation. She was ordered to pay $3,700 in fines and $6,355 in compensation.
    For a while Ryder’s life was in disarray, with a string of broken relationships and a struggle to give up the drugs prescribed to allegedly help her health. After a series of either collapsed or delayed projects, Ryder eventually returned to successful film roles in 2006. Although seriously rocked by scandal, it would appear that Ryder eventually survived and has continued to be a hit with her fans. Six years after her infamous shoplifting incident, Wynona Ryder graces the cover of Vogue magazine and proves what a tough cookie she really is.

River Phoenix

     
    The tragic death of River Phoenix at the age of only 23 caused a huge scandal in the United States. Firstly, because the young actor had always stressed his healthy lifestyle as a vegan and as a person who stayed away from drugs of any kind. Secondly, because it highlighted how troubled he was, having been a victim of child sexual abuse that he had suffered when he was only four years old. This information did not come to light until shortly before his death. His parents had been part of a cult organisation known as the Children of God, and a scandal had erupted during the 1970s and 1980s when it became known that their leaders advocated sexual contact between adults and children, and even proposed that incest was acceptable. By the 1990s,