In 1995 there was a show called In the House, which featured LL Cool J. There was an actress, Maia Campbell, who portrayed the good looking yet young daughter of a single mother. She was a good looking young girl and as the show went on, it was cancelled in 1999, she grew into a young woman. She never got a lot of fame after the show, just a few guest spots and some urban drama pretty much straight to video features.

Whenever celebrity news talks about child stars, we really don’t get the big picture. When you had people like Maureen McCormack or Danny Bonaduce talk about their wild lives, it seems like the life of drugs and alcohol didn’t hurt them much. Of course that’s because the press was different in their time. They didn’t have constant outlets for paparazzi to show their pictures, if there were any. There was no YouTube for people to post videos or their antics. People knew of their problems but protected them.

The new celebrity stars with addictions like Britney Spears or Lindsay Lohan, have a lot of money to either buy themselves out of their issues or have the opportunity to get ‘good help.’ They have people around them facilitating and covering up their actions. Even if something goes wrong, they can issue a statement or go in for treatment. In the end, America roots for someone to get out of the mess. Whitney Houston is selling albums again, despite the ‘crack is whack’ quote heard round the world and the subsequent turmoil we witnessed for almost a decade. Britney Spears was bald and out of control; now she sells out concert halls and is up for awards.

All of this makes it seems that celebrities can bounce back from their problems, but not every star has a VH1 Behind the Music happy ending.

This morning I stumbled upon an article about Maia Campbell. It put in a matter of fact way that she had some mental health issues. I read the article and it mentioned rumors of drug use and possible prostitution. Now I know certain things have to be said because of legal reasons, but when there are pictures and video tapes clearly showing something, it’s tough to just place it as a rumor.

What I was able to turn up in the next hour was really horrific. To say she had fallen on hard times would be an understatement. It reminded me of another actress, Jaimee Foxworth, who had been on Family Matters as the youngest daughter. After four and one half years, she was written off the show. As she explained in a TV interview I saw a few years ago, she said one day she walked up the stairs and was never talked about again. Jaimee fell on hard times, got hooked on marijuana and ultimately ended up doing a number of hardcore porn films to support herself. She seems to have cleaned up after an appearance on Celebrity ReHab and recently had a child.

Maia is in a worse position. From the videos online its clear there is some mental condition going on. It is being fueled by the crack she’s taking. It’s kind of bad to say, but Jaimee, by doing porn, actually got paid something for what she did. Maia is getting her stuff shown just to get her next rock of crack. Now, the last word mentioned online is family members got her into a rehab clinic but I’m not sure how well that will do for her.

I feel sorry for what happened. Like I said there’s this image that makes it seem that hitting rock bottom celebrities can pull themselves out, but it honestly depends on where you are on the celebrity ladder. A Britney or Lindsay are never going to fall as far as Maia or Jaimee did. They’re in the level where someone still looks at them as a meal ticket and will never let them get that bad. Maia fell hard and the video of her singing a song while her clothes fall off, definitely on crack, isn’t sexy but depressing. Watching her in the car for over six minutes ranting hysterically isn’t funny. It’s sad.