For Some in A.A. and Other Addiction Recovery Groups, the Death of Philip Seymour Hoffman Hits Home
“I’ve been to three meetings since it happened,” said Rita, who was sitting in a restaurant on West 10th Street on Monday following a recovery meeting, and who, like others interviewed for this article, requested that her last name be left out in accordance with A.A.’s tradition of anonymity. “There hasn’t been one meeting where I haven’t heard about it. People in the public eye see it as ‘We lost a great talent.’ People in recovery see it as ‘We lost a brother in arms.’ “
A woman who attended an A.A. meeting in Los Angeles on Sunday said that Mr. Hoffman was “all anyone could talk about,” though she added that none of the participants, mindful of the second “A” in A.A., actually spoke Mr. Hoffman’s name aloud.
The 24-hour cable news coverage of a celebrity’s death is not new, of course, nor are the impromptu memorials created outside the dead person’s home, or the editorials about the apparently self-destructive natures of those who seem to have everything going for them. It happened with Michael Jackson. It happened with Heath Ledger. It happened with Whitney Houston. It happened not too long ago with Cory Monteith.
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