You and Amber must recall something I don't as well, because Johnny Stew's impression of the situation is the same as mine.
I'm pretty sure, it wasn't "automatically" prescribed, as Amber said, and that Stevie talked about how the pressure from her friends and family, concerned that she would go back on drugs, was the deciding factor for her taking klonopin.

Anyway, my point was, if she wasn't on tour her friends and family may not have been as concerned, because the road has so many temptations for a rock band.

From what I can recall she mentioned a psychiatrist at the very least during the TISL press. That being said my impression was that the "revelation" was very much downplayed in that she was there because people were worried about her and how she would deal with the stress of her lifestyle sans cocaine. She did always seem to discuss it in terms of other people's needs rather than in response to any of her own issues she may have been dealing with.

I don't think mental issues, what ever they may be, are anything to be ashamed of exactly or to be stigmatized. That being I'm sure like anyone else Stevie's not particularly proud either of the downward spiral that is marked by her Klonopin years. And I'm sure sharing something so personal is probably very difficult. I don't fault her for a lack of total honesty maybe because I don't feel entitled to that honesty simply because I'm a fan of her music and her writing. I do, however, applaud her for seeing her way through to the other side, and I am grateful that she seems to be opening up about this time.

Well this has always been the impression I got too, that it was down to other people's concerns rather than any troubles she was having herself. I never heard before that it was automatically prescribed but a decision she made based on pressure from other people. Whether Stevie doesn't want to admit the real truth is another thing, however I do admire that she came through the whole affair so well.

Well I would contend that there is a difference between her admitting the truth to all of humanity and what she holds to be true in her own mind and in the company of close friends. I do not know, there may not be any discrepency between those two realities. But it is also very possible that there is. And to me it is reality that she holds to be true to herself and her loved ones that is really important. I guess some people would say that's advocating a form of phoniness, but I tend to look at it as a very human response to the need for self-preservation. I know I don't think of myself as being phoney, but quite often the me that I present to strangers is not the me I present to friends because the comfort level and the sense of security just isn't the same. And I'm certainly not going to share an unvarnished version of my deepest, darkest moments and the greatest trials of my life to every person I encounter. I don't know many people who would...and by many what I really mean is I don't know of any one.

I admire her for that too. The only thing that bothers me is that she plays the innocent victim when she discusses her addictions. I didn't know that shoveling masses amount of coke up my nose for ten years was harmful, everybody did it. I just took klonopin every day like it was vitimin c, although I became a zombie and gained massive amounts of weight, I did not realize it was addictive. I just wish she would be more honest and real about it. I love her though and admire her for overcoming it whether she is honest about it or not.

I agree. The fact that she talks about any of this at all is pretty amazing. It can't be easy at all.
When you think about it, she says she spent two weeks in Betty Ford, which is nothing especially if you consider she was probably taking drugs since the mid 70s. No wonder everyone was worried and really it can't have been easy for Stevie to just stop like that.

Really? That's interesting. I tend to believe what she says, in a way. But more like, I believe that stuff about why she started the drugs, but to have the addictions go on for that long, then that's just an addiction, which I'm sure she realized the ramifications of. But, of course, once you are addicted, it is hard to get off. Still, I believe she started them somewhat innocently. :)

I can kinda understand the prescription drug thing, even if she was just fooling herself, you know, because a doctor has given it to me, it must be alright.
But her pleas that no one told her cocaine was dangerous :rolleyes: Honestly she can be ditzy but no one's that naive!

Like you, I don't see how Stevie deciding what she wants the public to know and what she doesn't want us to know, equates a form of dishonesty (or denial, or mental illness, or whatever else).

If you don't reveal your life story down to the minutiae, are you therefore being dishonest? If you gloss over or romanticize something difficult or painful for you, does that make you a liar?

Stevie has come off as being far more forthright than many celebrities (though, of course, not all), and I think she deserves the right to keep something to herself when she wants to. It's not a glaring sign of some form of mental illness... it's being human.

I have to add that I'm curious as to how Stevie saying the Klonopin was prescribed by a "doctor," is somehow a sign that she is/was in some sort of denial about her treatment.
A psychiatrist is a doctor, no?

If Stevie said she went to "a doctor" and he prescribed special inserts for her shoes to help alleviate pain, would we say that she's in denial about her problem because she failed to refer to him as a "podiatrist" when relating the story?

Umm, I only said that the band MIGHT NOT have decided to do a project. However, by Stevie quitting, whatever they had to do, they were forced to do without her. In any event, this isn't even the big point I was making.

My big point is that Stevie's leaving the band hurt her career and Fleetwood Mac's career for a few years, and all you want to do is talk about "forced" vs. "decided," which is a miniscule part of my discussion. But then, with some Stevie fans (not all), I should by now not expect any less. Instead of focusing on the big picture, you like to take an almost irrelevant point and expand on it.

I think the whole "no one told us cocaine was dangerous" thing is definitely denial, too. Although Lindsey and John have pretty much said the same things... "everyone did it," "that was the 70s," "we didn't know it was bad for you," etc., etc.

But, truly, it's pretty much the same thing as the millions of people who smoke. Come on, we ALL know it's detrimental to one's health, yet how many people continue to light up?
Everyone thinks that they'll be the one lucky person who can get away with it, with no adverse effects. And when they're diagnosed with lung cancer or emphysema or heart disease, they're still shocked -- like they had NO idea that could ever happen to them.

In the mid/late seventies, when she started, it was not yet known to be super dangerous. I mean, logic should tell you that, but every person on earth was doing it then, and no one more than rock stars.

And then they sue the tobacco companies as if they were the ones who forced them to light up in the first place. :laugh: Personal responsibility has gone the way of the dinosaurs, Le Stew.

Exactly. I mean, common sense should tell you that a substance that makes you fidgety and keeps you up for three days straight isn't good for you. Duh! Then again, they're rock stars, not rocket scientists.

Yeah, that's because we're evil, too. :laugh:

I don't think there's anything wrong with disagreeing with your point that Fleetwood Mac was "forced" to go on without her. She didn't hold a gun to their heads.
Lindsey had already left, Rick quit, Billy quit (though he eventually came back), Christine didn't want to tour anymore.... to pin any damage to Fleetwood Mac's career on Stevie and her decision to leave, seems a bit near-sighted.

By the way, if you go back a few more years to Lindsey's departure, it would seem that his defection set in motion the chain of events that lead to Fleetwood Mac eventually being regarded as, in your words, "a souped-up covers band."
Put that kind of blame on him in the company of LB fans, and, trust me, you won't get any better of a reaction than you get from Stevie's fans. ;)