Dr. Leslie Talks About Cameron Douglas, Celebrity Dads & Sons in the Observer

Over the weekend, EKC client Dr. Leslie Seppinni was asked to comment on celebrity father-son relationships for a piece in the Observer about Cameron Douglas' recent sentencing. The UK weekly wanted to examine how the glare of the limelight can affect the dynamic between a father and son, often for the worst. See what Dr. Leslie had to say:

Cameron Douglas and the painful price paid by sons living in the shadow of a famous father

By Paul Harris

From David Bowie's son, who rejected his name, to Cameron Douglas, offspring of Michael Douglas, who was jailed for drug dealing last week, the children of stars clearly struggle to forge their own identity

Michael, Kirk and Cameron Douglas in 2003. Photograph: Allstar/MGM/Sportsphoto Ltd./Allstar

Like any father witnessing the jailing of his son, Michael Douglas looked grim and ashen-faced last week in Manhattan.

Sitting in the courtroom in which his son, actor and DJ Cameron Douglas, was awaiting sentencing for dealing drugs, the Hollywood star listened to Judge Richard Berman pronouncing a harsh judgment. "Get beyond and get over that idea … that Cameron Douglas is a victim," Berman said.

Yet that was the argument that the Douglas clan – Michael, grandfather Kirk and Cameron's mother, Diandra – had put forward in letters explaining Douglas's problems in terms of his dysfunctional childhood. Cameron, it was claimed, was suffering the fallout from an age-old struggle: the battle of the son growing up with a powerful, successful, famous father. (read more...)