It was pretty uncomfortable the other night watching TV - I had to cringe at Miley Cyrus’ antics with Robin Thicke onstage at the Music Awards show - something I understand did not sit well with many people watching at home - as well as in the audience. The words I would use to describe Miley’s ‘performance’ are ‘tacky’ and definitely ‘unappealing’. How I miss the innocent, fresh-faced ‘Hannah Montana’ - and I’m sure I can speak for Billy Ray also when I say that. I have to wonder where it all went wrong with kids like Miley and Paulina Gretzky, Wayne Gretzky’s misguided daughter. A recent article states Wayne is about at the ‘end of his rope’ with his ‘wild child’. Both girls seem so out of control and they don’t seem to care about who they hurt and humiliate, including themselves. A couple of years back it was the daughter of Laurence Fishburne, Montana Fishburne, who attracted a lot of negative attention deciding to go into the same type of business as, let's say, Linda Lovelace.

As a mother - and grandmother - I can certainly relate to the pain and humiliation these celebrities must feel watching a daughter that you raised with tender loving care somehow wanting to ‘act out’ or lash out by making spectacles of themselves instead of showing respect for themselves and their family - and thinking twice before doing anything they could be ashamed of for years to come - things that the public and especially the media will never let them forget. I feel for the parents of these confused girls.

These girls need to get their act(s) together - their reputations are on the line - and, you only get ONE reputation. Were they given too much too soon? I often wonder what could have been the catalyst for the behavior they are exhibiting. Could it be mental illness with any of them?

I also think about Amanda Bynes - who, apparently, by all accounts, is suffering from a mental illness. It seemed to come on so suddenly. Years ago you just did not hear about mental illness in families; nor did you talk about alcoholism - it was kept a family secret. Today, you hear terms such as ‘bipolar’ and ‘borderline personality disorder’ (Jodi Arias) and it’s almost commonplace when you hear those terms being used - it wasn’t that way when I was growing up - but then again maybe we just didn’t know back then - we didn’t have labels to put on these different behaviors - very few talked about mental illness.

It just goes to show you that everyone has problems within their family - even the rich and famous. For the celebrities, their private problems more often than not do not stay private - someone is always ‘outing’ them as it usually means money to the person invading their privacy. I wonder how those people who lurk around celebrities to get some ‘dirt’ would feel if it were their own family member being made a spectacle of? Hmmm, Yeah, that’s what I thought….