Ted Williams: Too Famous Too Fast?

Rocketing to stardom from anonymity takes its toll on the psyche.

ByABC News
January 14, 2011, 1:45 PM

Jan. 17, 2010— -- The homeless man with the golden voice, Ted Williams, launched into national fame in a record-setting 48 hours, but the complications of stardom soon followed his fortune; an altercation with police, public airing of his familial issues and now a stint in rehab.

Insta-celebs like Williams and U.K. singer Susan Boyle, who checked into a facility for "exhaustion" just two months into her rise to fame, seem to be playing out the familiar rise and fall of celebrity in fast forward, begging the question: is it dangerous to become too famous too fast?

Rising to fame that quickly "feels like whiplash," says Donna Rockwell, clinical psychologist specializing in celebrity mental health, and associate faculty member at the Michigan School of Professional Psychology.

"It's very detrimental to anyone's psyche to have to go from anonymity to fame so rapidly. It's really like an impact; you become famous, fame impacts you like a brick wall and it's another whole reality that you have no experience with whatsoever. How do you navigate such rough terrain? For some it's impossible, "she says.

And even though fame for Williams meant the end of homelessness and a promise of a second chance at life, that dramatic kind of change has the potential to jar anyone's composure.

"Positive events can be as stressful as negative ones," says Simon Rego, director of the Cognitive Behavioral Therapy program at Montefiore Medical Center. "If you're prone to anxiety, depression, or substance abuse, the stress [of fame] can amplify all of those pre-existing vulnerabilities."

On "Good Morning America" last week, Williams looked ecstatic as he talked about all the job opportunities pouring in, but by Wednesday, he admitted during his interview with Dr. Phil that his fame has been marked by his own return to alcoholism. Now those exciting job offers are on hold while he enrolls in a drug rehabilitation program, a rep for the "Dr Phil" television program confirmed.