Post Grammys Macklemore Speaks About His Issues Of Addiction

Seattle based rap sensation Macklemore, along with his partner Ryan Lewis, was a runaway hit at the 2014 Grammys, topping off a whirlwind year with a handful of Grammys, including best new artist, and sending the media into a whirlwind by using his performance as a means of marrying thirty three couples during the broadcast.

Macklemore has been dubbed by many individuals both in and outside of the industry as a “conscious rapper,” because of the fact that he often raps about social and personal issues that are close to him. Although Macklemore has long used his music to speak out about a variety of issues, many people did not realize until recently that the break out recording artist has a history of drug abuse and a strong personal reason for fighting the crusade against addiction.

Close Friend Lost to Addiction

In a recent interview for a new program launched by MTV called “Half of Us,” which is designed to help college students fight prescription drug addiction, Macklemore relayed the heartbreaking story of a younger friend with whom Macklemore had known when he was younger and gone through twelve step meetings with.

Like Macklemore, the young friend was also an aspiring recording artist who struggled with prescription drug addiction. When that friend was only twenty years old, he died of a drug overdose just hours after Macklemore had seen him for what would be the last time. The tragedy had a huge impact on Macklemore.

Macklemore “Walks That Line”

Macklemore continues to be heavily impacted by his young friend’s death for a number of reasons, not least of which is the fact that the rapper says he “walks the line” between sobriety and drug use all the time, regardless of how successful he has, and that he always will.

He explained that if it were not for the fact that he surrounded himself with a sober community that helped to support him and his health, he would be in grave danger of succumbing to addiction in the same way that his friend did. This position supports what has long been known by recovering addicts and recovery professionals: that there is no cure for addiction and that staying sober is a lifelong process that requires a strong support system.

Advice On Giving Advice

Macklemore also urged friends who are concerned about a loved one to give advice in the form of a question, suggesting that many of the pieces of advice that a friend may want to give are thoughts that already exist within the mind of the person. The person they are worried about could already be thinking that and asking thought provoking questions can help someone who is going through a difficult time come to important realizations about whether they are really happy and fulfilled and whether there are any steps they can take to improve their lives and the ways in which they are working toward their dreams.

Giving advice in this way may be much more effective and have a much lower chance of making a person angry or defensive.

Justin Levin is a licensed Family and Marriage Therapist from Milwaukee, WI. As a Clinical Services Manager he is focused on providing teenagers with the addiction treatment they need at Adolescent Growth.

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Celebrity Style: Kaley Cuoco

2014 so far has already had some of the biggest A-list celebrity bashes and awards ceremonies, from The Golden Globes, to the SAG Awards and topping the charts of best dressed and best hair has to be The Big Bang Theory’s Kaley Cuoco.

Kaley has a very signature look yet manages to mix it up for every event - with her cascading blonde ombre waves, to her very dramatic eye makeup. Now to get the look at home:

 

Step 1: Start by adding I&K clip in dip dye hair extensions. This will create beautiful volume and length for Kaley’s wavy hairstyle. Ombre and dip dye hair has been one of the most popular styles for hair over the last year and it’s here to stay, taking on a subtly ombre effect. Kaley keeps her roots a natural dark blonde, which gradually fades into a baby blonde. If you’re a brunette, you’ll find colours that go to a more golden blonde which will also look beautiful.

Dip Dye hair extensions are also a great way to not only get long locks but also to try the ombre trend without damaging the ends of your hair with dye – perfect!

Step 2: Next, spray your hair with a heat protector (this will stop damage to the extensions through heat) and start by loosely curling large sections of your hair together with the extensions using a large barrel curling wand, leaving the root straight. Hair straighteners will also work great for this style – keep the heat lower to create less defined curls for this look.

If the curls are still a little defined, gently run your fingers through to split some of the large curls. Finish with a spritz of high hold hairspray to keep it in place.

Step 3: Kaley’s makeup is always defined with a dramatic eye whilst keeping everything else like the base, cheeks and lips very natural. A fantastic foundation for this look would be Daniel Sandler Invisible Radiance – it comes complete with a matching concealer too and is on the right side of luminous to give a beautiful glow at the same time as looking like a second skin.

Keep the cheeks quite neutral too so that the focus is always the eye. A colour such as Daniel Sandler Crème Rouge Blusher in soft pink is perfect – it will give a hint of a flush and add a little dimension to the face. Choose a nude lipstick too such as New CID in Nudity. Here you can either leave it with just a lipstick or add some gloss. A good tip is to only go one to two shades lighter than your natural lip colour to avoid looking too washed out.

Step 4: Finally, for the dramatic eyes try using navy shades instead of black. This will give a dramatic smoky eye without being too harsh – especially if you have fair hair and skin tone.

Daniel Sandler has a brilliant eye liner for this look in the colour Blue Velvet. It’s soft enough to smudge but is very long lasting.  To create the dramatic eye use the eyeliner to line the water line and another tip is to line the top lash line as close to the base of the lashes as possible to make them look thicker and fuller.

For the rest of the eye you can use any colour you would like – champagne’s, beige, even silvers. Take the eyeliner under the bottom lash line too, and use a smudge brush to make the line smoky and less harsh. You could even turn it into a slight flick on the upper lid too.

Finish with lashings of your favourite black mascara.

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Laura is a hair and beauty writer with extensive knowledge in Beauty, Makeup and hair care.

The Real 'Jerry Maguire' Leigh Steinberg Seeks To Make His Way Back From Alcoholism

Tom Cruise was the star of the major hit film Jerry Maguire that was released in 1998. The movie also served as the launching pad for the career of then unknown actress Renee Zellweger, who played the love interest. Jerry Maguire was about the life of a sports agent who has a nervous breakdown and seeks to rebuild his life by exposing the dishonesty in his business. It’s based on the life story of real life sports agent Leigh Steinberg. While the film has a happy ending, in real life finding a happy ending is not always so easy. Recently, Leigh Steinberg has revealed that he has struggled greatly with an alcohol addiction.
Alcoholism Can Affect Anyone
Leigh Steinberg was considered a “Super Agent,” a sports agent who dealt with millions of dollars and high-profile people. But even he struggled with alcoholism throughout his life. Alcohol addiction is a great equalizer, in that it is a disease that people across all economic groups and age ranges suffer from. At his peak, Leah Steinberg’s clientele offered a veritable who’s who of sport stars, such as:

• Howie Long
• Troy Aikman
• Ben Roethlisberger
• Warren Moon

Steinberg reportedly made over 100 million dollars in his storied career, which surely seems enough to have been enough money for anyone to live on. But a decade later, Steinberg was broke, divorced, and a hardcore alcoholic.
Giving Up
What characterized Leigh Steinberg’s severe state of alcoholism was completely giving up on everything in his life, and spending hours drinking. Recently divorced, he would spend countless hours drinking, even being arrested for public drunkenness and floated through different rehab centers in fruitless attempts to recover his sobriety. He was also millions of dollars in debt, owing back rent, and money to a laundry list of people, including the IRS. People who are severe alcoholics are known for disappearing days at a time, usually to feed their addiction without anyone to stop them. This is often because the alcoholic is trying to escape from the realities of a life that he finds unbearable to face on a daily basis.
Seeking Sobriety
To Leigh Steinberg’s credit he says that after hitting the lowest point in his life personally, professionally, and financially, he has achieved sobriety for two years. He found success by attending a sober living program, and has focused solely on becoming sober. This was a tremendous achievement in itself, and once again shows how sobriety can be achieved when an individual is dedicated to a program of care for recovery.
Hopefully now, Leigh Steinberg can focus on pulling the rest of his life together. He wants to start a career comeback, which means becoming certified again as a sports agent, which he had allowed to lapse. This also means starting to pay back the debts he has accrued to various people. And most of all it means trying to re-connect with his children again. He has already overcome a giant hurdle in reclaiming his sobriety, after finding a treatment program that worked for him.

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Cindy Nichols is an addiction treatment counselor helping people recovery from alcoholism at Recovery Now TV.