You want a little peak behind the Hollywood curtain…you wanna hear something few in the entertainment world ever talk about?

Being a celebrity doesn’t make you stronger.

In fact…without a solid inner foundation, a solid identity, it can breed weakness, and I’ve seen it firsthand.

A decade or so ago, I was cast in a foreign film.

Not THAT kind of foreign film.

We all spoke English except for those who spoke French.

A little independent film project. Spent 7 weeks in Casablanca, Morocco, playing the comic relief in a suspense-heavy film. Met some talented people, made connections, saw a little drama (like every film shoot or production run), but for the most part…it was good.

However…here’s the story.

Some in the cast who were low-key famous. My co-star (who is like a brother to me) was YouTube-famous, still is on some level. Two have followings in Paris (and the East). One had a huge following in Brazil. Another is always working (theater and film).

The point is…I was one of the three leads, but…I had the smallest following.

Still do… 🙂

One star was a full-on celebrity, always on IG, always promoting the high-life on and off the set, constantly doing selfies with locals. One on one, a great cat, always made me laugh, and legit cool to hang with.

That said…after his/her scenes were finished, a plane trip home was booked. The fully grown, adult celebrity missed the flight…then called the production team crying like a child. That was the reaction, life was over at that moment.

It didn’t make…sense to me then.

I’ve had flights cancelled, I’ve had an engine give out on the NY/NJ turnpike, I’ve been stranded…never called someone crying as if it’s the end of the world. I just adapted.

It makes perfect sense now.

Celebrities (not all, but a good chunk) tend to stop growing once fame hits them. It’s not because they don’t want to, but the world around them shifts.

If you are famous, people tend to just…do things for you. Your money doesn’t matter to them, your presence and personal favor matters.

Like I said, I am not famous, AT ALL, but I’ve been in circles…if someone sees you as an idol of any kind, or perceives you as famous, they’ll go out of their way to make life easy for you. Coffee shops give you free coffee. Shops give you huge discounts. And so on.

I caught a whiff of that in Morocco.

And let me be frank, a blue-eyed American kid in that part of the world…sticks out like a sore thumb, and…if people got close enough, they’d request a selfie.

Missing a flight isn’t a crisis. But for someone accustomed to a life without real-world resistance to suddenly experience pushback from reality…alone like that.

That’s a hard pill to swallow. No wonder it felt like the end of the world.

That’s like if a 9-year-old was suddenly, without preparation, told “you’re the head of the household, get a job or the family’s homeless.”

You’d cry too…I know I would.

Struggle is necessary for growth, which is why those of you in the real world, outside of entertainment and fame, you’re stronger than you realize.

Do you think big name celebrities could do what you do…if suddenly their money and fame left them?

Probably, but it’d be like starting from scratch.

Like if Stephen King wrote the final draft of IT or The Stand (1000s of pages) on a laptop, never saved it, and then the power went out or the battery died. It could be recreated, but it would be sooooooo painful.

And that’s the part very few talk about.

Success doesn’t simply elevate you into a higher tax bracket, it separates you from the resistance of the natural world

Yet with resistance comes strength.

Without it, small issues feel devestating.

So if life feels hard, and things don’t go your way, see it as a blessing.

Because your terrible Tuesday, to someone else may feel like a curse.