Psychoanalysis is everywhere in modern day life. Without even realising it, people who have never even been to a shrink use words like ‘issues’, ‘baggage’ and ‘boundaries’ in their everyday lives. Dr Pamela Connolly’s (nee Stephenson) unique and ingenious idea to meld psychoanalysis with the other obsession of the modern era, celebrity, should thus perhaps have been an obvious concept for a television chat show, but it’s taken Mrs Billy Connolly to bring it to fruition.
The Therapist Formerly Known as Pamela Stevenson
Anyone who has read Pamela Stephenson’s biography of her husband, Billy Connolly, will know that she is now a clinical psychologist in Hollywood with a specialty in the psychological impact of fame (practicing under the name Dr Pamela Connolly) and a Professor of Psychology at the California Graduate Institute. She has come a long way from being a comedian and star of television shows like Not The Nine O’Clock News. Looking at the number of people in Hollywood who seem to have suffered from the consequences of life in the fast lane (look at Linsday Lohan) no one would be surprised that there is a need for Dr Connolly’s services.
The fact that Pamela is intimately acquainted with fame, both through her own career and as the wife of a hugely successful comedian with his own psychological ‘issues’, means she is perfectly qualified to counsel people who have lived through the dark side of fame. She was great friends with Princess Diana and Fergie during her years in London, and her biographical book Billy made repeated references to the likes of Steve Martin dropping over for dinner, so her celebrity network in Hollywood must be enormous. What I find personally astounding is that she has managed to persuade so many high-profile names to come on her show and talk about childhood abuse, drug addiction, eating disorders and struggles with their sexuality, all on national television.
Shrink Rap - Series 1
In the first series of Shrink Rap Dr Connolly’s guest list included Stephen Fry, Sharon Osbourne, Sarah Ferguson and Robin Williams. On the whole, the female subjects seemed to be more cooperative and open than their male counterparts. Stephen Fry, now known to be manic-depressive, was very English (polite and forthcoming) but resolutely refused to accept Dr Stephenson’s conclusion that an older boy had raped him at boarding school. Sarah Ferguson, who must have now had so much experience at being misquoted by the press that she edits every word before it leaves her lips, spoke mainly about her struggles with food, her abandonment by her mother and her savaging by the British tabloids as the Royal family’s prodigal child. Sharon Osbourne seemed the most willing to spill the beans on her upbringing and famous marriage to rocker Ozzie Osbourne. The result is riveting viewing, a bit like watching a car crash in slow motion but being unable to look away.
Shrink Rap - Series 2
The second series of Shrink Rap went to air in August on the UK’s Channel 4, and will premiere on Australia’s ABC2 in December 2009. In series two, far from having driven away any future subjects with her on-screen scrutiny last time, Dr Connolly’s role call of guests is, if anything, more impressive. The backgrounds of the stars she speaks to are in themselves fascinating, so you can only imagine what an on-screen analysis of their lives from a psychological perspective will be like. On the couch this time are Carrie Fisher, Kathleen Turner, Salman Rushdie, Tony Curtis, Joan Rivers, Gene Simmons (of Kiss fame) and Pamela’s very own husband, Billy Connolly.
Carrie Fisher, who you could argue invented the whole Hollywood expose and drug-confession literary genre with her book Postcards from the Edge, is now diagnosed as bi-polar. It is well-known that Fisher’s childhood with mother Debbie Reynolds was no picnic, and she was in ‘therapy’ from the age of 15 and ‘self-medicating’ with a cocktail of illicit drugs since her teens. What more will Dr Connolly’s psychological discussion with Princess Leia reveal? Salman Rushdie, who had a death order (Fatwa) slapped on him following the publication of his book The Satanic Verses, is also a bit screwed up. While none of us were ever likely to think hiding from Muslim extremists who wanted to kill you would be a barrel of laughs, what were the actual long-term psychological scars that experience left?
What happens when a world-famous comedian is psychoanalysed on-camera by his long-term wife? What childhood experiences lead Gene Simmons to paint his face and stick out his extra-long tongue on stage with rock band Kiss, and why did 1980’s movie star and sex siren Kathleen Turner drop completely off the radar? Watch the second series of Shrink Rap, and you will be sure to find out. Maybe Dr Connolly will persuade Lindsay Lohan to be in series three…
Shrink Rap (series 2) starts 9:25pm, Wednesday, December 2 on ABC2
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