Us Weekly rewrites its own celebrity addiction stories to note the co-occurring disorders at play

Celebrity and entertainment news publication Us Weekly and nonprofit organization The Harris Project are rewriting celebrity stories of addiction and substance misuse to reflect co-occurring mental health disorders with a special issue and campaign launching Wednesday. “The Missing Issue” is an entire print and digital special issue of Us Weekly that reframes the stories of 14 celebrities and artists—such as Mac Miller, Juice WRLD, Matthew Perry, Demi Lovato, Pete Davidson, Amy Winehouse, Avicii, Liam Payne, Kelly Osbourne and Cooper Noriega—to reflect their histories of mental health disorders and illustrate the connection to substance misuse. The initiative, created with Havas New York, comes as The Harris Project seeks to raise awareness about co-occurring disorders (COD), which represent the combination of one or more mental health challenges and substance misuse and/or addiction, to help people recognize the signs for loved ones who may be more at-risk of substance misuse. President and founder Stephanie Marquesano started The Harris Project after her son, Harris Blake Marquesano, died of an accidental overdose in 2013 after struggling with COD. The print issue looks back at Us Weekly’s original celebrity addiction stories and adds context, featuring the celebs talking about their struggles with mental health. The campaign is meant to change the narrative from victim-blaming and moral posturing about addiction to help readers understand the impact of deeper underlying issues that, when recognized, can be treated properly and prevented. “I’m a believer that these issues touch everybody's lives,” Dan Wakeford, editor in chief at Us Weekly, told Ad Age in an interview. “You scratch beneath the surface and everybody is dealing with this, and if there’s anything [we can do] to reduce that stigma and provide information to people, or just save one person’s life, that is amazing.” Wakeford emphasized that Us Weekly has ethical guidelines in dealing with celebrity addition stories, but that he recognizes that reporters covering dramatic news may not always be focused on whether mental health drives the problem. “With this, we're highlighting [co-occurring disorders] in our newsroom and making sure that when we’re covering an issue around [substance misuse], we’re thinking about that connection,” he said. Marquesano noted that people care about celebrities but may not realize that they share many struggles with everyday people. However, people of all ages and backgrounds can be affected by COD, which is what makes the rewritten celebrity stories so impactful. “To think about [this issue] in a waiting room in a pediatric office, or a family care practitioner’s office, it would be the first time that there are articles about co-occurring disorders where somebody could see themselves in the story and maybe get help and support sooner,” she told Ad Age. To identify which stories to rewrite, Us Weekly went through its archive and identified several celebrity substance misuse stories where those same celebrities had discussed their mental health elsewhere. Then, the editorial team worked on making the connections between the two where they hadn’t previously. “It was illuminating to see that there were so many stories that did connect these two issues,” said Wakeford. Marquesano added: “When we can start calling it co-occurring disorders, that’s when you can start doing something about it. Take co-occurring disorders and put it into a common language for people to understand it: Mental health matters, because if you don't take care of it, you might turn to substances—alcohol, marijuana, illicit substances, prescription medication, etc.—to self-medicate, to feel better.” In addition the special issue, which will run online and in print, the campaign includes OOH ads, social media posts and an earned media strategy. “The Missing Issue” follows a visceral three-minute film from Havas New York, launched in 2023, that dramatized COD through the story of a teenage girl taking part in a drinking game. “This is not just a one-off activation,” said Dan Lucey, chief creative officer and co-CEO at Havas New York. “It's a commitment to change the way Dan [Wakeford] and his team at Us Weekly are going to report on substance misuse and addiction going forward. To hear that he’s doing this already, that he was asking different questions and getting different answers, that’s really powerful.” More Creativity coverage from Ad Age: Sign up for our daily Creativity newsletter to see the best stories of the day.

Us Weekly rewrites its own celebrity addiction stories to note the co-occurring disorders at play

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