There are some downsides to being a celebrity’s son (apparently, it can lead you into drug dealing), but it has its upsides—like all the famous friends who will support you when you’re due to be sentenced for said drug dealing. Cameron Douglas’ famous father, grandfather, and stepmom—as well as a few other high-profile family friends, like Miami Heat president Pat Riley—have written letters begging the judge to be lenient, because Douglas’ life was so hard.
One childhood friend says Cameron started going downhill when his father sent him to a fancy East Coast boarding school and says he only used drugs “to dull his pain.” Obviously, “growing up in a Hollywood dynasty with fabulously wealthy parents and access to the finest schools is a horrible burden,” writes John Cook on Gawker, although he does allow that Kirk Douglas’ letter—which expresses a desire to see Cameron redeemed “before I die”—is “sort of heartbreaking.”
(More Michael Douglas stories.)