Sports Stars Booked, ‘Hollyroids’ Overlooked

The saga of A-Rod and his admitted use of performance-enhancing drugs has been inescapable in the past weeks. It will undoubtedly continue for a long, long time, far beyond the 2009 Baseball Season. It's all but certain that other star athletes we hold in high regard will also be caught and interrogated by the news and sports media on their steroid use.

But does it end there? Our society holds athletes on just about the highest pedestal there is, maybe only second to the best and brightest in Hollywood and music. Where are the snooping journalists asking the questions out there in movie land?

Think back to early 2008. Rumors were percolating that today's most prominent hip-hop acts had been involved in a steroids investigation. The New York Times ran a story on Jan. 15 and said about the allegations: "Some hip-hop fans were shocked, but, to many in the industry, the accusations seemed inevitable."

Rappers like 50 Cent, Timbaland, Wyclef Jean and even R&B star Mary J. Blige were named in a report by The Times Union of Albany. And then what happened?

Nothing. The issue dropped from the headlines. No one was officially accused of doing anything illegal, even though the rap game is notorious for its boasting and ranting verses about drug use, robberies and the like. It makes sense that hip-hop stars would take steroids, seeing how things like swagger and machismo are incredibly important to any artist's brand name. This does not make it OK, although the media swept it under the rug.

I feel it's time for the media to begin asking more questions. Is using performance-enhancing drugs the norm in Hollywood? How deep does the rabbit hole go? Why do athletes get the whole nine yards when their steroid use is only speculative, when actors get cheered for turning into real-life super humans to play a part in a movie?

These are questions that need to be asked. Take Christian Bale (Batman))for example. In no way am I accusing him of steroid use, but before-and-after photos of his dramatic body-alteration between these two films may raise some questions.

He starred in "The Machinist" in 2004; a movie where he lost 63 pounds, making his normal, 185-pound figure look comparable to that of a Holocaust victim. Six months later, in 2005, "Batman Begins" was released. According to associatedcontent.com, Bale gained an ungodly ONE HUNDRED POUNDS of muscle in a span of approximately five months. Altering one's body, whether it be for a film role or not, is extremely unhealthy and can have damaging consequences later in life.

And where was his press conference? Where was the career-altering probe where all of the skeletons come out of the closet? Why didn't journalists bombard him to tell his story as A-Rod has been as recent as last week?

There was nothing like that. For his role in "Batman Begins," Bale garnered awesome reviews and won a U.K. Empire Award for Best Actor, an Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror Films award for Best Actor, and an MTV Movie Award for "Best Hero."

Universally, taking steroids in any sport to improve how one does is called cheating. But when Sylvester Stallone takes steroids to get his 60-something physique back into ring-shape for the sixth "Rocky" installment in 2006, it's called working or "preparing for a role."

Throughout his career, Stallone has faced questions regarding steroid use. The New York Times published part of an Associated Press report in 2007 citing that Stallone had been detained at the Sydney Airport in Australia while leaving the country, three days after his hotel room was searched by authorities. The search yielded "contraband items," although they weren't identified at the time. Rollingstone.com reported in Jan. 2008 that Stallone was convicted in May 2007 for smuggling testosterone and human growth hormone into Australia, including more than 40 vials of an HGH substance that's banned in the U.S.

Most recently, Mickey Rourke was incredibly convincing during his role as an ex-wrestling star in "The Wrestler." In the press, Rourke has run around questions pertaining to whether or not he used performance-enhancing substances to get fit. When Rourke was questioned about his alleged steroid use during filming, the New York Daily News quoted him in saying, "When I'm a wrestler, I behave like a wrestler."

Sadly, no investigative steps are being taken to shed light on steroids in Hollywood. Show business has always had its secrets and will take them to the grave, whether their hearts explode from too much juice or not. Some day, the superficial skeletons piled up in Hollywood's closet will break the door down. Whether or not that skeleton happens to have dabbled in steroids, that's what will be left: a skeleton.