Another Untimely, Tragic Wrap
As if suicide isn't rotten enough, it invariably raises more questions than it answers. That's because suicide often doesn't answer any questions at all.
Even a note left behind won't necessarily satisfy all the curiosity. In fact, suicide notes are likely to create more questions than they answer, as well.
A suicide note is like a press conference where a statement is issued and the issuer scrambles away, without taking any queries.
Sawyer Sweeten is dead. Apparently it's suicide.
Sawyer, on the verge of turning 20, was one-half of the identical twin actors who played Ray and Debra Barone's twin boys on "Everybody Loves Raymond" (1996-2005). Sawyer played Geoffrey and Sullivan Sweeten played Michael. The twins' older sister Madylin played older sister Ally on the TV show.
According to reports, Sawyer was visiting family in Texas when he apparently shot himself on the front porch of the house where he was staying.
In the early years of "Raymond," star Ray Romano would say in the open that the show "is not really about the kids," and he was right. The Barone children were often not seen at all in episodes. Not making kids foils or smart alecks was one of many ways in which "Raymond" was refreshing.
The Sweeten kids weren't fed rapid fire one-liners by the writers. Their characters rarely acted out, and only on occasion was a "Raymond" storyline built around the children.
But today, it IS about the kids. One, in particular.
No word yet if Sawyer left a note. Not that it helps if he did.
Throughout entertainment history, the travails of the child actor after he/she is no longer an adolescent have been widely documented. I don't know if studies have been made, so it's anyone's guess as to whether former child stars are, statistically, prone to big people-type problems more than "normal" kids. But certainly their issues are higher in profile.
I would imagine that some of the emotional/psychological problems that child actors face start with a question that we have all asked about said stars, either to ourselves or of others.
"Whatever happened to...?"
That may be the crux of a lot of this stuff.
Whatever happened to the kid actors after they grew up and their shows ended up in syndication?
But maybe the kid actors are asking themselves, "What do I do now, now that the spotlights have been turned off and the acting jobs have dried up?"
Sawyer and Madylin Sweeten
Some of the kid stars turned to drugs. Some turned to alcohol. Some turned to both. Others followed their lives on set with a life of crime, almost immediately.
With or without a suicide note, the questions surrounding Sawyer Sweeten's apparent suicide will never truly be answered, because the only person who possesses the answers and who can expound is gone.
And it might be that Sawyer's demise had absolutely nothing to do with his having been a child actor.
Romano, who reminded us back in the day that his show wasn't about the kids, reversed that course upon learning of Sawyer's tragic death.
"I'm shocked, and terribly saddened, by the news about Sawyer," Romano said in a statement.
"(Sawyer) was a wonderful and sweet kid to be around. Just a great energy whenever he was there. My heart breaks for him, his family, and his friends during this very difficult time."
Big sister Madylin Sweeten told us to do something that shouldn't take an untimely death to get us to do.
"At this time I would like to encourage everyone to reach out to the ones you love," she wrote on her Facebook page. "Let them have no doubt of what they mean to you."
Even a note left behind won't necessarily satisfy all the curiosity. In fact, suicide notes are likely to create more questions than they answer, as well.
A suicide note is like a press conference where a statement is issued and the issuer scrambles away, without taking any queries.
Sawyer Sweeten is dead. Apparently it's suicide.
Sawyer, on the verge of turning 20, was one-half of the identical twin actors who played Ray and Debra Barone's twin boys on "Everybody Loves Raymond" (1996-2005). Sawyer played Geoffrey and Sullivan Sweeten played Michael. The twins' older sister Madylin played older sister Ally on the TV show.
According to reports, Sawyer was visiting family in Texas when he apparently shot himself on the front porch of the house where he was staying.
In the early years of "Raymond," star Ray Romano would say in the open that the show "is not really about the kids," and he was right. The Barone children were often not seen at all in episodes. Not making kids foils or smart alecks was one of many ways in which "Raymond" was refreshing.
The Sweeten kids weren't fed rapid fire one-liners by the writers. Their characters rarely acted out, and only on occasion was a "Raymond" storyline built around the children.
But today, it IS about the kids. One, in particular.
No word yet if Sawyer left a note. Not that it helps if he did.
Throughout entertainment history, the travails of the child actor after he/she is no longer an adolescent have been widely documented. I don't know if studies have been made, so it's anyone's guess as to whether former child stars are, statistically, prone to big people-type problems more than "normal" kids. But certainly their issues are higher in profile.
I would imagine that some of the emotional/psychological problems that child actors face start with a question that we have all asked about said stars, either to ourselves or of others.
"Whatever happened to...?"
That may be the crux of a lot of this stuff.
Whatever happened to the kid actors after they grew up and their shows ended up in syndication?
But maybe the kid actors are asking themselves, "What do I do now, now that the spotlights have been turned off and the acting jobs have dried up?"
Sawyer and Madylin Sweeten
Some of the kid stars turned to drugs. Some turned to alcohol. Some turned to both. Others followed their lives on set with a life of crime, almost immediately.
With or without a suicide note, the questions surrounding Sawyer Sweeten's apparent suicide will never truly be answered, because the only person who possesses the answers and who can expound is gone.
And it might be that Sawyer's demise had absolutely nothing to do with his having been a child actor.
Romano, who reminded us back in the day that his show wasn't about the kids, reversed that course upon learning of Sawyer's tragic death.
"I'm shocked, and terribly saddened, by the news about Sawyer," Romano said in a statement.
"(Sawyer) was a wonderful and sweet kid to be around. Just a great energy whenever he was there. My heart breaks for him, his family, and his friends during this very difficult time."
Big sister Madylin Sweeten told us to do something that shouldn't take an untimely death to get us to do.
"At this time I would like to encourage everyone to reach out to the ones you love," she wrote on her Facebook page. "Let them have no doubt of what they mean to you."
Comments
Post a Comment
As you will...