I saw a recent article stating that film director Kevin Smith has just offered to take 95-year-old Marvel Comics icon Stan Lee—whose health has been failing since the recent death of his wife—into his own home to protect the poor man from elder abuse by his emotionally unstable daughter and her avaricious friends. The old man is apparently being circled by vultures who only care about his money. Read more about this awful situation here.
One of the hazards of being old and having money is the inevitable arrival of the carrion birds. I saw this happen with my great aunt and great uncle. Whatever his kooky politics, Kevin Smith is a true mensch to step up and offer Stan Lee a haven away from all the nonsense, a place where he'll receive love and care and respect for whatever time remains to him.
ADDENDUM: this video talks in detail, and with sympathy, about Stan Lee's testimony regarding his daughter and her financial situation, among other matters. It sounds as though Lee's daughter, JC, is either mentally unstable (which isn't Lee's fault) or horribly spoiled (which is potentially Lee's fault). Without knowing more, it's hard to say anything for sure. But spoiled or not, JC sounds like a holy terror, which makes me think that Stan Lee would be wise to take Kevin Smith up on his offer of refuge.
Holy crap. I had no idea.
ReplyDeleteI hate to say this, but it does indeed sound as if Stan enabled his daughter's behavior. I have seen parents do things for their kids that ultimately do more harm than good, but they do them because they love their kids. In fact, I would say that this is a fairly common phenomenon.
That doesn't excuse JC's behavior, though. Without having firsthand knowledge of the situation, I am hesitant to write this off as mental instability, because that ultimately absolves her of any (or at least some) responsibility for her actions.
It would suck if this were a problem of Stan Lee's own making, but as you say, we don't have firsthand knowledge of the situation, so until the facts come in, it's hard to make any judgments.
ReplyDeleteJC's tantrums do sound like the result of pampering, though, and I can envision a scenario in which Lee, the globally popular absentee father who is always off to another public engagement, tries to make up for his absence by forever throwing material things at his daughter. That strikes me as plausible.
But it's also possible that Lee was a devoted, attentive father who made time for his daughter and did his best, along with his wife, to raise her properly... but JC's brain chemistry was askew, or she got dropped on her head, or something happened along the way to make her into the person she is now.
What's the real story? Only the Shadow knows.
"Only the Shadow knows."
ReplyDeleteThis statement seems apt, considering that the question preceding it is "Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men?"