That Debbie Gibson wanted to open up and share her journey and her experiences as an entertainer is fine she may reach others struggling with addiction that she chose to make a generalization about members of Broadway community was a serious mis-step.
Fame...I was thinking the same thing. I first heard of that drug on SMASH. To what extent is it used? It's one thing to use it...and a totally different matter when it's "misused."
"Noel [Coward] and I were in Paris once. Adjoining rooms, of course. One night, I felt mischievous, so I knocked on Noel's door, and he asked, 'Who is it?' I lowered my voice and said 'Hotel detective. Have you got a gentleman in your room?' He answered, 'Just a minute, I'll ask him.'" (Beatrice Lillie)
"but I still think she was tossing around some offensive generalizations."
Perhaps. However, the Broadway community circles are small, so while generalizations should be taken as such, her perspective of what she knows/experienced could also be looked at as valid commentary. I think anyone who has learned to read any article with a critical eye would read "half of Broadway" and know that's a generalization - but her point being she has seen it used or abused in large numbers - not isolated incidents. Some may think she should "protect" the community by not voicing those concerns, but that's another story.
Slightly tangential, but do people really not know what Prednisone is? Smash (and to a lesser extant, Deborah Gibson in her interview) made it seem like an addictive death sentence. Yes, I'm fully aware that it can be misused and mis-prescribed, but the negative side effects seem to keep many people from using it too much.
Frankly, I'm skeptical when a performer says they've never take Prednisone/Prednisolone/Methylprednisolne. When I was on stage, it gave me the ability to help fight through illness, injury, and allergies more then once. I'm a teacher now and it's helped keep me in the classroom and out of bed.
But back to what Gibson said...I'm glad she's clarifying the context in which she was speaking, but I'm leery to support a generalization made by someone who isn't particularly involved in the field.
Prednisone is not something you should really be on more than maybe once a year unless you are chronically ill. The side effects is incredibly ****ty. They make you shakey, give you incredible insomnia, thin your skin out, cause you to bruise and bleed. It has amazing positive effects and I can see why performers rely on it so much because with them you can power through almost any illness. I place more blame on the 8 show week and public pressure on the performer to not miss shows than I do on the performers themselves.
Whats worse is having people going to doctors who don't dose prednisone properly. I work in a Pulmonology office and Prednisone is one of the main prescribed medications and our patients continually are given doses of just 50mg a day for a week from an ER or their Primary when it's incredibly not wise to have a person go from 50mg a day to nothing. You will be going through some fun withdrawal and the good that it once did will be out there window.