Hm, I'm not sure drugs and suicide are always part of the same streak - you can be down self-destructive, i.e. Cobain, Ian Curtis, which often involves drugs, and you can be up self-destructive, where you're not depressed or trying to get away from yourself, you just don't know when to stop.

I'd say plenty of unknown artists destroyed themselves without media help - the self-awareness that leads to great art often leads to self-loathing.

I'm not so sure exactly how much fame affects fame seekers as opposed to the genuinely talented. Cobain despised his fame, and that contributed to his suicide as much as anything else did, but I'm a lot less convinced by the meltdowns that Robbie, Britney, et al have.

Yes, they are self-destructive behaviours, but they strike me as somewhat calculatedly attention-seeking behaviours - people desperate to keep in the public eye, and prepared to go to any lengths to do so.

As far as I know, the list of famous-for-being-famous people who have actually killed themselves young through drugs and/or suicide is miniscule in comparison to the number of genuinely talented people who have done so. I just don't think they have the imagination or ability to reach the same depths of despair that would drive them to do so.