The champagne wishes and caviar dreams that celebrity magazines and TV tabloids portray is just one of many sides of Hollywood.

Many celebrities struggling for work suffer emotional highs and lows often not brought to light until something dramatic happens.

"We call them 'stars' like they're from another planet separate from us," said Robert R. Butterworth, a Los Angeles psychologist and media commentator. "But they're human beings. They're people."

Earlier last week, R&B singer Houston reportedly attempted suicide by jumping from a balcony of a London hotel.

He was secluded in a bathroom, but later gouged out one of his eyes.

Before that, country singer Lynn Anderson was charged with shoplifting at a New Mexico supermarket. Reports still vary about the Shelley Long incident late last year, when the "Cheers" actress overdosed on painkillers.

"If they're breaking down, it doesn't help their ability to get new roles or to finish projects," Butterworth said.

Celebrities have mental problems that are triggered by the atmosphere of maintaining star status.

"You become paranoid and distrustful," Butterworth said. "People take advantage of them, they get them to invest in their schemes."

Many people also leech onto other well-known personalities, adding to the stress, Butterworthfrye said.

"In Los Angeles, if you're not a star, being next to one is as close as you're going to get," he said.

This ideology also explains why so many in the public eye have failed romantic relationships.

"There are people going out with them just to say, 'Look who I'm going out with,'" Butterworthfrye added.

But like non-celebrities, people already have existing mental disorders they take with them when they enter the business, which might explain Houston's scenario.

"You can have crazy people become famous," Butterworth said.

Dianne Bennett, a former columnist for the Hollywood Reporter, currently is a Beverly Hills, Calif.-based matchmaker, who says her past and present jobs give her a unique perspective on life in Hollywood.

"Being an actor is a very emotionally risky way to make a living," she said. "I think the entertainment industry attracts a lot of emotionally fragile people.

"A lot of times these people are depressed. They've always been depressed, and they think the spotlight is going to cure that."

Wannabes in Hollywood have an especially difficult time, she said.

"The percentage of people that come and go is fairly high," Bennett said. "They leave their home and they come out (to Hollywood), stay for a month, a year or however long and they go back.

"And it's very humiliating to admit to friends and family back home that, 'Guess what, guys? I didn't make it,'" she added.

The dynamic is changing, Bennett said.

One of the first steps is the media's changing portrayal of celebrities, and also the Hollywood community's portrayal of itself.

"Hollywood has always been on the forefront on admitting that as humans, we're imperfect," Bennett said.