Robert Downey Jr. had drug troubles. Kiefer Sutherland had head-butting trouble. Monday night in Manhattan, Charlie Sheen had an "adverse reaction."
So, is it time to ask whether the Brat Pack is cursed?
Actually, if you're just asking this now, you're behind the times. By about 25 years.
Since the birth of the Brat Pack—via a 1985 New York magazine article—writers and others who were not so fortunate to be good-looking, rich and famous in their 20s (um, yeah, writers again) have compiled every disappointing box office result and police incident for proof of a "curse."
The "evidence" includes:
• Downey's various woes, chiefly his Lindsay Lohan years from the mid-1990s to early 2000s;
• Sutherland's various woes, including the 2009 head-butting case and 2007 DUI-related jail stint;
• Sheen's various woes, including—oh, geez, just read the whole list;
• Rob Lowe's various woes, including nannygate and 1988 Democratic National Convention sex scandal;
• Ally Sheedy's various woes, including her admitted eating disorder;
• Tom Cruise's various woes, including his Oprah career implosion;
• Sean Penn's various woes, including his decades-long war with the paparazzi;
• Judd Nelson's various woes, including that funny suit he wore at the Oscars; and
• Demi Moore's various woes, including her divorce from Bruce Willis, the rumors about the state of her marriage to Ashton Kutcher and that one time she felt fat.
OK, time to get serious.
Everybody suffers various woes—even people who didn't launch their careers in Taps. Too many suffer drug addiction, marital trouble and eating disorders—even people who didn't appear in The Breakfast Club. Downey's Lohan years seem long behind him. Cruise is still Cruise. Penn is still Penn. And there's a distinct possibility Moore has never, ever felt fat.
By and large, the "cursed" Brat Packers have been phenomenally blessed, and, yes, this includes Sheen, who, for all his various woes, remains a handsomely paid, free man.
Oh, and Molly Ringwald is just fine. So there.