Private Parts (55 page)

His mother's obsessive-compulsive cleanliness and father's anger problem are patterns that promote feelings of shame and humiliation in children. Such feelings often trigger rage, one of his most noticeable feelings. He expresses rage in verbal as well as physical attempts to humiliate others. These sadistic tendencies are based on his own sense of shame and lack of self-respect. To compensate for his feelings of inadequacy and powerlessness, he makes himself seem powerful so that he can shame and mock others.

The element of control is at the core of his behavioral pattern. His desire and attempts to control others are overwhelming. What is more subtle is the control he exercises over his own eating habits.

THERE IS AMPLE EVIDENCE THAT HE HAS AN
EATING DISORDER:

* He refers constantly to his own weight, and he denigrates over-

weight people such as Roseanne Barr and Rush Limbaugh.

* He restricts what he eats to a few low-fat, low-calorie foods.

* He prefers to eat at home, where he can maintain better control over his food intake.

* He "balloons up" under pressure, which is characteristic of a binge eater.

* He makes frequent references to vomit (which may indicate a purge problem) and to bowel functions (another one of his mother's influences).

Finally, there are indications that he is socially anxious like his mother and prefers to avoid public appearances and socialization with persons who are not part of his inner circle. He admits that he hates to go out, which indicates agoraphobia. He also needs his routine.

Because Stern learned to get along in a shaming family environment by complying on the one hand and causing trouble on the other, he successfully re-creates this pattern on this show. He causes trouble on the air, where no one can talk back to him and he can control the microphone and telephone, but underneath he still fears the shame and humiliation of his childhood.

His safety and security are derived from staying away from everyone except the few people he knows well and trusts, such as his agent of many years and his immediate family.

SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS

Does Howard Stern need therapy? Yes. He is anxious, but not depressed. Yet there is a strong possibility that his self-defeating and passive-aggressive tendencies will lead to his losing a "dream job" once more. For example, he could continue to provoke the FCC into censuring him just as he provoked his father into humiliating him. A loss of job would lead to a major loss of face and to a huge increase in his habit of feeling a lot of self-pity and shame. To overcome an intense sense of deprivation he

could, as before, indulge himself by binge-eating and could develop a Marlon Brando type of physique. Increased anger and neediness could put pressure on his already very limited social relationships.

What kind of therapy? Certainly
not
psychoanalysis, during which he could lie on a couch for years, as Woody Allen has done, and be the sole center of attention. This would only increase his narcissistic, self-centered patterns. Instead, he needs an interactive relationship with a strong-minded specialist in personality disorders who could confront him easily and enable him to face criticism rather than avoid it. He could also learn to consider others' feelings and responses to his sometimes antisocial actions that involve patterns of ongoing conflict. He might want to avoid therapy, as people with self-defeating tendencies often do. He might incorrectly think that therapy will change the dramatic features of his personality that have contributed to his professional success, for his whole career is built on speaking the unspeakable and showing the unshowable. But therapy does not change the entire person, only the underlying destructive characteristics. If some change does not occur, he could become depressed and very isolated. Instead of "What do you think of Howard Stern?," people may ask, "Whatever happened to Howard Stern?" Ironically, he might join the list of formerly famous people whose weight gains and losses are reported in supermarket tabloids.

Howard Stern

PICTURE CREDITS

Pages 5,17,333,439, 440, 441,444 (far right), 447: Timothy White

Pages 9,10 (top three), 11 (bottom), 12,19,24,25,35, 38,39, 41,43,46, 59, 60, 61, 63, 64

(bottom), 70, 72, 77, 79, 82, 84, 85,87,108,110, 111, 135,137,145,148,149,153,187,188,

189, 200,202,210,216, 223,226 (top), 227 (bottom), 229 (top), 232,235,236,241,243,

249,261,262,263,264,265 (middle and bottom), 266,267 (top and middle), 268 (right),

269,277,289,311, 314,316,320,321, 324,325,328 (top and bottom), 329,330,331,335,

336,355,358, 362,365,366, 367, 393, 394,402,405,406, 410,411,413,415,432,433,443:

Barry Morgenstein Page 10 (bottom): Courtesy of Don Buchwald Page 11 (top): Jeff Tissman Page 33: John Caldwell. Used by permission from
MAD
magazine, © 1992 by E.C.

Publications, Inc. Pages 36, 37,47, 49 (bottom), 64 (top), 67,86, 90, 93, 99,101,102,104,114,121,123,124,

171,181,229 (bottom), 244,265 (top), 273,317, 332, 382,385,386,444 (far left, near left): Prom the Howard Stern Archives Page 49 (top): Jack Adler Page 53: Alison Stern Page 58: Reprinted with permission from Milky Way Productions,
IncJSCREW

Magazine Page 62: Chris De Fazio Page 66: Courtesy of Ralph Cirella Page 71: Gary Dell'Abate

Pages 78,196,198, 218,227 (top), 341: E! Entertainment Television/Eric Leibowitz Page 103: Property of Robert Berns Page 113: Courtesy of Ben Stern Page 133: TM and © 1993, ARCHIE COMICS PUBLICATIONS, INC. All rights

reserved Page 158: David Hartman

Pages 166,169,174: Kerry Rae/Victor Greene Studio Page 179: R. P. Overmyer Page 183: Reprinted with permission from the
New York Post,
October 1,1985. All

rights reserved Page 184: David Jacobson. Reprinted with permission of Gannett Suburban

Newspapers. © 1985 Page 185: Photographs © Harvey Wang Page 190: Courtesy of Sandi Korn Page 192: Reprinted with permission from the
New York Post,
July 12,1991. All rights

reserved Pages 201,207 (top): David A. Sobel Page 203: Courtesy of Playboy Home Video Page 204 (left): Dave Crout

Pages 204 (right), 207 (bottom): Frank D. Jacobs III, Trenton
Times
Page 226 (bottom): Beryl Sokoloff Page 237: Charles McLaren Pages 251,350,361,363: Drew Friedman

Pages 252,253,444 (near right): Costume design and photos by Theodore Shell Pages 255,256, 257,259: Jeff Kravitz Page 267 (bottom): Courtesy of Melrose Larry Green Page 281: Courtesy of Gary Dell'Abate Pages 268 (left), 300,301,305,307,328 (middle): Ralph Cirella Page 318: Courtesy of Howard Stern and Fred Norris Page 319: Courtesy of Jackie Martling and Gary Dell'Abate Page 322: Courtesy of Stacy Galina Page 327: Neil Drake Page 334: Danny deBruin

Page 345: Reprinted with permission. Copyright 1988 NATIONAL ENQUIRER INC. Page 374: E! Entertainment Television/Chris Haston Page 377: Tom Vollick. Courtesy of Gold's Gym Pages 389, 390,391, 392: Courtesy of Gina Rose Pages 403,407: Courtesy of John Melendez

Page 420: Jack Ohman. Reprinted by permission of Tribune Media Services Page 426: Denise Sfraga

Page 429: David Miller, syndicated cartoonist and frequent listener Pages 430,435: Rex Babin,
Times-Union
(Albany, New York). Reprinted with permission