According to researchers in France Oscar winning screenwriters have a lower life expectancy than nominees who do not win. Wealth and status can certainly improve your health and longevity - but it doesn't always follow. A team at Women's Hospital, Texas, reveal the health risks of winning an Academy Award.
They looked at all 700 screenwriters ever nominated for an Oscar and find that winners had a lower life expectancy - by an average of 4 years than mere nominees. This is despite having longer and more successful careers, which would normally be reckoned to have a protective effect. Oscar winning actors and actresses, by contrast, live longer than those who are nominated.It may be that winning screenwriters have more unhealthy lifestyles - squandering the benefits that success bestows. And maybe being in the public eye somehow benefits the health of the winning actors and actresses. The study suggests that it's how you use fame and wealth that matters rather than merely possessing it.
