What happened to SIA? Relapse, Rehab...
Sia is discussing her challenges and opening up. Following the controversy and backlash around Music, her first film as a director.
Maddie Ziegler, Sia's longstanding young muse, plays a young n the film. Sia's debut film shows the story of Zu, a newly sober drug trafficker portrayed by Kate Hudson. Kate becomes the only guardian of her nonverbal half-sister, Music who has autism spectrum disorder.
However, since Ziegler is not autistic. That is why the casting was harshly criticized by disability rights organizations. Activists also called into question the film's depiction of people with ASD. Sias troubles started when she was judged for casting a neurotypical actress to play the character of a person with autistic spectrum disorder.
Sia was harshly criticised for refusing to give autistic people the opportunity to share their own stories. Disability rights groups were petitioning for the film's cancellation. Many others expressed their anger on social networks.
Criticism included outrage from autistic performers who spoke out against the film, with Ashley Wool arguing that the casting was "doing active harm to people."
Casting a neurotypical actor for the part, according to Chloé Hayden, was "undermining autistic people's capabilities and making us out to be infants."
“If your film is about inclusion, but you’re not making the actual film set inclusive, it completely belittles the entire point,”Chloe added.
Sia was also accused of ableism and nepotism because she chose Maddie as the lead role. The two have collaborated on various projects since Sia's 2014 video for the hit "Chandelier."
The author and singer made things worse by saying that an autistic actor she had initially cast was “found it unpleasant and stressful.” She said she tried to work with a nonverbal actor, but the role was too demanding.
Due to the complicated dance routines that her character had to do within the part, she insisted that dancer Maddie was the perfect choice for the task.
She added that she had made the movie “with nothing but love” for her “neuroatypical friend” on whom she based the character.
Sia did not show any concern, and she dismissed the accusations, which only caused more people to lash out at her.
“Several autistic actors, myself included, responded to these tweets. We all said we could have acted in it on short notice. These excuses are just that — excuses. The fact of the matter is zero effort was made to include anyone who is actually autistic,” Sia simply replied, “Maybe you’re just a bad actor”, one person tweeted.
Film critics labelled Music "ableist minstrelsy". They also said it is"harmful" to the community of people with autistic spectrum disorder, after its premiere.
Viewers were furious about scenes involving the autistic character being physically restrained. They thought those scenes should not be shown in Music. Sia then claimed that she would add a warning to the film stating that this was inappropriate.
Sia then tweeted, "I'm sorry," which can be seen as an apology to those who were offended by the scenes.
During an interview on the Australian talk show The Project in January, Sia admitted that casting Maddie was perhaps mistaken.
"I realized it wasn't ableism — I mean, it is ableism, I guess, as well — but it's actually nepotism because I can't do a project without her," she said. "I don't want to. I wouldn’t make art if it didn’t include her.”
“I was suicidal and relapsed and went to rehab,” Sia said of the time after the film's 2021 release.
The star gave credit to Griffin for helping with her recovery.
“She saved my life," Sia said referring to the comedian. The comic organised a dinner date in Hollywood in November. It was a breath of fresh air and a bit of positive PR for Sia, after everything that happened.
Kathy nicknamed Sia her "celebrity voice doctor" in August. She stated the musician helped her in recovering her voice after lung cancer surgery.
The Cheap Thrills singer has previously spoken honestly about her struggles with substance abuse. She tweeted to mark and celebrate her eight years of sobriety in a tweet:
"Eight years sober today. I love you, keep going. You can do it."
Sia discovered in 2019 that she had Ehlers–Danlos syndrome. In 2020, she found out that she was misdiagnosed with bipolar II disorder. Since then, she has been diagnosed with complex PTSD as a consequence of multiple childhood traumas.
