abstract kind of thoughts, Josh is friends with Miley Cyrus isnt he, via Liam? Miley has pulled an incredible stunt over the past few years, going from perfect American good girl, in Hannah Montana, into an absolute PR nightmare, good girl turned bad. But she has transitioned perfectly from teenager who can be pushed around, into an adult who makes her own decisions and choices. I wonder if some of Joshs recent behaviour is meant to highlight, he is an adult now, not a child?

Yes, I’m sure Josh has met Miley. Are they friends? I don’t know.

Anyway, I feel that Josh has been steadily working on shedding that kid image, pretty much since THG came out. He started to dress more “adult”, went to parties/music festivals and was seen drinking heavily, and then buying booze (with a fake iD), etc–and all this was back like 2012/2013-era. 

Then, around Catching Fire, his interviews, at least the print interviews (now remember, this is just my opinion), became more adult-sounding, more gritty. He started swearing a lot, talking about his own sex life, relationships, and of course, the possibility that he could be bisexual. To me, that really seemed like when he was pushing to end this idea that he was still little Jess from Bridge to Terabithia.

And yes, that change was expected. He wanted to be taken seriously as an actor who could handle adult, leading man roles, something he himself admitted he struggled with landing–so sure, was he trying to come off more like a bad ass at this point? So people would see past him as a high schooler or teen once THG was done? I think so. 

Then the smoking started. I’m not sure how long that went on before we actually saw him doing it regularly, but I was surprised, given that he had been so involved with athletics prior, he would do something to compromise his ability to play basketball, a sport he loved and played often, which…it eventually did. 

This other stuff? To be honest I think we’ve gone past the point of him trying to prove he’s an adult who can make his own choices now. I think everybody is well aware, he absolutely can make his own choices and that’s exactly what he’s doing. Josh isn’t somebody who wants to be controlled by what others think–I mean, his message is “always be you”, which he’s….basically doing that. For better or worse.

The issue, for me, becomes that for a person looking to hire an actor to play in a movie say, with no new projects out, and only a slue of tabloid articles about his girlfriend, PDA photos, and rumors of him being totally inebriated, doesn’t necessarily scream “hire the guy!”. And I know, he very well may have projects lurking in the pipeline we know nothing about, and we’re once again fretting when he’s going to have a lot to do coming up in 2017 (like we always do and I pray that we are).

I defended and supported and argued for him because I wanted to believe things were going to improve for him. I care a lot. I’m his fan, it’s a given. I just want him to be the best person he can be, to live an abundant and happy life he deserves with the successful career he’s worked so hard for. 

And I hope, that if what he’s doing now is so that people understand he’s not a kid anymore, he makes his comeback soon. I’m beyond ready.