being at the top

"You've got to climb Mount Everest to reach The Valley of the Dolls. It's a brutal climb to reach that peak. You stand there waiting for the rush of exhiliration. But it doesn't come. You're alone and the feeling of loneliness is overpowering."
- Jacqueline Susann, Valley of the Dolls

A metaphor for the terrible thing that is show business. You climb and climb, but once you're at the top, you're completely beaten down. Your life has become fame and fortune, nothing else. All of your relationships disintegrate, and you crawl closer and closer to losing your mind. This is why many who are at the top turn to dolls (pills). You need a doll to wake up, and a doll to fall asleep again. They work faster if you take them with vodka. Your fame becomes infamy, you are referred to as "outrageous", "scandalous" and "messed up". You crack under the pressure and withdraw. Then you slowly fall into obscurity, into the Valley of the Dolls, never to rise again.
Terribly depressing book/movie.