one of the best things about living out west (SF) and working in/around the industry for a minute, around 20 years ago, was how--for me--it accelerated the process that all life-long skaters need to undergo that ultimately ends with the invaluable realization, that the only thing one should seek from one's favorite pro skateboarders is inspiration from their skateboarding...
...other than that, many/most of them have never had a legitimate job for any kind of significant amount of time (or at all); have been completely socialized within the hermetically sealed bubble of the skateboarding "world" (god help them), have not even finished high school, and--perhaps most detrimental--have had all of their (dip)shit attitudes, behavior, and perspectives validated (and in fact encouraged) by an industry that up until recently has been completely closed in on itself...