The lights and the glamour fade in the light of the ecstatic highs they got from substance abuse. At other times the drugs and alcohol become a respite from the pressures of working in such high profile careers. For some, they were just something they grew up with. Many celebrities have been tragically lost to substance abuse in the last few decades – Amy Winehouse, Michael Jackson, Heath Ledger, Prince, Whitney Houston, Phillip Seymour Hoffman, and many others.
Pop culture may say drugs and alcohol are cool, but there is a new wave of celebrities that have battled their substance abuse through drug and alcohol rehab and are now role models for those who want to get sober.
Mel Gibson
The superstar won two Oscars for Braveheart in 1995 – best director and best picture – and grossed over $6 billion at the box office for directing films like Braveheart, Hacksaw Ridge, The Passion of the Christ, The Man Without a Face and Apocalypto. Yet, he struggled with alcohol addiction for many years. Gibson has been sober for 12 years now and credits the 12-step programme at Alcoholics Anonymous for his addiction recovery and sobriety.
Lindsay Lohan
Lindsay Lohan liked drinking alcohol, and soon started snorting cocaine to help her to drink more alcohol at parties. In 2013, after her 6th stint in rehab, Lohan went on a chat show with Oprah to talk about her drug addiction and the healing process she went through.
Robert Downey, Jr.
The Iron Man actor’s father introduced him to drugs at the young age of 8. He started with cocaine, soon got into heroin. He was jailed multiple times between 1996 and 2001 on a number of drug charges. Finally going to drug rehab in 2003, Downey won his battle with drug addiction and has been clean for nearly 15 years and has had huge success in Hollywood.
Courtney Love
The rock star started doing drugs at age 16. She had tried heroin a few times, but was addicted to the barbiturate Seconal and to cocaine. She tried heroin again at a party at Charlie Sheen’s Malibu house when her friend Jennifer Finch (now clean) offered her some. She soon became addicted to the powerful opiate and battled the addiction even during her pregnancy. Love finally managed to overcome her substance abuse problems when she promised Milos Formon, the director of The People vs. Larry Flint that she wouldn’t do drugs while filming the movie. She has been clean since 1996 and earned a Golden Globe Award nomination for her role in the movie.
Russell Brand
Despicable Me actor and comedian Russell Brand was addicted to drugs and sex. He left his mother’s house at the age of 16 after disagreeing with her partner, and soon started using drugs. He found that heroin was very effective in “neutralising pain”. Brand said that he needed constant vigilance to stay sober, but has been clean since 2003, crediting the 12 Steps as well as daily yoga and meditation, for his recovery. After Amy Winehouse’s death, he started the fund Give It Up to raise funds for abstinence based recovery.
Gerard Butler
Before becoming an actor Gerard Butler was an alcohol addict who was fired from his job in an Edinburgh law firm for drinking. He overcame his alcohol addiction by getting sober, moving to London and started acting.
Jamie Lee Curtis
Actress Jaime Lee Curtis became addicted to painkillers after surgery when she was 35. She also drank heavily when she was lonely. In 1999, she said she realised that her life was a shambles and started on the path to recovery. She has been clean and sober since then.
Keith Richards
Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards was a heavy drug user who took heroin and cocaine. Though he gave up heroin in 1978, it took him falling out of a tree in 2006 to kick the cocaine habit. The falling out of a tree accident resulted in brain surgery to put a metal plate in his skull. After the accident, he stopped drug doing and has been drug free ever since.
Nicole Richie
Lionel Richie’s adopted daughter and Simple Life star, Nicole grew up in an environment where she got what she wanted. By 18 she had been partying hard and doing a lot of cocaine for which she sought treatment. But in her 20s, she started on heroin and again decided she needed to undergo treatment. She has now overcome her drug addictions, and she’s been free from cocaine since 1998 and free from heroin since 2003. Referring to her addiction recovery, Richie says “I’m happy for the things I have accomplished. I’m happy I’m not in that state anymore.”
Matthew Perry
Chandler Bing, our favourite funny guy from the worldwide hit TV show Friends, suffered from an alcohol addiction. Perry was addicted to alcohol and then also the opioid painkiller Vicodin after a skiing accident in 2013. He went in for inpatient rehab and got his life back on track. Post recovery he has helped his rehab centre to provide treatment to a lot of people and to raise awareness on the topic of substance abuse and recovery.
Eric Clapton
Legendary guitar player Eric Clapton was addicted to heroin, cocaine, prescription drugs and alcohol. When his son Conor was born in 1987, he got the much needed motivation to kick the habit; and he succeeded. However, in 1991, when his son Conor tragically fell to his death from a window in his mother’s friend’s 49th floor New York City apartment, Clapton’s commitment to his recovery was tested to the extreme. The grief-stricken musician resisted any temptation and instead chose to honour his son’s memory by staying sober. In his autobiography Clapton talks about his influence on recovering addicts and how he turned his tragedy into a positive situation.
The Dawn Drug Rehabilitation Centre Thailand
Going to drug rehab for addiction recovery and turning past failures and negative situations around, overcoming dependencies and replacing them with positive behaviours is the start of the process of recovery.
At The Dawn Rehab we can help you to overcome drug and alcohol addictions and get your life back on track. We have a full time doctor and 24 hour nursing to provide closely supervised medical detoxes. Our programme costs a fraction of rehab centres in the West yet offers the same high quality treatment delivered by a team of qualified counsellors with decades of experience of helping addicts.
We also treat co-occurring disorders including depression, anxiety and trauma and have a full time psychiatrist on our clinical team. Our combination of the best of Western and Eastern treatments includes therapeutic massage, guided meditation and gentle yoga and healthy, nutritious food. All our accommodation is in stylish private rooms with satellite TV and attached bathroom.
To find out more about how The Dawn can help you beat addiction, contact us today to speak to one of our friendly addiction specialists we will get in touch with you shortly.