Jamie Lee Curtis
Jamie Lee Curtis was heavily addicted to pain medication. She turned to drugs to try to find some sense of normalcy and control in her life. Curtis even went so far as to steal meds from relatives.
Jamie Lee Curtis no longer battles with her addiction. She admitted in a 2009 blog post for the Huffington Post, "I too found painkillers after a routine cosmetic surgical procedure and I too became addicted." She added that her recovery was "the single greatest accomplishment" of her life.
Wendy Williams
Wendy Williams struggled with a cocaine addiction. In her words, "I was a functioning addict. I would report to work on time and I walked in and all of my coworkers, and including my bosses, would know but instead of firing me, you see, I would grab my headphones and arrogantly walk into the studio and dare them [to] fire me because I was making ratings." Williams also said, "it's a miracle I was able to stop."
Jessica Simpson
Jessica Simpson spent years struggling with alcohol and substance abuse. In 2017, she told her friends: “I need to stop. Something’s got to stop. And if it’s the alcohol that’s doing this, and making things worse, then I quit.” She began her addiction recovery journey in 2017 and has been sober since. In her 2020 memoir, Simpson wrote “I was killing myself with all the drinking and pills.”
Selma Blair
For Selma Blair, alcoholism began at the extremely young age of just 7 years old. “I don’t know if I would’ve survived childhood without alcoholism. That’s why it’s such a problem for a lot of people. It really is a huge comfort, a huge relief in the beginning. Maybe even the first few years for me because I did start really young with that as a comfort, as my coping mechanism.” Blair has enjoyed sobriety since 2016. Look for her memoir about her past addiction called Mean Baby.
Jennifer Coolidge
Jennifer Coolidge struggled with drug addiction in her early 20s. “Palladium, Limelight, Area, Save the Robots, all those clubs. I was going nowhere fast.” She said of cocaine, “I was born low-energy. So, there was this drug that was invented for people like me. It made me very alive, you know? Unfortunately, it’s a terrible drug.” Coolidge’s cocaine use landed her in the emergency room a number of times. She finally check into rehab and began her path of sobriety at age 27.
Lisa Marie Presley
In a 2019 book on the opioid crisis in the US, Lisa Marie Presley states, “I was recovering after the [2008] birth of my daughters, Vivienne and Finley, when a doctor prescribed me opioids for pain. It only took a short-term prescription of opioids in the hospital for me to feel the need to keep taking them.” She claims her children gave her the strength to get through recovery, “[I’m] grateful to be alive today and to have four beautiful children who have given me a sense of purpose that has carried me through dark times.”
Lady Gaga
Lady Gaga reveals past struggles with cocaine addiction. “My cocaine soundtrack was always The Cure. I would lock myself in my room and listen to ‘Never Enough’ on repeat while I did bags and bags of cocaine. It was about being an artist” Gaga said, “I wasn’t a lazy addict. I would make demo tapes and send them around. At the time I didn’t think there was anything wrong with me, until my friends said, ‘Are you doing this alone?’ Um, yes. Me and my mirror.”
