Star-Studded Addictions: Carrie Fisher
Actor and writer Carrie Fisher—best known for playing Princess Leia in the Stars Wars movies—spent her life destigmatizing addiction and mental health disorders. She approached her own addictions and bipolar disorder with total honesty and a sense of humor. Fisher said she used the opioid Percodan to “dial down” her manic episodes.[1] “I mean, that’s […]
Brené Brown
Tomorrow, Brené Brown—research professor, NY times bestselling author, and celebrity in her own right—will be 25 years sober. When Brown was in graduate school, one of her last assignments was to develop a genogram, a visual map of your family history. After speaking with her mom for the project, she realized that a lot of […]
Star-Studded: Ringo Starr
After the Beatles broke up in 1970, their drummer Ringo Starr spent almost two decades “lost in a haze of alcohol and drugs.”[1] “It got progressively worse, and the blackouts got worse, and I didn’t know where I’d been, what I’d done,” he said. “I knew I had the problem for years. But it plays […]
Star-Studded Addictions: Sia
TW: Talk of suicide The night musician Sia wrote the song “Breathe Me”—a 2004 hit that was on the season finale of the TV show Six Feet Under—she tried to kill herself by taking 22 Valium with a bottle of vodka. Six years later in 2010, she again planned to kill herself. She had […]
Star-Studded Addictions: Elton John
The musician Elton John has been sober since 1990. At the beginning of his career, John dealt with multiple addictions—to drugs, sex, and shopping—as well as bulimia and anger management issues. “There were times I was having chest pains or staying up for three days at a time,” he said. “I used to have spasms […]
Star-Studded Addictions: Calvin Harris
British DJ Calvin Harris has been sober since 2014, after a trip to the emergency room where his heart had to be restarted. “I stopped drinking because it actually was making me ill,” he said. “It was affecting my brain in the worst way.”[1] He blames his health scare on his former drinking and poor […]
Star-Studded Addictions: Naomi Campbell
Model and actress Naomi Campbell has been sober for many years, after a long struggle with addiction to cocaine and alcohol. “The time between 1998 and 2005 was especially bad,” she said. “During that time, I avoided looking in the mirror, because I didn’t like the person who was looking back at me. To be […]
Star-Studded Addictions: Chrissy Teigen
On December 29th, 2020, model Chrissy Teigen posted a video to Instagram of herself dancing. Someone commented, “I need whatever drugs you’re on,” and she replied, “4 weeks sober!” Her joy was directly tied to her sobriety. After losing her baby in September, Teigen experienced immense grief and depression. Someone she’s referred to as her […]
Star-Studded Addictions: Kristin Davis
Kristin Davis, the actor best known for playing Charlotte on Sex in the City, has been sober for over 30 years—before she starred on the show. In fact, she credits acting for her continuous sobriety. “Acting is the only thing that made me want to ever get sober,” she said. “I didn’t have anything that […]
Star-Studded Addictions: Mary J. Blige
When Mary J. Blige won her first Grammy in 1995, she was drunk and high on cocaine. She wasn’t present during what should have been an incredible moment in her life. What people saw—someone who was on the rise and successful in life—masked her deep pain. “People from the outside looking in would think that […]