Whether it’s because of fame, stress or pressure, many celebrities end up succumbing to drugs to calm down and have a false sense of control and well-being, which often ends up causing the opposite reaction.
Although addiction to drugs and alcohol in general have become a taboo subject, in recent years several celebrities have openly discussed their problems with these substances precisely to prevent others from acquiring the same consumption habits. Despite the fact that there have been times when this type of subject has been discussed in a subtle and ambiguous way in songs, artists like Demi Lovato have not hesitated to even make a documentary on the subject.
Although many, like Bradley Cooper, have suffered for many years in silence. There was speculation about his addiction problems for a long time before he came to pronounce on it. He recovered from his addiction thanks to his friend Will Arnett, who helped him in 2004. It was he who made him realize that he had entered a spiral of problematic use. According to the same actor, in the Jason Basement, Sean Hayes and Will Arnet podcast, one afternoon his friend went to see him at his house and realized that he still had not let the dogs out. It was then that Cooper realized that he had a drug problem.
But Cooper has not been the only one. Actress Drew Barrymore began using drugs at a very young age. At only 13 years old, the pressure she was subjected to when she began as an actress led her to have an overdose and to be admitted to a mental health center. She spent 18 months there to heal her addiction and continue her career as an actress.
The well-known actor for his role as Iron Man, Robert Downey Jr, also spent years abusing drugs, which ended up leading not only to health problems, but even to the law. In fact, he was in prison and in a detox clinic to overcome his addictions. Although he lost the opportunity to participate in some movies, he managed to overcome his addiction and have an equally successful career in the world of cinema.
Alcohol and drugs took control of Matthew Perry’s life completely. In his autobiography Friends, Lovers and That So Terrible, he recounted how his stage as Chandler Bing, in Friends, which catapulted him to fame, was completely controlled by his addictions. At the age of 14 he began to drink, but his alcoholism worsened over time until it reached its worst point at the age of 49, when he nearly died from drug abuse. Now, he admits that if he has managed to get to where he is and talk about his problems, it has been thanks to the fact that he spent around 9 million dollars on his detoxification.
Another actor who also suffered from alcohol is Ben Affleck, until he completed a 40-day treatment in a clinic in October 2018. He had already tried to recover on previous occasions, but as he commented in an interview “battling with any addiction is a difficult and lifelong problem.”
Many times celebrities have confessed that they started using drugs to relax. It is the case of Adele that, when she started on stage, she felt anxiety before each performance, so to calm down she acquired the habit of having a drink or something to relax. That habit grew and ended up becoming a career-threatening addition to her because it affected her vocal cords. In addition, the hangover that she had the next day prevented her from enjoying and giving her all in her own shows.
