7 Celebrities in Recovery in 2022
Addiction is a disease that doesn’t discriminate, many celebrities have had struggles with addiction and many have found recovery. Many have also lost their battle and their lives.
Regardless of who you are or where you come from addiction has devastating effects.
Although we live in an era where celebrities are placed on a pedestal, they are only human. They are just as susceptible as the next person to the volatile and destructive disease of addiction and alcoholism.
Read on to discover 7 celebrities in addiction recovery in 2022. Learn about what prompted these famous people to finally get sober, and just how long they have maintained their sobriety.
7 celebrities in addiction recovery who are sober in 2022
Below are 7 celebrities in recovery from addiction and alcoholism in 2022:
1. Jamie Lee Curtis
Jamie Lee Curtis has had a fruitful career spanning decades and is a well know celebrity in addiction recovery. She made her on-screen debut in the 1978 classic, Halloween. She has since gone on to win two Golden Globe awards, a British Academy Film Award, and has even earned a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
However, Curtis’s career hasn't always been smooth sailing. She shared with People Magazine that she became addicted to prescription opioids in 1989 following minor cosmetic surgery. She struggled with opioid addiction for a decade. Curtis has shared in multiple interviews that she kept her addiction a secret for ten years until it got so bad that she began stealing pills from her sister, Kelly. It was Kelly who first discovered her sister's addiction. In early 1999, Curtis attended her first recovery meeting. Today, she is an incredible 23 years sober.
Jamie Lee Curtis’s father also struggled with addiction, battling alcohol, cocaine, and heroin use. Her brother struggled with heroin use as well and fell victim to an overdose in 1994. In her interview with People Magazine, Curtis shared, “I’m breaking the cycle that has basically destroyed the lives of generations in my family. Getting sober remains my single greatest accomplishment … bigger than my husband, bigger than both of my children, and bigger than any work, success, failure. Anything.”
2. Eminem
Eminem is one of the best-selling artists of all time and has won multiple awards including several Grammy, Billboard, and American Music Awards. He is known for speaking his mind through his bold rap songs. However, Eminem also struggled internally for many years and is one of our celebrities in addiction recovery. Although it’s unclear precisely when his addiction began, Eminem found himself struggling with prescription painkiller use, taking more than 20 pills a day. He discusses his struggles with addiction at length in his 2012 documentary, How To Make Money Selling Drugs.
At the height of his career, Eminem struggled with addiction to multiple substances, adding Valium, Ambien, and Xanax to his opiate use. When confronted about his drug use, Eminem states that he didn’t feel he had a problem, because he wasn’t using illegal substances such as heroin or cocaine.
Eminem attended drug rehab in 2005 and relapsed shortly after. In 2007, Eminem overdosed and nearly died, but relapsed again shortly after leaving the hospital. He shared in an article with Today, “I thought it was a sign of weakness to have an addiction. I didn’t even want to believe it was a disease. But I realized it when I f—ing almost died and then I still went back to using it. I literally almost died.” He says it was his children who finally inspired him to get serious about recovery. In 2018, Eminem, who makes no secret of being in addiction recovery, celebrated 10 years of sobriety with Alcoholics Anonymous.
3. Selma Blair: Celebrity who went to rehab to get sober
Famed actress Selma Blair is one of our celebrities in addiction recovery who recently opened up about her addiction to alcohol in her new memoir, Mean Baby. In the memoir, she shares that she struggled with alcohol use since she first got drunk at the age of 7.
In an interview with People Magazine, Blair shares, “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."
In 2016, Blair passed out on a plane with her son, who was 4 at the time, and his father. She shared with Today, "Public humiliation and the thing that made me really stop drinking was that I could've died on that plane. I mean now that I was a mother, it just changed everything. It’s gone from me. I’m not cocky about it. You have to always be vigilant. But it’s really gone." Selma Blair has been sober since 2016.
4. Bradley Cooper - Sober for 13 years
Bradley Cooper is an A-list Hollywood celebrity, acting in movies since his on-screen debut in the 2001 comedy Wet Hot American Summer. Cooper is best known for his light, jovial energy, but has also taken on more serious roles as demonstrated by his work in American Sniper and A Star Is Born. A Star is Born depicts the harrowing tale of addiction to alcohol. For this famous celebrity, his excellent performance must have come from a place of experience with his own battle with alcohol addiction.
Although Cooper quickly rose to fame, he shared with Variety Magazine that he had an intense battle with drug and alcohol use that nearly ended in suicide. Cooper recounts feeling like he was indestructible, and denying that his use was a problem. He said to The Hollywood Reporter, “I was at a party and deliberately bashed my head on the concrete floor — like, Hey, look how tough I am! And I came up, and blood dripped down. And then I did it again. I spent the night at St. Vincent’s Hospital with a sock of ice, waiting for them to stitch me up.”
In 2012, Cooper revealed that he struggled with addiction throughout his 20’s, and it wasn’t until he was 29 that he sought help and found recovery. Cooper states that he had an epiphany, where it hit him that he was going to ruin his own life if he didn’t seek help. Consequently, Cooper has been sober for 13 years and is one of our celebrities in addiction recovery. He states he could never have experienced the success he has now if he didn’t get sober.
5. Travis Barker
Travis Barker is a world-famous drummer, producer, and part of the hit band Blink-182. Additionally, he has more recently been in the media as the newlywed of reality-tv star Kourtney Kardashian. Although Travis Barker’s life today consists of a vegan diet, exercising 6 days a week, and living holistically, he is also one of our celebrities in addiction recovery.
Barker previously struggled with his mental health and addiction for years. He smoked large amounts of marijuana daily and battled an addiction to prescription painkillers. In an interview with Billboard, Barker discusses the push and pull he felt after his children were born. He shared he felt constantly torn, as he wanted to be home with them but also had to tour to provide for them.
Barker also shared that he had had nightmares about plane crashes, and had to medicate himself just to be able to leave the house. Travis stated, “My breakfast was four blunts, four Vicodin, one Valium, and one Oxycodone. ‘Cause, that was the only way I could leave the house. I had to medicate myself before I could even think about getting in the car. It was tough.”
In 2008, however, an accident took place that changed the course of Barker’s life. Barker was involved in a plane crash that killed 4 and left burn marks on 65% of his body. Barker lost his best friends in the crash and struggled with PTSD, suicidal thoughts, and survivor’s guilt following the accident. Following the accident, Barker got sober and has since stayed in recovery. He shared with Men’s Health, “I was in a plane crash. That was my rehab. Lose three of your friends and almost die? That was my wake-up call. If I wasn’t in a crash, I would have probably never quit.”
6. Jessica Simpson
Jessica Simpson rose to fame in the late 1990s as a teen singing sensation and has remained in the public eye ever since. Although the singer is known for her bright and jovial personality, she recently opened up about her dark battle with addiction. In her 2020 memoir Open Book, Simpson recounts being sexually abused as a young girl, and the emotional pain that followed her for years thereafter. Consequently, living with this trauma, accompanied by additional stressors including career pressures, culminated in her self-medication with alcohol and stimulants.
In 2017, Simpson got sober. She told People magazine that quitting alcohol was the easy part, as she had developed anger towards the substance that contributed to her numbness. She further shared that therapy was the hard part. Simpson writes, “With work, I allowed myself to feel the traumas I’d been through.”
Today, Simpson celebrates sobriety and her ability to experience her life fully. As one of our celebrities in addiction recovery, she shared with People, “It’s been a long hard deep emotional journey. One that I’ve come through the other side with pure happiness and fulfilment and acceptance of myself. I’ve used my pain and turned it into something that can be beautiful and hopefully inspiring to people.”
7. Anthony Hopkins - Sober since 1975
Legendary actor Anthony Hopkins is best known for his captivating role in the Oscar-winning film, Silence of the Lambs. Although Hopkins has had a long and illustrious career, he also battled a crippling addiction to alcohol early in his career. In fact, he admits that he was “very hard to work with” during these times.
In an interview with The Sunday Times, Hopkins shared, “Booze is a wonderful way of checking out. It has an instant effect - that's why we do it. In my case, I had these peculiar conflicts - I didn't feel I fitted into my own skin. I felt deeply guilty and ashamed and not worthy of the luck I'd had as an actor.”
Hopkins got sober in 1975. He states he made the decision to give up alcohol after he nearly “drank himself to death.” Today, he is one of the many celebrities in addiction recovery who credits Alcoholics Anonymous for helping him achieve sobriety and with that, a “freedom from alcohol.”
Read more:
20 best addiction recovery quotes
Resources
- Eminem’s road to recovery:https://iamsober.com/blog/eminem-road-to-recovery/
- Eminems comeback: https://www.today.com/popculture/eminem-inside-comeback-wbna30889466
- Womans health: Selma Blairs public humiliation: https://www.today.com/health/womens-health/selma-blair-public-humiliation-last-time-drank-ve-died-rcna28302#:~:text=In%20some%20ways%2C%20Blair's%20experience,for%20guilt%20in%20moving%20forward.
- https://people.com/movies/selma-blair-new-memoir-exclusive/
- Bradley Cooper acknowledges his struggles with addiction: https://detoxtorehab.com/addiction/bradley-cooper-acknowledges-struggle-with-addiction
- Travis Barker Had a Premonition About His Near-Fatal Plane Crash:https://www.billboard.com/music/music-news/travis-barker-plane-crash-pill-addiction-memoir-6730138/
- HOW TRAVIS BARKER OVERCAME HIS PAST STRUGGLES WITH DRUG ADDICTION: https://www.turnbridge.com/news-events/latest-articles/travis-barker-overcomes-struggles-with-drugs-ptsd-survivors-guilt
- Jessica Simpson Reveals in Brave New Memoir: 'I Was Killing Myself With All the Drinking and Pills: https://people.com/music/jessica-simpson-reveals-drinking-pills-new-memoir/
- All the Celebrities Who Have Struggled With Drug or Alcohol Addiction: https://www.sheknows.com/entertainment/slideshow/2837/celebrities-who-have-struggled-with-drug-and-alcohol-addictions/32/
- https://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-9310053/Anthony-Hopkins-83-says-felt-deeply-guilty-ashamed-luck-actor.html