Celebrity Drug Overdoses, Deaths & Substance Abuse Stories

In 2013, King opened up to The Guardianabout his former alcohol addiction, describing how he’s not ashamed of his past. But it also says in there, “We will not regret the past nor wish to shut the door on it. I regret the necessity.” King’s not about to pretend he didn’t have struggles with alcohol, nor does he think he should hide it, either. It’s a part of who he is, and he’s been sober ever since his family intervention. But like most of us, Cooper’s life has had its ups and downs. He is a recovering from alcoholism and has been sober for over a decade. I never would have been able to have the relationships that I do.

Unable to fight her demons, she later died from alcohol intoxication on July 23, 2011, at the age of 27. According to the coroner, her blood alcohol content was more than five times the legal amount at the time of her death.

Famous Celebrities Who Have Done Drugs and Battled Addiction and Alcoholism

It should be noted that in the 19th century and the early 1900s, morphine usage was not only legal but more socially acceptable than alcohol. Morphine was used during the American Civil War as a surgical anesthetic and was sent home with numerous wounded soldiers for pain relief. Several hundred thousand soldiers were addicted to morphine at the end of the war. Kurt Cobain, lead singer of the alternative rock band Nirvana, died in 1994 in Seattle of a heroin overdose and a self-inflicted gunshot wound of the head.

Peter Cook was an English comedian who had a successful career in British television and film. Author Jack Kerouac, whose second novel ‘On the Road’ made him an icon of the Beat Generation, struggled with alcohol abuse throughout his life. The King of Rock and Roll was in poor health, bedridden, weighing about 350 pounds and requiring nursing care near the end of his life.

Chronic conditions and accidental overdoses … These stars tragically passed away from alcohol intoxication

The toxicology report did not find traces of alcohol or common drugs in Johnson’s system at the time of his death. Anthony Johnson’s autopsy revealed his passing was related to years of alcohol abuse. Below are 10 celebrities who struggled with alcoholism and found recovery. Shortened the lives of those who died by an average of 26 years, for a total of nearly 3.6 million years of potential life lost.

However, alcohol abuse, especially over an extended period, can be extremely damaging to our health and is definitely not something to be taken lightly. Unfortunately, there are a fair few celebrities who ultimately succumbed to their drinking problem. ’Hamlet’ star Richard Burton – who was married to Elizabeth Taylor twice – passed away on August 5, celebrities who died of alcoholism 1984, in Céligny, Switzerland. While he lost his life from an intracerebral hemorrhage, he also had a cirrhosis diagnosis which contributed to his health state. Burton had a severe alcohol addiction and passed away at 58. Billie Holiday, 44, was an American jazz singer and songwriter. Holiday struggled with heroin addiction as well as alcoholism.

The Most Famous High-Functioning Alcoholics in History

Maintaining a passion for words, she took on a variety of projects where her writing could help people . Check your drinking, and learn more about the benefits of drinking less alcohol. Are recovering https://ecosoberhouse.com/ from an alcohol use disorder or are unable to control the amount they drink. Excessive drinking is a leading cause of preventable death in the United States, and it is also costly.

• Professional help was needed because he failed to control his alcohol intake while on set.
• “I do feel like if I can help people who have been through a similar situation, then why not,” he said in 2010.
• World-famous horror novelist Stephen King struggled with drugs and alcohol for a considerable period of time.
• He checked on her at 10am, but when she didn’t move when he entered the room he thought she was asleep.
• The MTV series Jackass and Viva La Bam star Ryan Dunn died of a car accident in the early hours of June 20, 2011.

Today, he maintains that for more than 30 years, with the help of Alcoholics Anonymous , he has avoided using alcohol. There are also free drug and alcohol abuse hotline numbers available. The Dark Knight star Heath Ledger died in 2008 of a toxic combination of six prescription drugs. Although actor Robert Downey Jr. first tried drugs at the young age of six, it wasn’t until 1996 that he faced his first drug-related arrest. After a troubling period with drug abuse, Downey Jr. has achieved an inspiring comeback from addiction. The Lost Boys child star Corey Haim found himself lost in drugs at a young age. His death in 2010 was attributed to a bad prescription medication concoction.

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Sometimes they are blessings in disguise, a wake-up call for individuals suffering from addiction. Several stars have experienced drug overdoses, and many say the experience helped them get their lives back on track.

Moreover, if you add alcohol to the mix, they can become lethal. That’s what happened to a young man from South Africa, who died after drinking a whole bottle of Jagermeister in two minutes.

Born in Saint Paul, Minnesota, he and his family lived in New York for a few years before moving to New Jersey, where his literary potential first became apparent. After graduating from secondary school, he enrolled at Princeton University and began writing stories and poems on the side. Join our online community to learn more about addiction and treatment.

Leonard Nimoy is best known for his enduring role as Mr. Spock from Star Trek. Unfortunately, the success of the show led him to drink, and what Nimoy called “unwinding” spiraled into a ritual of drinking wine, beer, or other spirits at the end of shooting every day. Eventually, he even started to sneak drinks on the set, disguised as water in a paper cup. Later, he checked himself into rehab, where he got clean. They struggle with their addiction in dangerous silence, or their friends and families are aware of the problem but not how big a problem it truly is. Experiencing a pattern of good luck that fails to expose their drinking habits to others, the addict may not even realize that they struggle with alcoholism at all.

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Two years later, he released his second title, ‘The Beautiful and Damned’, which allegedly was based on the early years of his marriage. During that period, he also wrote for numerous popular magazines including Collier’s Weekly, Esquire, and The Saturday Evening Post.

• Ultimately, it was during that trip that she was found unresponsive in her hotel room.
• While he describes his personality as naturally addictive, Radcliffe credits his close friends with helping him to get help and develop new, healthier coping strategies.
• Join our online community to learn more about addiction and treatment.
• Permissive approaches in Sweden, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom have later backtracked.