Jamie Lee Curtis of 'Scream Queens' Gets Candid about Getting Addicted to Drugs in Her Youth & Road

May 2024 ยท 3 minute read

Actress Jamie Lee Curtis is getting candid about her addiction to drugs as a youth and her journey to recovery over the years.

Jamie Lee Curtis is not shying away from talking about her drug addiction struggles as she celebrates 20 years of being sober.

Jamie Lee Curtis attends Project Angel Food's Angel Awards Gala at Project Angel Food. | Photo: Getty Images

In a candid interview with Variety for this month's Recovery Issue, the actress talked about how she was addicted to Vicodin as a youth.

She recalled that her addiction to drugs started after she had a routine surgery for her puffy eyes. She got hooked on it and took it everywhere she went but managed to keep it a secret from everyone.

Jamie Lee Curtis attends The IMDb Studio Presented By Intuit QuickBooks. | Photo: Getty Images

At the time, everything was going great for Curtis as she was in a stable marriage, her career was flourishing, and her children's books were becoming best sellers.

However, she realized that as her addiction got worse, her fame grew bigger, so that caused her to live in denial.

For over ten years, the "Scream Queens" star keep secretly nursing her addiction until one day she was caught in the act.

She recalled that it was in December of 1998 and that a Brazilian healer who had been staying with them found her popping a handful of Vicodin with a glass of wine.

That was the first eye-opening moment for her as she recounted that the woman said:

"You know Jamie, I see you. I see you with your little pills, and you think you're so fabulous and so great. But, the truth is you're dead. You're a dead woman."

In January of the following year, she stumbled on an article in Esquire titled "Vicodin, My Vicodin," written by Tom Chiarella.

On reading about Tom's addiction struggles, Jamie realized that she wasn't alone and inspired her to begin her recovery journey.

Jamie attended her first recovery meeting after she went to a friend to talk about her addiction, and the friend gave her a doctor's contact to get more prescription pills.

At the moment, she got her final wake up call as she couldn't bear the thought of leaving her kids behind because of a bad attitude.

With this year making it two decades since Jamie has been sober, the actress admits that she puts in a lot of work to avoid a relapse, Fox News reports.

The "Freaky Friday" star revealed that she attends recovery meetings anywhere she goes and even goes as far as asking hotels to remove their minibars.

"But I shared drugs with my dad. I did cocaine and freebased once with my dad. But that was the only time I did that, and I did that with him."

Jamie was born to actors Tony Curtis and Janet Leigh on November 22, 1958. She found her way into stardom at quite a young age, starring alongside her father in films.

Some of her most prominent movies include "Halloween," "A Fish Called Wanda," "True Lies," "Scream Queens," and "Freaky Friday."

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