Living the life of glitz and glamour in Hollywood is not all that it is often cracked up to be. Sometimes the Hollywood stars you read about in the newspapers and see on the silver screen have problems with depression that create voids. Those voids are often filled with prescription drugs and the consequences can be steep. When it comes to prescription drug abuse, the public often only knows one part of the entire story. The rest of the story is about as far from glitz and glamour as you can get.
Lindsay Lohan
Lindsay Lohan had a promising future in Hollywood after making a few very popular movies for Disney. Her adventures with Herbie the Lovebug and as a role-swapping teen in “Freaky Friday” made Lohan a household name. But Lindsay Lohan’s most public role has been as a drug and alcohol addict who cannot stay out of the headlines.
Lohan has been through several unsuccessful rehab programs and has been filmed in a courtroom more times than she has on a movie set. Her on and off bouts with illegal and prescription drugs has made her an easy target for the media, but she still has legions of fans who are hoping that Lindsay can turn her life around and find success.
Heath Ledger
When the young actor Heath Ledger was found dead in a luxury apartment, the rumors about prescription drug abuse started to swirl. Many fans didn’t want to believe it, but it turned out that a combination of prescription medications had a large hand in bringing Ledger’s climb to fame to an end.
It’s hard to classify Heath Ledger as a typical Hollywood addict because he was battling physical conditions that forced him to use medications to help him sleep and relieve pain. But when Ledger started mixing unhealthy amounts of those medications to try and sleep, the results sent shock waves throughout the film industry.
Charlie Sheen
Hollywood personalities can sometimes make light of their own predicaments and help the fans to forget just how much the personalities are suffering. When movie star Charlie Sheen lost his high-paying job on the show “Two and a Half Men,” the rumors about his prescription and illegal drug addiction started to swirl.
Rather than allowing the rumors to grow without comment, Sheen added to them by appearing on national television and admitting to all of the outlandish addiction claims that had been made by others. Sheen took credit and responsibility for what he was doing to his own life and seems to have used his self-confidence to get his life back under control and start making movies again.
Jamie Lee Curtis
When it was revealed that America’s horror movie “scream queen” was addicted to prescription pain killers, it seemed to shock everyone. Jamie Lee Curtis admitted to taking painkillers after having cosmetic work done on her appearance, but she could not shake the pills when the doctors told her that she was supposed to stop taking them.
Things got desperate when Jamie Lee Curtis was mixing pain killers with alcohol. It took her a few years, but Jamie Lee Curtis eventually announced that she was cured of her addictions and she became an advocate speaking out against prescription drug addiction.
Elvis Presley
The excitement created when Elvis Presley said that he was going to start making movies helped to bring a slumping movie industry back to life. Elvis was considered to be important to several areas of the entertainment industry, including film and music. Elvis was well-known for his talents, but he was also well-known for the amount of prescription medications he was taking throughout his life.
When Elvis was found dead in his bathroom, it was suspected that an overdose of prescription medication killed him. His excessive weight coupled with his addition to medication helped to bring down the single most significant career in movie and music history.
Prescription medications can help people, and they can become the genesis of many problems. When the public sees Hollywood superstars battling addiction, it helps to shine a light on the problems with drugs and the solutions that are available to everyone.
