How Celebrities Can Truly Save Many Lives
Not many days go by without hearing about an actor, musician or professional athlete going to rehab, coming out of rehab or relapsing after rehab. We read news items about celebrities like these being arrested for drugs, sometimes in airports, or getting into trouble for activities they were involved in while intoxicated, like driving or trashing hotel rooms. While news stories like these simply seem to clutter up our news feeds, there’s another way to look at them. Some of these stories actually have the ability to save lives.
Not all of them, of course. It’s doubtful that anyone benefits from viewing a video of Olympic gold medalist Michael Phelps smoking a bong or admitting to driving while intoxicated. We don’t really want to think of our children watching news footage of their favorite musician or athlete being dragged off to jail.
These episodes set very bad examples for our youth, but there are other celebrity episodes that can actually inspire some people to seek help for their own problems. It happens when celebrities refuse to stay silent about their earlier addiction and recovery. Even if a person was not addicted but was using drugs, made the decision to quit and then spoke publicly about their sobriety, they can significantly help others who might be in their situation.
Every time celebrities speak out in support of rehabilitation or sobriety, those words could reach someone who is just starting to realize that drugs or alcohol is damaging his (or her) life. Maybe his spouse threatened to walk if there wasn’t a change. Or maybe she lost a job, wrecked a car or put her child in danger because of her intoxication. Seeing that someone else was able to leave drugs and alcohol behind and make a better life for himself, and seeing this at just the right moment could save a life.
Celebrities Who Have Helped Others by Speaking Out
Here’s some of the celebrities who have gone public with their former addictions, trips to rehab and sobriety:
Chris Herren
Chris Herren: Chris was a star of the NBA, playing with the Denver Nuggets and Boston Celtics. In college and then in the NBA, he failed dozens of drug tests and finally began to be arrested for drugs in 2004. In 2008, he completed a long stay in a drug rehab facility and soon after, founded a project that took him around the country, telling his story of sobriety and recovery to young people.
Demi Lovato
Demi Lovato: Demi is a singer and actress whose struggles with drugs and alcohol were closely followed in the media. She got the help she needed to recover from her drug use. Earlier this year, she suffered a relapse but again, friends and family were there to help her get back to sobriety.
Eliza Dushku
Eliza Dushku: This actress, known for her role in Buffy the Vampire Slayer, attended a youth summit on opioid awareness in 2017 and announced that she had been sober for more than eight years. Her addiction to both drugs and alcohol had its roots in the marijuana she was using when she was just 14 years old. About her recovery, she told the group of young people, “I got sober for my family. But today, I’m sober for me, and I’m sober for you.“
Amanda Bynes
Amanda Bynes: Actress Amanda Bynes was featured multiple times in the tabloids for her erratic behavior. Finally, she disappeared from sight for a while. She surfaced this year, looking healthier and talking about her past problems which centered around her heavy use of Ecstasy, marijuana and Adderall. She finally learned how to put her drug use behind her so she could return to acting or begin a career in fashion design. About her return to health, she said, “I’ve been through the worst and came out the other end and survived…it’s only up from here.”
Miley Cyrus
Miley Cyrus: For a long time, singer Miley Cyrus seemed to work hard on being a cheerleader for marijuana use. She talked about it, referenced the drug in her shows and even smoked joints onstage in Europe and Florida. Finally, in 2017, in an announcement that she was quitting marijuana, she said, “I like to surround myself with people that make me want to get better, more evolved, and open. And I was noticing, it’s not the people that are stoned.”
Stigma Serves No One
Much has been said about the stigma attached to addiction to drugs or alcohol. But that truly seems to be changing through the hard work of many recovery advocates and even the many celebrities who have spoken out about their stints in rehab. Every time a well-known person stands up and tells their story of recovery, an addicted person can draw inspiration from their experience. That could be the day they call their family and ask for help finding a rehab.
One of the hallmarks of addiction to either drugs or alcohol is the demeaning effect these substances have. It is very common for an addicted person to feel like they don’t deserve help. I’ve heard some people say they didn’t ask their families for help getting into rehab because of the thousands that had already been spent on their legal or medical problems. Stigma exists on both side of this problem—both addicted people and those who aren’t addicted can be holding onto this attitude.
But no one gets better when stigma is in the way. What helps people get better is assisting them in finding a good rehab and helping them arrive at the door and stay until they can maintain their sobriety. Even after rehab, there could be a slip or a relapse but that doesn’t have to mean the end of hope, either. It simply means there is more work to be done.
No one wants to be an addict. Even if a person can’t express it, an addicted person wants to see the end of their dependence on drugs and the return of a healthy life.
Demi Said it Perfectly
Demi Lovato summed up her ability to reach out to fans all over the world and inspire them to ask for help. As she talked about her sobriety this year, she said, “I knew that there were two options: I could either not talk about my stint in rehab and hope that it went away, or I could talk about it and inspire people to get help for their issues as well, so that’s exactly what I did.”
“I knew that there were two options: I could either not talk about my stint in rehab and hope that it went away, or I could talk about it and inspire people to get help…”
The more people, famous and not-so-famous, who realize that they can help others by speaking out, the more people will get the message that they can let go of any stigma related to addiction. And that could help addicted people all around the world ask for help sooner, and receive more understanding every step along their route to recovery. That’s one of the ways we can build a strong network of support for those who have not yet found their way back to sobriety.
Reviewed and Edited by Claire Pinelli ICAADC, CCS, LADC, RAS, MCAP
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