Jamie Lee Curtis opened up about her struggles with substance abuse, noting that if fentanyl had been around when she was using, she probably would not have survived.
The Haunted Mansion actress sat down with Joe Scarborough on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” on Friday, where she got candid about her opiate use.
“I was an opiate addict, and I liked a good opiate buzz,” she said. “And if fentanyl was available, as easily available as it is today on the street, I’d be dead.”
Curtis, who has more than 20 years of clean time, admits that she was lucky because nothing life-altering happened to her while she was using.
“My worst day was almost invisible to anyone else,” she continued. “I never was arrested. I didn’t make terrible decisions high or under the influence that then for the rest of my life I regret.”
The Halloween star recognizes that not everyone is as fortunate as she is.
“There are women in prison whose lives have been shattered by drugs and alcohol — not because they were violent felons, not because they were horrible people, but because they were addicts.”
She added, “And I am incredibly lucky that that wasn’t my path. I was headed there.”
Curtis also opened up about losing her half-brother Nicholas Curtis to a heroin overdose in 1994. He was just 21 years old.
“He was clean and sober, and he went out and used one time and died from an overdose,” the Oscar-winning actress said. “And he is one of millions and millions of people whose lives have been extinguished because of addiction.”
Curtis revealed in a 2021 interview with Fast Company that her addiction to opiates began after she had plastic surgery.
“I tried plastic surgery, and it didn’t work,” she told the outlet. “It got me addicted to Vicodin.”
She struggled privately with her addiction for a decade before getting clean. She got sober in 1999 and celebrated 24 years of clean time this February.
Check out part of the interview below.
