Drugs after cosmetic surgery lead to Jamie Lee Curtis’ battle with opiates.
Jamie shared her story years ago, and has been honest about the daily choice she has to make to maintain the life of recovery she has worked hard to establish.
In her thirties (she is now 54 years old), Jamie Lee Curtis had elective plastic surgery. She was prescribed painkillers (morphine was one of her favorites) and she quickly began abusing opiates privately.
ESCAPE FROM REALITY
She describes opiates as, “the warm bath from which to escape painful reality.” Jamie Lee Curtis is not alone in this mentality. When people are struggling with the difficulty of everyday life, plus the stress of a job or career, and maybe even being in the public eye, the pressure and the need for a stress release grows. When a pill or any form of drug can take away the stress, the pain, and the discomfort so easily, why stop taking them?
Opiate addiction quickly spirals out of control, and people find themselves unable to stop taking the drug that’s making life feel more like a warm bath that a constant uphill climb.
Even with success in the entertainment industry, Jamie Lee Curtis had a hard time feeling confident. In a business where you need to look a certain way, and be a certain dress size, Jamie, among many other celebrities, feels that very real pressure to be presentable, to be what producers and directors are looking for, and to essentially be flawless.
HOW IT STARTED
Jamie recalls being told that she could not be filmed one day because the area under her eyes was too puffy. She rushed out and had fat from her face sucked out in what felt like an effort to be employable. Thus began Jamie Lee Curtis’ battle with opiates.
She now has ten years of sobriety, and she believes that getting clean was the greatest accomplishment of her life. For someone who has reached “A List Status” in a cut-throat industry, making changes for her own health and happiness trumps any paycheck, project, or job prospect.
“Recovery is an acceptance that your life is in shambles and you have to change it. I was lucky, I didn’t have to lose anything.” In her own words, Jamie Lee Curtis explains just how much a life of recovery means to her, and unlike many (famous or otherwise) addicts, Jamie doesn’t feel she had to hit a devastating rock bottom to make the changes.
As she has taken the time to make her life how she wants it, Jamie has become healthier and healthier. She doesn’t seem as concerned about vanity as she does about taking care of her mind, body, and soul.
PAYING IT FORWARD
Jamie also lends her own experiences, plus celebrity status, to assist treatment centers that help other addicts get clean. Paying it forward is a great way for recovering addicts and alcoholics to remember how hard they have worked to get to where they are by helping those in the earlier stages of recovery.
Jamie Lee Curtis’ battle with opiates has brought her to a place of health, helping, and happiness.
Kate Green is passionate about improving the lives of others by helping them get sober through her work at Balboa Horizons Treatment Services a drug and alcohol rehab center.
