Getting arrested is never a glamorous affair, even if you’re a celebrity. For many of us, we can just put our run-ins with the law behind us and move on. That time you got pulled over for speeding wasn’t really that big of a deal, right? When you’re famous, getting arrested, booked, and having your mugshot taken can have life-altering effects. For instance, when you think of Nick Nolte the first image that probably comes to your mind is that infamous mugshot.
When your business is your image, mugshots can be a really big deal. For some celebs, a mugshot is an opportunity. Many know that their fame means interest and that getting a unique or even funny mugshot is a way to get free publicity. Whether they’re smirking, smiling, crying, or striking a pose, some celebrities really know how to get a novel mugshot. We at Mamas Uncut decided to sift through years of celebrity mugshots to bring you the best of the best. Some funny celebrity mugshots have a story behind them too and we’ll be sure to share those as well. Here are the top 40 celebrity mugshots.
Bill Gates
Billionaire and speed-demon, Bill Gates was arrested in December 1977 in Albuquerque, New Mexico. The exact circumstances of this arrest are not known, but it is said to be for a traffic violation. He had been arrested earlier in 1975 for speeding and driving without a valid driver’s license.
Shailene Woodley
Actress Shailene Woodley, star of Big Little Lies and the Divergent films, was arrested on October 10, 2016. At the time, she was protesting the Dakota Access Pipeline in North Dakota. She was charged with criminal trespassing and engaging in a riot. She eventually entered a plea and served no jail time.
John Mayer
Welcome to the real world! Singer, John Mayer looks about as clueless in his mugshot as you’d expect after being arrested for driving without a license in Atlanta. We guess he found out there’s such a thing as the real world. It wasn’t a lie he could rise above.
Khloé Kardashian
Reality TV star Khloé Kardashian turned herself over to the police in 2018 after violating her probation. This mugshot is one of our favorites because you can tell that Kardashian knew it was coming. She was prepared! Her makeup is flawless and we’d guess she got her hair done beforehand as well. She was released just three hours after due to overcrowding. We really can’t keep up with this Kardashian.
Chace Crawford
Gossip Girl actor, Chace Crawford gave us something to gossip about after he was arrested in Plano, Texas in 2010. As part of a routine traffic stop, an officer allegedly found pot on the actor and arrested him for possession. He looks like someone who worked at that Abercrombie & Fitch you went to in middle school.
Nick Nolte
As we said, this mugshot of Nick Nolte is pretty infamous. From the disheveled Hawaiin shirt to his gravity-defying hair, this mugshot has it all. Nolte was arrested for DUI and later blamed the incident on the drug GHB. He described it in detail in his memoir writing, “It went viral — my hair wild, my expression unsettling, looking like an asylum inmate out for a lark. In 1992, People magazine had named me the Sexiest Man Alive, and now, 10 years later, I looked to all the world like a madman.”
Justin Bieber
Musician Justin Bieber is known for hits like “Sorry” and “Baby,” but he’s also known as a bit of a wild child. Before settling down with now-wife Hailey Baldwin, Bieber lived his late teens and early twenties in a sometimes-reckless manner. In 2014, he was arrested in Miami and charged with misdemeanor careless driving and resisting arrest without violence after police encountered him driving under the influence of mary jane and prescription pills.
Jeremy Meeks, aka “The Hot Felon”
Jeremy Meeks is the only person on this list who became famous because of his mugshot. Meeks, a former member of the Crips, was arrested in 2014 in Stockton, California during a gang sweep. His mugshot went viral while he was in prison, solely because, at least according to the internet, Meeks is hot. Like really, really hot. So hot he earned the nickname “The Hot Felon.” Since his release from prison, Meeks has landed work as a model. See what thirst can do? Most fortuitous mugshot of all time!
Amber Portwood
Teen Mom star Amber Portwood was arrested on domestic battery charges in 2019. It’s been a wild ride for the young mom who has struggled with mental health issues. This culminated with Portwood threatening her boyfriend Andrew Glenwood with a machete.
Flava Flav
Hip hop artist and reality TV star Flava Flav was arrested near Las Vegas in 2015 for a myriad of reasons. Charges included: driving under the influence, possession of mary jane, having an open container of alcohol, speeding, having an invalid registration and driving with a suspended license.
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Michelle Rodriguez
In December 2007, actress Michelle Rodriguez, best known for her roles on Lost, the Fast and Furious movies, and Girlfight, was booked into a Los Angeles County jail. She had failed to complete community service and alcohol monitoring during probation stemming from an earlier drunk driving arrest. She served six months in jail.
Snooki
At the peak of her Jersey Shore fame in 2010, Nicole “Snooki” Polizzi was arrested in Seaside Heights, New Jersey and charged with disorderly conduct. According to reports at the time, Snooki got very, very, very drunk and rowdy on a Friday night and was seen looking disheveled, falling all over herself, and basically and looking and acting “too drunk.”
Luann de Lesseps
Real Housewives of New York City star Luann de Lesseps was arrested on Christmas Eve 2017 for kicking a police officer, public intoxication, resisting arrest with violence, and crimes against a person in Palm Beach, Florida. She allegedly yelled at people around her, “I’m going to kill you all,” before her arrest. The holidays are tough, okay?
Heather Locklear
Melrose Place star Heather Locklear was arrested in 2008 in Montecito, California after she was spotted driving erratically in a parking lot. Police ruled out alcohol as a factor, but they determined that the actress was under the influence of prescription pills at the time. It would not be the last time Locklear was arrested. She was arrested again in 2018 for battery against emergency personnel.
David Bowie
The late, great David Bowie was arrested in 1976 on pot possession charges. The legendary rocker was arrested in the early hours of the morning on March 21, 1976, following a concert in Rochester, NY. Police apparently confiscated half a pound of pot from Bowie and others with him at the time, including fellow musician Iggy Pop. Bowie was released on bond and eventually pled not guilty before a grand jury decided not to pursue charges further.
Aaron Carter
Child rapper Aaron Carter was arrested in Georgia in 2017 for suspicion of driving under the influence and possession of pot. Aaron Carter is Nick Carter’s little brother, but maybe Aaron is the most real “bad boy” of them all. That hair. Just, wow.
Paris Hilton
Heiress Paris Hilton is certainly no stranger to arrests or mugshots. At least three of her mugshots are in wide circulation on the internet. This one, taken in 2010, followed the reality star’s arrest for coke possession in Las Vegas. Hey, at least, according to her expression, she found the whole thing at least a little amusing…
Frank Sinatra
Frank Sinatra, one of the most beloved singers history has ever seen, was arrested at the young age of 23 in Bergen County, New Jersey. The young crooner was arrested on charges of seduction and adultery in 1938. Essentially what happened is that he was arrested for sleeping with a woman (the “seduction” charge — yes, that really used to be a thing!), and the charge was later revised to “adultery” when authorities learned the woman in question was married. Charges were eventually dismissed.
Shia LaBeouf
Child actor turned grownup actor Shia LaBeouf has had many run-ins with the law over the years. He was arrested in 2017 on charges of obstruction, disorderly conduct, and public drunkenness in Savannah, Georgia. He was arrested in 2014 for disrupting a play in New York. The above mugshot was taken after his arrest in 2007 for misdemeanor trespassing in Chicago. The story goes that he drunkenly kept visiting the same Walgreens store and refused to leave when asked.
Jane Fonda
It wouldn’t be a list of celebrity mugshots without Jane Fonda! The iconic actress and activist is still to this very day making headlines for being arrested while protesting. Her most iconic mugshot, above, was taken in 1970. Fonda had been making very powerful enemies by loudly protesting the Vietnam War, and she was arrested in Cleveland for — wait for it! — having vitamins in her luggage.
Nina Dobrev and the Cast of The Vampire Diaries
In 2009, Nina Dobrev and her Vampire Diaries castmates were all arrested in Smarr, Georgia. In addition to Dobrev, Sara Canning, Candice Accola, Kayla Ewell, photographer Tyler Shields, and actress Krystal Vayda (who was not on Vampire Diaries) were arrested on disorderly conduct charges. The group was allegedly distracting drivers by dangling off a bridge, flashing cars, and otherwise being “disorderly” in public during a photoshoot.
Eminem
Rapper Eminem is no stranger to trouble, and at the height of his fame in 2000, he was arrested not once, but twice. The above mugshot was taken after Eminem, aka Marshall Mathers was arrested following a bar fight in Warren, Michigan.
Jay Z
Rapper, mogul husband of Beyoncé, and… criminal? Jay Z was arrested in 1999 just as he was becoming the most famous rapper on the planet. Jay reportedly stabbed record producer Lance “Un” Rivera at a club in New York City. Jay was charged with felony assault with a deadly weapon, but he eventually pled guilty to misdemeanor assault and served three years’ probation.
Cher
Fun fact: A 13- or 14-year-old Cher was arrested in 1959 in Los Angeles, California. The charge? The teenager apparently “borrowed” a friend’s car and was driving around the city in it without a license. Teenage shenanigans! Cher apparently has little recollection of the event, but her mom shared the story for a Lifetime special in 2013.
Hugh Grant
British actor Hugh Grant was arrested in Los Angeles way back in 1995. He was arrested for solicitation and none of the 90’s romcom experience prepared him for time behind bars. Why does this mugshot always make us laugh? It looks like he’s about to run away, so there’s that.
Lindsay Lohan
You didn’t think you’d read a list of celebrity mugshots and not see Lindsay Lohan‘s face, right? The child actor has certainly had her fair share of run-ins with the police over the years. Her mugshots have become something of a meme, in fact. Lohan’s troubles really began in 2007, when she was arrested for driving under the influence (DUI) of alcohol and coke possession after she crashed her car in Los Angeles. Since then, Lohan has been repeatedly arrested on charges of DUI, drug possession, and not following through on the terms of her various probations.
Al Pacino
In 1961, legendary actor Al Pacino was arrested in Woonsocket, Rhode Island for carrying a concealed weapon. Pacino and two friends were allegedly driving around the same block repeatedly while wearing black masks before being pulled over by police, who found a loaded .38 caliber in the trunk. Pacino spent three days in jail, but charges were later dropped.
June Shannon
Mama June, aka June Shannon, has had a few run-ins with the law. This particular mugshot is from 2008 after June was arrested for theft of child support payments and contempt of court. The expression the Here Comes Honey Boo Boo star is making says it all.
Joshua Jackson
Joshua Jackson, who is best known for playing Pacey Witter on Dawson’s Creek, was arrested in 2002 in Raleigh, North Carolina. The charge? Jackson, apparently under the influence of alcohol, assaulted a security guard at a hockey game.
Macaulay Culkin
Child actor Macaulay Culkin grew up fast! In 2004, Culkin was arrested for possession of mary jane and two controlled substances without a prescription. The Home Alone actor plead guilty and was given three one-year suspended prison terms and ordered to pay a $540 fine. Did he tell the judge to ‘Keep the change, ya filthy animal!”?
Keanu Reeves
Actor Keanu Reeves was arrested in Los Angeles in 1993, shortly after his rise to fame, for drunk driving. Police apparently pulled him over after they spotted him driving erratically. He admitted to being under the influence in order to avoid charges. But hey, of all the people on this list, at least Reeves can say he looks the best in his mugshot.
Bug Hall
Former The Little Rascals film star Bug Hall was arrested in Texas. He was charged with misdemeanor possession for use to inhale or ingest a volatile chemical after he was found with numerous air duster cans in a Texas hotel room.
Nicole Richie
Fashion designer Nicole Richie looks like she’s trying not to laugh in this mugshot. She was arrested in 2006 after her car was spotted driving the wrong direction on the highway in Burbank, California. Richie admitted to using pot and Vicodin before getting behind the wheel. Not living The Simple Life after all.
Robert Downey, Jr.
Actor Robert Downey, Jr. went through a well-documented battle with addiction, which led to him being arrested multiple times in the late 90s and early 2000s. The above mugshot was taken in 2001 after he was arrested in Culver City, California for allegedly being under the influence of a controlled substance.
Armie Hammer
Before he was eating peaches with Timothée Chalamet or letting his children suck on his toes, Actor, Armie Hammer spent some time in jail in Texas. The actor, who was driving a u-haul truck, was pulled over by the Hudspeth County Sheriff and pot was discovered. He made bail, but prosecutors eventually dropped the charges.
Blac Chyna
Model and Rob Kardashian‘s ex, Blac Chyna, was arrested at the Austin-Bergstrom International Airport in Texas in 2016. After getting kicked off of her flight to London for disorderly conduct, she was taken into custody by police in Texas and later found with ecstasy. We hate flying too.
Nick Carter
Another one of the Carter boys made the list! Backstreet Boy Nick Carter was arrested in Key West, Florida in 2016 after he got into a barfight at the Hog’s Breath Saloon. The Monroe County Sheriff’s Office showed him the meaning of being lonely, behind bars.
Vanilla Ice
Kind-of-rapper Vanilla Ice was arrested in Florida in 2015 for allegedly burglarizing the house next door to his. He was filming a reality TV show, Vanilla Ice Project, about renovating the home. That’s insane. Want to know something even crazier? Vanilla Ice’s real name is Robert Van Winkle. We call him Rob’ Van Winkle for short.
Reese Witherspoon
America’s sweetheart, Reese Witherspoon, was arrested in Atlanta in 2013 for disorderly conduct after she refused to leave the car she was in. Her husband, Jim Toth, was busy getting a field sobriety test at the time and was booked for DUI. We wonder if she used some of her law skills from Legally Blonde to get out of this one. We should take this mugshot as a warning because if it can happen to Reese Witherspoon, it can happen to anyone!
R. Kelly
R. Kelly was arrested in Chicago on February 22nd, 2019. Kelly turned himself in and was arrested after being charged with 10 alleged counts of class two felony criminal sexual abuse ranging from 1998 to 2010. He was later found guilty of racketeering and sex trafficking.
Jussie Smollett
Jussie Smollett was sentenced after he was found guilty of filing a false police report, claiming that he was a victim of a hate crime in January 2019. Smollett claimed he was attacked by homophobic racists, but the jury agreed with the prosecution that the actor paid two brothers he used to work with and created the hoax. He was sentenced to a 150-day sentence but was released after being in jail for seven days.
Ezra Miller
Ezra Miller was arrested on the island of Hawaii in April 2022, the second time in as many months that the actor who plays the Flash in the DC Extended Universe has been taken into custody. The Hawaii Police Department said in a statement that Miller was arrested for second-degree assault on the lower Puna district of the Big Island. The actor had allegedly thrown a chair, striking a 26-year-old woman on the forehead, leaving her with a half-inch cut, police said.
He was released on bond but Hawaii police are still investigating the incident.
Marilyn Manson
Shock rocker, Marilyn Manson was arrested after grinding on a security guard at a concert in Detroit in 2001. Without his makeup, he looks like a lost dog. Since then, Manson has faced credible accusations of abuse. Several civil lawsuits have been filed against the musician.
Tiffany Haddish
Tiffany Haddish was arrested and charged with a DUI in January 2022 in Georgia. Her mugshot garnered a lot of attention due to her cheeky grin and expression. Police believed Haddish had smoked marijuana before getting behind the wheel. Just a couple of hours later, Haddish posted the $1,666 bond to get out of police custody. She remains free today after this momentary blip.
Bruno Mars
“Uptown Funk” singer Bruno Mars allegedly had the funk up his nose. Mars was arrested in 2010 and charged with possession of 2.6 grams of blow. Perhaps that explains why he’s so cheesy in this mugshot.
We hope you enjoyed these mugshots as much as we have. If you are ever having a bad day or feeling down or just need a little pick-me-up, return to this list, dear reader. Seeing rich, beautiful, famous people at their worst is a tonic like no other. A celebrity mugshot will never fail you.
If you’d like to learn more about how celebrities are just like us, take a look at our list of celebrities who have opened up about addiction and sobriety.
People from all different walks of life are touched by addiction. In fact, statistically, you likely know someone who has struggled with substance abuse. While addiction is prevalent in all industries, we often only hear about celebrity drug addicts as they are such high-profile individuals that they make big splashy headlines. We read about their stints in rehab facilities, their individual struggle with a specific substance, and how they ultimately overcame it. It might seem cliché for celebrities to land in rehab but they’re actually doing more good than hurt. By sharing their own recovery journey, they allow others to see themselves in the same situation.
Most celebrities could easily choose to hide their battle with addiction, but many decide to share their stories in the hopes that others also seek the treatment they need. We feel it’s sort of public service for someone who is glamorous, successful, and famous to come out with their story. We can look to them to know it can happen to absolutely anyone. No matter how rich, connected, or famous a person is, addiction just does not care. We decided to round up a list of the celebrity drug addicts who have gone on the record with their stories.
Let’s Take a Look at the Celebrities Who Have Shared Their Stories About Addiction and Sobriety:
Eva Mendes
After a 2008 trip to Utah’s Cirque Lodge rehab facility, Eva Mendes spoke with Interview magazine about how Hollywood actors are overly scrutinized, lambasting the idea that going to rehab is seen as a trope of celebrity drug addicts when seeking help is exactly the best thing to do.
“People have died, and I’ve lost friends too-even recently. So I can be a little sensitive on the subject,” Mendes told the outlet about alcoholism.
“Because celebrities’ lives are so visible, I think it makes it look lighter than it is. I have a really good sense of humor, I’m just very sensitive. The other day I was reading an article. I don’t even remember who the actress was, but she’s been around for a long time. She said something like, ‘I’m proud that I’ve had a whole career without making it to rehab.’ I thought, That’s such a negative twist on it. I’m proud of people who have the determination and the fearlessness to actually go and face their demons and get better.”
Ye West
Ye West AKA Kanye West has been very open about his struggles with alcohol. He is one of the celebrity drug addicts who admits to taking it one day at a time.
“I haven’t had a drink since I realized I needed to take it day by day, but I never owned up, or was even told, ‘Hey, you’re a functioning alcoholic,’” West said in a recent interview with GQ. “People have called me a crazy person, people have called me everything—but not a functioning alcoholic. And I would be drinking orange juice and Grey Goose in the morning.”
Keith Urban
When Keith Urban was just getting started in the music industry, he struggled with addiction. In 2016, the country singer described to Rolling Stone that cocaine and ecstasy were “my thing.”
“Sh*t started to really go awry. I stepped up my drinking. I started doing more drugs. Yeah, man. The whole back end of the Nineties were just awful,” he told the magazine.
“I had plenty of stuff. I didn’t seem able to stop. There was no stopping this time. I’d go to sleep, wake up a couple of hours later, go at it again, drinking to take the edge off. I remember thinking, ‘I’m probably not going to make it until tomorrow.’ And then I thought, ‘F*ck it. I really don’t care. It’ll be a relief to not have to. I’ll take an Ambien and at some point I’ll pass.’”
Urban credits Nicole Kidman with helping him to get fully sober by staging an intervention in 2006.
Ben Affleck
One of the most high-profile celebrity drug addicts, Ben Affleck initially went to rehab in 2001 but has continued to struggle with alcohol and gambling.
“I just wanted to stop,” he told a Fox News reporter in 1998. “I started regretting some things I did when I was drunk. It’s funny to be obnoxious or out of control, but then it’s like, ‘I think I hurt that person’s feelings,’ ‘I made a fool of myself’ or ‘I didn’t want to kiss that girl.’ I have almost no inhibitions, so it’s dangerous for me.”
He would later return to rehab for a 40-day stay in 2018. In 2020, he opened up to the NYT about his “compulsive behavior.” He said that that certain patterns of behavior became “a vicious cycle you can’t break. That’s at least what happened to me.”
Jessica Simpson
Jessica Simpson has been clean since 2017. She undertook a sobriety journey after years of struggling with alcohol and substance abuse. In her 2020 memoir Open Book, Simpson talks about overcoming her addiction struggles and finally starting to heal from childhood trauma. She is another one of the celebrity drug addicts to admit that her addiction would have killed her had it gone unchecked.
“I was killing myself with all the drinking and pills,” Simpson shared in the memoir. “I need to stop. Something’s got to stop. And if it’s the alcohol that’s doing this, and making things worse, then I quit,” She told her friends in 2017.
Demi Moore
Demi Moore has struggled with addiction off and on for decades. Before her own struggles, she saw her parents struggle with substance abuse from a young age. The star has gone to rehab several times, once in the ’80s and again in 2012. She is another one of the celebrity drug addicts to be very candid about her struggles. In her 2019 memoir Inside Out, she went into detail about the topic.
Talking about the first time she got sober, when she was cast in 1985 hit St. Elmo’s Fire, Moore said the following: “If I had needed to do it just for myself, I didn’t value myself enough. But the fact that they stood by me, still allowed me to step in to do the film was truly divine intervention that gave me something that meant more to me, which was to do the film, and allowed me to start to begin to find some value for myself.”
Dax Shepard
Dax Shepard is one of the celebrity drug addicts to relapse in recent years. However, he has been extremely open about his journey often speaking of it on his popular podcast Armchair Expert. Before his relapse, Shepard had been 16 years sober.
In a 2019 episode of the podcast, he talked about addiction as an ongoing sickness. “You’ve got to acknowledge you are an addict every day, first thing, right when you wake up,” he told guest Gwyneth Paltrow. “I wrote a page in my journal every single morning because I had this thought that if I can’t commit 20 minutes to remember I’m an addict each morning, I’m going to end up blowing nine hours a day as an addict. I have to be able to say, minimally this is your commitment.”
Brad Pitt
In 2016, Brad Pitt separated from Angelina Jolie after a fight about Pitt’s drinking. After the fight, Pitt had enough. As he put it, “I had taken things as far as I could take it, so I removed my drinking privileges.” The breakup marked the beginning of Pitt’s time in Alcoholics Anonymous, SheKnows reported.
“You had all these men sitting around being open and honest in a way I have never heard,” he said of AA. “It was this safe space where there was little judgment, and therefore little judgment of yourself.”
Demi Lovato
Demi Lovato is another one of the celebrity drug addicts who has struggled for years to keep their drug addiction at bay. In 2018, Lovato suffered an overdose that resulted in multiple strokes and a heart attack. The severity of the overdose landed them in the hospital.
They released the following statement after they recovered: “What I’ve learned is that this illness is not something that disappears or fades with time. It is something I must continue to overcome and have not done yet.”
Lady Gaga
Superstar Lady Gaga is another one of the celebrity drug addicts who got caught up in the moment and turned to cocaine. In a 2010 biography, Lady Gaga: Just Dance, she shared her past struggles with the substance.
“My cocaine soundtrack was always The Cure. I would lock myself in my room and listen to ‘Never Enough’ on repeat while I did bags and bags of cocaine. It was about being an artist,” she admits in the biography. “I wasn’t a lazy addict. I would make demo tapes and send them around. At the time I didn’t think there was anything wrong with me, until my friends said, ‘Are you doing this alone?’ Um, yes. Me and my mirror.”
Keep Reading to Learn More About Celebrity Drug Addicts Who Have Turned Things Around.
Ewan McGregor
In 2005, Ewan McGregor became another one of the celebrity drug addicts to open up about his struggles with alcohol in Playboy magazine. “Originally I was a happy drunk. But later I was miserable because it’s a depressant…I was just ashamed of myself, really.”
“None of my directors ever said, ‘You know, I’d rather you didn’t drink at work.’ None of them. And they must have known,” he said in the interview. “I was reeking of (alcohol)…I knew I was lucky, and somehow I knew that if I didn’t stop, everything would go tits up – my career, my family, my everything.”
Lisa Marie Presley
Lisa Marie Presley‘s life has been touched by the opioid crisis as is true for many other celebrity drug addicts. In a 2019 book, The United States of Opioids: A Prescription for Liberating a Nation in Pain, Presley wrote about how she became addicted to the powerful drugs.
“I was recovering after the [2008] birth of my daughters, Vivienne and Finley when a doctor prescribed me opioids for pain,” she shared. “It only took a short-term prescription of opioids in the hospital for me to feel the need to keep taking them.”
“[I’m] grateful to be alive today,” she wrote, “and to have four beautiful children who have given me a sense of purpose that has carried me through dark times.”
John Mayer
John Mayer is another one of the celebrity drug addicts to struggle with alcohol. In a 2018 Complex Magazine interview, the singer revealed that he’d been two years sober.
“I have the most amazing last-night-of-my-life-drinking story. It was Drake’s 30th birthday party, and I made quite a fool of myself. It took me weeks to stop doing this every morning I woke up. And then I had a conversation with myself,” he said.
“I remember where I was. I was in my sixth day of the hangover. That’s how big the hangover was. I looked out the window and I went, ‘OK, John, what percentage of your potential would you like to have? Because if you say you’d like 60, and you’d like to spend the other 40 having fun, that’s fine. But what percentage of what is available to you would you like to make happen? There’s no wrong answer. What is it?’ I went, ‘100.’”
Melanie Griffith
Melanie Griffith has been to rehab three times. She is one of the celebrity drug addicts to struggle with cocaine and alcohol.
“I’m lucky to be alive,” she said. “I was never as bad as some people I knew, shooting heroin and stuff. But I did do a lot of drinking and cocaine. I just thought I was having a good time.”
In 2009, she readmitted herself to rehab to firm up her commitment to staying sober.
RELATED: 30 Celebrity Crimes You Probably Didn’t Know About
Oprah Winfrey
One of the celebrity drug addicts to dramatically turn things around is Oprah Winfrey. Yes, the iconic media mogul and television host spontaneously admitted to being addicted to crack cocaine earlier in her career. In a 1995 broadcast of The Oprah Winfrey Show, Winfrey admitted to mothers who were struggling with addiction that she too had substance abuse issues in her past.
Oprah made a spontaneous admission to mothers battling drug addiction that she had also used drugs,” a spokeswoman for the show said at the time. “Oprah’s words on the show are the best expression of how she feels.”
Dylan McDermott
One of the celebrity drug addicts who has stayed sober for many, many years is Dylan McDermott. In 2019, the actor celebrated 35 years of sobriety. He celebrated the occasion with a post on Instagram. He captioned it:
“Today is my Sober Birthday. 35 years! Staying sober has been my greatest accomplishment,” the actor wrote. “I say that because I was able to show up for myself in every way possible. In the most turbulent and best of times I had the rock of the 12 steps to guide me. I was able to be a father, son, brother and friend. Proud of this day because many in my family including my birth mother and father struggled with addiction. It was brutal to witness. I’ve also seen many who didn’t make it and that truly breaks my heart. If you’re hurting please get help.”
Zac Efron
Zac Efron entered rehab in 2013 for alcohol abuse. He’s one of the many celebrity drug addicts to find help through treatment.
“It’s a never-ending struggle,” the actor told The Hollywood Reporter in 2014. “I was drinking a lot, way too much.”
Fergie
Performing with the group Wild Orchid, Fergie developed an addiction to ecstasy which later escalated to crystal meth. She stated that quitting meth was the struggle of a lifetime.
“I was [suffering from] chemically-induced psychosis and dementia,” Fergie explained to iNews in December 2017. “I was hallucinating on a daily basis. It took a year after getting off that drug for the chemicals in my brain to settle so that I stopped seeing things. I’d just be sitting there, seeing a random bee or bunny.”
Nicole Richie
Nicole Richie is one of the celebrity drug addicts who has been candid about their addiction. Before becoming a mom, Richie described being addicted to cocaine and heroin.
“At 18, I had just been doing a lot of cocaine,” she said on 20/20 in 2007. “I, again, made the decision for myself, this is something I have to do. I have to get off drugs. This isn’t the life… this was heroin.”
Daniel Radcliffe
Daniel Radcliffe revealed to The Guardian that he voluntarily gave up alcohol in 2010 because he recognized his drinking had become “unhealthy and damaging.”
“I was living in constant fear of who I’d meet, what I might have said to them, what I might have done with them, so I’d stay in my apartment for days and drink alone,” he explained to ShortList magazine in 2012. “I was a recluse at 20. It was pathetic — it wasn’t me. I’m a fun, polite person, and it turned me into a rude bore.”
Elton John
Sir Elton John is another celebrity drug addict who admits that sobriety saved their life. He said if he had not kicked his cocaine habit in the 1990s that he’d likely be dead today.
“By all rights I shouldn’t be here today,” he said during a speech at the International AIDS Conference in Washington, DC. “I should be dead — 6 foot under in a wooden box. I should have contracted HIV in the 1980s and died in the 1990s, just like Freddie Mercury, just like Rock Hudson. Every day I wonder, how did I survive?”
Drew Barrymore
One of the celebrity drug addicts you’re likely aware of is Drew Barrymore. As a child actor, she developed an addiction to cocaine. She was admitted to rehab for the first time at 14-years-old.
“Once I really asked myself, ‘What are you angry with?’ I dropped the anger,” she told The Guardian in 2015. “If you search deep down in me, it’s like, why am I so angry, man? And it’s like, OK, ’cause my parents weren’t there, who gives a sh*t? Lots of people don’t have parents. They were gone, they couldn’t handle any of it, and I get it… My life was not normal. I was not a kid in school with normal circumstances. There was something very abnormal, and I needed some severe shift.”
Eminem
Eminem told Rolling Stone in 2011 that he overdosed on prescription medication in 2009. He is one of the celebrity addicts who had been abusing pills. He admits to heavy use of Vicodin and Valium. His addiction finally led him to seek treatment at a rehab facility.
“I was taking so many pills that I wasn’t even taking them to get high anymore,” he told the magazine. “I was taking them to feel normal. Not that I didn’t get high. I just had to take a ridiculous amount. I want to say in a day I could consume anywhere from 40 to 60 Valium. And Vicodin… maybe 20, 30? I don’t know. I was taking a lot of shit.”
Kim Richards
Kim Richards was a former child star becoming a part of the Real Housewives franchise. She is one of the celebrity drug addicts who has been very vocal about their addiction to prescription pills over the years.
“I know I’ve put a huge dent in the work that I’ve worked so hard to build over the past few years,” Richards explained to Dr. Phil in 2015. “I just want to do the right thing and I want to be the strongest I can be. I know that me sober, I can handle almost anything.”
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Matthew Perry
Matthew Perry is another one of the high-profile celebrity drug addicts to turn things around. He’s been open about his alcohol and Vicodin addiction which occurred at the height of his fame from starring in Friends.
“It wasn’t my intention to have a problem with it,” PageSix reported the actor saying of the Vicodin he was prescribed for a jet ski accident. “But from the start, I liked how it made me feel, and I wanted to get more…I was out of control and very unhealthy.”
“It was scary. I didn’t want to die,” Perry later shared with People. “But I’m grateful for how bad it got. It only made me more adamant about trying to get better.”
If you or someone you know is struggling with substance abuse, we encourage you to contact the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA): 1-800-662-HELP. They can connect you with resources in your area. As you’ve seen on this list of celebrity drug addicts, addiction can touch anyone. There’s no shame in admitting that you’re struggling and could use some help.