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Recovery in the News
Jamie Lee Curtis Reveals Painkiller Addiction Following Jackson's Death
Access Hollywood
July 20, 2009
Jamie Lee Curtis is coming forward about her own battle with pain medication following Michael Jackson's death.
"We're being shown now, in the weeks following Mr. Jackson's death, the supposed headwaters of his river of pain, the accident with Pepsi and the literal head on fire. It is a harrowing image, flames leaping off his head seconds before others came to his rescue," the actress wrote in a blog on The Huffington Post.
"The explanation is that this moment was the drug start point that eventually took over his life. I don't believe it. The pain he suffered was from his birth, from his being and becoming the commodity that then made him the omnipotent King of the Pop-Goes-The-Weasel-Jacko-In-The-Neverland-Box that destroyed him," she continued.
Jamie goes on to call out parents of child celebrities who have battled drugs, but does not name anyone in particular.
"Few children, put into the intense focus of their precious youth being marketed for other's pleasure, come out unscathed and with any sense of mental balance. I won't name names but we all know who they are as they have navigated their fame and falls on the covers of magazines and at the top of news hours," Jamie Lee wrote. "Rarely are the parents really held accountable for the fragile, destroyed youths as many of the young people get the F*&^% away as fast as their agents and lawyers get them… but the imprint is there, it cannot be undone without a painful process of self discovery and as we know… pain needs to be killed… not tolerated and examined."
In the most revealing portion of her blog post, the actress writes candidly about her personal struggle with pain medications.
"Listen, I can relate. I too found painkillers after a routine cosmetic surgical procedure and I too became addicted, the morphine becomes the warm bath from which to escape painful reality. I was a lucky one. I was able to see that the pain had started long ago and far away and that the finding the narcotic was merely a matter of time. The pain needed numbing," she revealed. "My recovery from drug addiction is the single greatest accomplishment of my life… but it takes work — hard, painful work — but the help is there, in every town and career, drug/drink freed members of society, from every single walk and talk of life to help and guide."
In the actress' opinion, the blame for Jackson's addiction issues is something to be shared by everyone.
"It was and is a conspiracy of silence and I'm sure there were attempts to intervene and I'm sure his family and friends tried… but the addict gets what the addict wants, relief from the pain of their life… We all participated. We are all involved," she continued.
As for aid for Jackson's three children, Prince Michael I, 12, Paris Michael Katherine, 11, Prince Michael II, also known as Blanket, 7, the actress hopes donations end up going to drug prevention.
"Donations should be donated to drug treatment and prevention, not to his children," she concluded. "They don't need money. They need their father and sadly he is dead. Maybe, his morphing face will be know for not being the King of Pop but the sad mask of trauma and neglect and fear and yes… pain.