Halloween star, Jamie Lee Curtis, talks past opioid addiction

If you have seen the movie Halloween, then you know who Jamie Lee Curtis is. For the younger generation you might have known her as the mom in Freaky Friday. Either way, she played the strong and resilient, Laurie Strode, throughout the entire Halloween franchise, taking on the constant nightmare that we know as Michael Myers. However, that was nothing compared to an opioid addiction beginning in the 80s which she recently discussed publicly.

The actress, who has been sober since first attending recovery meetings in 1999, told People Magazine she first became addicted to pain killers in 1989 and hid it for ten years. “I was ahead of the curve of the opiate epidemic,” Curtis said. “I had a 10-year run, stealing, conniving. No one knew. No one.”

She initially found painkillers after a routine cosmetic surgical procedure and shortly after found herself addicted, using the drugs to escape a painful reality. She would steal the drugs from friends and family, who wouldn’t learn of her addiction until 1998. Curtis, who is now 59, was the latest in her family to struggle with substance abuse. Her father, actor Tony Curtis, went to treatment for alcohol and cocaine abuse in the 80s and her half brother, Nicholas Curtis, died at 23 from a heroin overdose in 1994.

Staying Open About Her Addiction

This is not the first time that she has opened up about her addiction. In the early 2000’s, Curtis told CNN, “I don’t know if any of us can really explain what addiction is exactly, because I think it changes with each individual. I think what we can talk about, is really that there’s hope to recover from it.”

Today, Curtis says her recovery is still the greatest accomplishment of her life. “Getting sober remains my single greatest accomplishment… bigger than my husband, bigger than both of my children and bigger than any work, success, failure. Anything.” Which as we know, make sense. Without her sobriety she might not have any of it.

The actress said she still attends recovery meetings and always does her best to pay it forward. Congrats Jamie and Happy Halloween!