Jamie Lee Curtis, 67, shared a transparent message on her Instagram about her sobriety journey on Feb. 3, thanking the late Richard Lewis for his help in getting her to the point of nearly 30 years sober.
“27 years ago, I had pain and sorrow. I reached out my hand and my old colleague and friend, Richard Lewis, reached out and took my hand,” Curtis wrote alongside an old photo of her and the comedian.
Jamie Lee Curtis Describes Addiction as a ‘Daily Prison’
“The miracle of sobriety is that it just takes one other person to relate to how you’re feeling and THAT can change everything,” she added. “Richard introduced me to many others and for these 27 years I have met so many people who share our common link of addiction and recovery from that daily prison.”
Curtis ended her inspirational message by noting how she would like to be that same support system for others who might still be affected by addiction. “I’m honored to be open with strangers, many who know me better than people I have spent my entire life with, and I try to honor all of their courage and strength, and hope daily and do what Richard did, which is reach my hand out to others in need,” the actress wrote. “I miss my friend but his gift to me IS the gift that keeps on giving. @clare.foundation @friendlyhousela.”
The “Freaky Friday” star suffered from an addiction to painkillers and alcohol early on in her career, telling Variety in a 2019 interview that she got hooked on Vicodin after a cameraman insulted her puffy eyes, leading her to undergo plastic surgery, where she was then prescribed the medication.
Jamie Lee Curtis Says Nobody Knew She Had an Addiction
GettyCurtis described to Variety that her addiction wasn’t too out of hand — so she thought. “I was the wildly controlled drug addict and alcoholic,” the actress shared. “I never did it when I worked. I never took drugs before 5 p.m. I never, ever took painkillers at 10 in the morning. It was that sort of late afternoon and early evening.”
Although nobody in her inner circle was aware of her addiction, other than those who provided her with the pills, Curtis told the outlet that she knew she needed help when she realized others were suffering in the same way.
Curtis told Variety that she attended her first recovery meeting after she came across a 1999 copy of Esquire, where she found an article titled “Vicodin, My Vicodin.” After reading Tom Chiarella’s story about his addiction to painkillers, the “Halloween” actress took her first steps towards sobriety and never looked back.
