Sober living

Famous figures who ultimately lost their lives to alcohol addiction

These celebrities illustrate that alcohol is often used to self-medicate — to alleviate life’s stressors. Their honesty about their struggles are both heartbreaking and endearing. You may find some inspiration from celebrities who have publicly talked about these struggles. Nowhere is this more horrifically visible than the case of Adam Rich, a young actor who came to fame off the back of the 1977 sitcom “Eight Is Enough.” There he played Nicholas Bradford, the youngest son of Tom, played by the legendary TV star Dick Van Patten. Rich was barely 9 years old when he was cast in the part, and he grew up on screen during the show’s five years on the air. Kelly checked into a rehab facility — Pax Rehab House in Altadena, California — after her DUI arrest in 2013, but she died in August that year.

actors who died of alcoholism

Famous figures who ultimately lost their lives to alcohol addiction

She was once arrested in 1991 for robbing a video store in Las Vegas and again in 1992 after she forged a prescription for drugs. Plato died in May 1999 while visiting her fiance’s parents, overdosing on a combination Top 5 Advantages of Staying in a Sober Living House of painkillers and valium. The troubled actor, in and out of rehab for most of his adult life, died in 2023 at the age of 54. The autopsy report said the cause was an accidental overdose of fentanyl.

  • He alone was often reason enough to tune in, and he became the de facto star of the show for many.
  • Born in 1979, Australian actor Heath Ledger’s road to becoming one of the most popular actors in Hollywood was already in motion by the early ’90s, when he got his start acting in smaller roles in the land down under.
  • Several more arrests followed, including a charge of grand theft in 2000, and his famously nasty attitude toward movie critics didn’t help matters.
  • Christopher married ESPN reporter Brienne Pedigo in 2008, and Pedigo filed for divorce in 2019.
  • While we may be more accustomed to celebrities dying to heroin and other drugs, many have died due to an addiction to alcohol.
  • His actual death was sudden, but his health had been declining for many years due to alcoholism.

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Before his death on Saturday, Murray — a Raleigh native — had withdrawn from the Charles Schwab Challenge on Friday. In 2021, Murray blasted the PGA Tour for not having enough services available to help in his fight with alcoholism. The easiest way to lookup drug information, identify pills, check interactions and set up your own personal medication records. The longer one uses, the greater the change to the brain and body and therefore the worse one’s withdrawal symptoms. Length of alcohol use, amount consumed per episode, and individual reactions to the substance all contribute to the severity.

  • It wasn’t long after that she was spending night after night in bars and pubs, and at the age of 39, she was found dead of heart and liver disease, her appearance so altered that she could hardly be identified.
  • Kelly was arrested in 2012 on a felony charge of corporal injury upon a spouse, but the district attorney didn’t press charges.
  • Saturday Night Live star Chris Farley struggled with substance abuse throughout his career.
  • The cause of her death was acute hepatitis and acute kidney injury.
  • Frank Vallelonga Jr. died from an accidental overdose of cocaine and fentanyl in November 2022.
  • Coupled with frequent drinking and other drug use, Garland developed major problems later in her career.

Famous Alcohol Abusers

Offscreen, he wasn’t much better; he once downed 21 shots of tequila before diving into the sea when he heard of a reported shark sighting. With eight Academy Award nominations, performances in some of the most acclaimed films of all time (most notably Lawrence of Arabia), and also respected as a theater actor, it seemed like O’Toole could hardly do wrong on screen. But like most of us, Cooper’s https://thefloridadigest.com/top-5-advantages-of-staying-in-a-sober-living-house/ life has had its ups and downs. He is a recovering from alcoholism and has been sober for over a decade. In 2015, he described how alcohol affected virtually everything in his life, “I wouldn’t have been able to have access to myself or other people, or even been able to take in other people, if I hadn’t changed my life. I never would have been able to have the relationships that I do.

actors who died of alcoholism

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  • Richard Burton, esteemed actor and on-off husband to Elizabeth Taylor, suffered from alcoholism the majority of his adult life.
  • The Los Angeles Police Department said it is working with the Drug Enforcement Administration as part of a review of the case involving the “Friends” star, who was 54 when authorities say he died from the acute effects of ketamine.
  • Still, later roles on “Community” and “Lovecraft Country” proved his versatility.
  • Unfortunately many famous people’s lives have been cut short because of alcoholism, including actors, musicians and athletes.
  • Bradley Cooper, now sober for close to a decade, has spoken openly about his addictions negatively impacting the amount of work he was receiving, and how the realization that he may not work altogether helped him to get sober.
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