“No one knew. No one”: Jamie Lee Curtis on Her Decade-Long Silent Battle with Addiction

It’s no secret that Hollywood suffers from a persistent problem behind the scenes. A problem borne by the immense toll of fame and fortune — addiction. With all the drug scandals, arrests, overdoses, drunk driving, suicide threats, and deaths made public, the twinkle town world of glitz and glamour reveals more celebrity victims of addiction broadcast after broadcast. However, while most of these celebrities’ plight caused a media frenzy, Jamie Lee Curtis is here to tell a different story. 

A lineage of celebrities 

Jamie Lee Curtis is not the only Curtis in Hollywood town. She was born on November 22, 1958, a daughter to “50’s glamour couple”; Tony Curtis and Janet Leigh and a sister to actress Kelly Curtis. Hailing from a family of screen legends, Curtis’s life seemed to be tailored for the spotlight at such a young age. She attended the female-exclusive Westlake School in Los Angeles where she had a cheerleading stint alongside Gigi Garner, who would go on to be a film producer. Curtis also attended Beverly Hills High School and Choate Rosemary Hall before entering college at the University of the Pacific in Stockton, California. After a semester of taking up Law, Curtis had to drop out to pursue her acting career. Curtis would then take on minor roles for TV series including Columbo (1977), The Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries (1977) and Charlie’s Angels (1978), cementing her career as a top star. 

The original “scream queen”

Curtis’ first onscreen role amazingly happened to also be her most memorable one. Her film debut as Laurie Strode in Halloween (1978) turned out to be a huge success, resulting in high box office earnings, even making the independent film the highest grossing one during its release. After that, it did not take her long to rise to iconic status. Given its outstanding reception thanks to Curtis’ equally outstanding performance, Halloween was able to branch out to different sequels including Halloween II (1981), Halloween H20: 20 Years Later (1998), Halloween: Resurrection (2002), and Halloween (2018) — all top billed by Curtis’ reprisal of her starring role. 

The Halloween film franchise is considered a classic horror film to this day. 

Rightfully earning the title “scream queen”, Curtis’ would also star in non-Halloween horror films including The Fog (1980), Terror Train (1980), Prom Night (1980) and Road Games (1981). The horror film starlet image would slowly come to pass as she landed roles from other genres namely Ophelia in the comedy Trading Places (1983), Anna Winter in the romance/thriller Love Letters (1984), Sandra Banzai in the sci-fi The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension (1984), Michelle Cody in coming-of-age Grandview USA (1984), Jessie in Perfect (1985), Susan Elliott in romance A Man in Love (1987), Lynn Taylor in Amazing Grace and Chuck (1987) and Jennifer Reston in melodrama Dominick and Eugene (1988) to name a few. A real big film pedigree brewing up.

Her successful career has been decorated with various accolades from various award-giving bodies including nominations for various Golden Globes categories for her performances in A Fish Called Wanda (1988), sitcom Anything But Love (1989-1992) True Lies (1994), The Heidi Chronicles (1995), Freaky Friday (2003), some of which she deservingly bagged the victory. 

Aside from dominating both the small and the silver screen, Curtis also ventured in writing children’s books which, as expected of the talented actress, also went great. Some of her Harper-Collins published titles include Today I feel silly: And other moods (1998), I’m Gonna Like Me: Letting Off a Little Self-Esteem, (2002), ‘It’s Hard to Be Five: Learning How to Work My Control Panel’ (2004) and ‘My Mommy Hung the Moon: A Love Story’ (2010), with the first one landing on the coveted New York Times Bestseller List for 10 weeks. These non-acting ventures also extend to her blog writing for The Huffington Post, and patenting a modified disposable diaper with built in moisture-proof pockets for wipes. 

In 1984, Curtis finally tied the knot with actor Christopher Guest, eventually adopting two children. The couple is still happily married 36 years after. 

“It Runs in the Blood”: Talent and Opioid Addiction 

With little to nothing being broadcasted about any hints of addiction, it would have seemed like Curtis had escaped the curse of the spotlight. But the truth is, no one ever knew. Curtis even called herself a “wildly controlled drug addict and alcoholic” in an interview with Variety’s Recovery Issue. 

“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 — I like to refer to it as the warm-bath feeling of an opiate. It’s like the way you naturally feel when your body is cool, and you step into a warm bath, and you sink into it. That’s the feeling for me, what an opiate gave me, and I chased that feeling for a long time,” the two-time Golden Globe winner revealed. 

The waves of box office success, radiant family life, and recognition of her artistic brilliance seemed to have hidden the secret addiction she has been nursing for 10 years – her opioid addiction to Vicodin. The said past addiction is not a struggle that started with Curtis; her father, Tony, once shared drugs with her while her brother, Nicholas, died of heroin overdose. Her past struggle with Vicodin unfortunately started when she was getting regular plastic surgery to remove her eye puffiness constantly pointed out by the cameraman which “refused to shoot her” because of it. The said fixation, mixed with heavy drinking, became Curtis’ well-kept secret for 10 years as she would “steal and connive” to get the pills to sustain her urge. 

Now coming clean in an interview with People, Curtis echoed her resolve to “break the cycle” that brought generational ruin within her family. 

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“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.” Curtis proudly shared.” 

Jamie Lee Curtis continues to be a beacon of hope for everyone in recovery not just for her exceptional talent but also her cause to break generational curse. As of writing, the Hollywood icon has been enjoying 22 years of sobriety, with several upcoming projects on her roll. 

Just like everyone else, victims of addiction such as Jamie Lee Curtis wouldn’t have been possible without a strong support system. Be a part of one today by extending them your heartfelt assistance. Or if you are struggling yourself reach out and speak to someone today