Put fame, drugs, alcohol, and childhood trauma, not to mention abusive past relationships together. What do we get?
A battle with addiction nobody knows about.
Known to the industry as “The Queen of Porn”, Jenna Jameson had an amazing run during her film career as an adult performer. She acted in the adult film industry during the early 90’s where she appeared in more than 100 softcore and hardcore films, winning her countless awards and recognition including 5 AVN awards — the porn-equivalent of Oscar’s — with one of her works being the best-selling adult DVD of all time.
Enjoying her widespread success and popularity, it is almost easy to think that Jameson had it all from the start, and that is exactly where you are wrong.
A Punishing Childhood
Unlike her performance in her adult films, Jameson’s difficult childhood was not bared to the public.
Losing her mother at only two years old, Jameson and her brother spent most of their childhood at the trailer with her father and grandfather. Her mother died due to skin cancer, which ultimately led her father to bankruptcy and forced them to live in the trailer. Her father, who was a local sheriff, spent most of his time working. This left Jenna and her brother in the support system of each other.
During her teenage years, the soon-to-be porn star had already endured several sexual assaults and went out to live with her former boyfriend. This started her habitual drug intake.
At only 16 years old, Jameson decided to pull the braces out of her teeth using pliers and created a fake ID to work as an exotic dancer.
Her work as an exotic dancer caught the attention of one of the scouts from The Penthouse and offered her to model in adult magazines. Sensing this opportunity, the pornstar-in-the-making changed her screen name, changing her real surname Massoli to Jameson which is a reference to an Irish whiskey. From there, her career started to take off and the rest is history.
Fight with addiction
Despite being in an environment that will make her prone to abusing drugs and alcohol, the young actress showed little to no signs of being an addict at first.
The adult performer seemed to be focused on reaching as much success as she can, and around the year 2006, Jenna Jameson co-founded her own site known as ClubJenna. This site was an instant hit and around that time and it immediately earned Jenna an estimated net worth of $30 Million.
It was also around this time that Jenna found her now ex-boyfriend and the father of her two children: Tito Ortiz, a famous UFC fighter.
The couple was in a loving, monogamous relationship which made Jameson decide to stop acting in adult films to be fully committed to the athlete.
“I was in love with the woman,” Ortiz said when asked about her relationship with Jameson.
Mesmerized by his love for the actress, the UFC fighter then continued to say, “she is a very smart, very bright woman, [and also] beautiful.”
Unfortunately, their relationship spiraled down when the fighter found out about Jameson’s drug use. Ortiz said in an interview with DJ Vlad that the exact incident reminded him of his parents.
“She was eating 80 milligrams three or four times a day, and it became an addiction problem that I saw an exact resemblance of my parents,” Ortiz said in the same interview.
He then went on to say that the former adult film star had already spent around a hefty $8 million in total on substances like OxyContins, Xanax, Ambien, Suboxone and alcohol.
After being kicked out by her former partner, the adult film star then found herself living under the roof of her assistant, Britney Markham for a whole month.
In an interview with Radar, her former assistant was asked about the addiction and she responded by saying:
“I realized that Jenna didn’t want help after I became friends with her again and I let her live with me for a month. It was the craziest time in my life. I have never seen someone consume so many Xanax and so much alcohol.”
And that’s not even the worst part.
Markham also recounted that Jameson would even ask her or the others to “snort it up” for her as she was “too messed up” to do it herself. “She was also on Ambien and Suboxone. Her doctor cut her off of any prescriptions because she refused to go in and test,” she added.
The industry that Jameson was working in most certainly didn’t really help her fight with her struggles. The actress found herself being heavily criticized by the public which she took deeply to heart. As a result, her problems with substance abuse grew out of control.
“When I was young, I listened to every single criticism about my looks, my talent, my personality, even my coping skills, and I adjusted to them to please people,” Jameson explained. “It was tiresome. It depleted me. By the time I turned 40, I felt empty”
The Hill Turn
Still devastated about everything that happened, the actress one day realized that she had to change the course of her life and live better. The actress-businesswoman found herself reflecting about everything that had happened to her, “The past few years I’ve took inventory, I’ve begun to live my life for me, and slowly the true Jenna has come back to life. I forgot who she was. I was scared to show her, to really show her, vulnerable and flawed.”
This was the start of the actress’ change of heart. This time, she finally chose to stop taking opioids and other substances that could harm her health for good.
But all of these things didn’t come without a struggle. Just as she thought she was coming clean, Jameson found herself sinking into yet another addiction — alcohol. Her withdrawal from drug use made her become reliant on alcohol instead for her to feel better, starting with a single drop of champagne, then to a glass of one, and, later on, a full-on alcohol addiction.
“Then, as my life got a little more chaotic and a lot of sadness set in, I started drinking to curb that. And, I knew it was getting bad when I started drinking alone.”
Choosing To Be Fully Clean
When she saw the damage that alcoholism was causing both to her physical and mental health, she went out to seek help, volunteering to enroll herself in an addiction treatment at the Hazelden Betty Ford Drug Rehabilitation.
“It was scary,” the actress said when she first went into rehab. “It felt like a defeat,”
While undergoing the treatment, the actress received detox and in-patient treatment which ultimately changed the whole course of her life.
When she finally chipped out — “graduated” from the treatment — she went on to live a completely new life and gave more attention to her health, and her family.
She claims to have had fun during the whole process and when asked about her experience inside the facility, the actress had this to say, “From the minute I went on to attend group meetings, I felt at home and I felt accepted.”
After being totally recovered, there was still a glimmer of fear in the heart. But this time, it is about her overall physique now that she is totally sober.
According to the actress, being intoxicated all the time made it easy for her to keep her body slim. “I’m being real with you. When I was in my addiction it was easy to stay thin.”
But with a few changes in her diet and her new workout routine, she managed to not only be in shape, but also have an amazing, healthy, and, most importantly, substance-free body.
Up until today, Jameson still goes on to attend some AA and NA meetings and is planning to live sober for the rest of her years.
Got an amazing recovery story to share? We are all ears for you! Let us know your stories in the comment section and help inspire people in facing their current situation, too.
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