12 Celebrities Who Have Been to Rehab

Many of the world’s biggest stars have battled with addictions and compulsions for which they needed to seek help.

It’s a sad fact that varioud types of addictions are plaguing society today, and celebrities are not immune. In fact, the brash personalities of risk-taking high performers makes them especially susceptible to problems that they ultimately won’t be able to solve on their own.

Addiction recovery and other types of rehabilitation treatments are a massive industry in the United States. Programs are often centered around relaxation and reflection, meaning that facilities are bought on beach front properties in expensive locales.

If anyone is willing to shell out to recover in style, it’s our biggest celebrities. The actors, writers, musicians and other stars that we hold in the highest esteem often check into programs where they detox, attend therapy and sometimes get sober for life.

Many of the celebrities notorious for their substance abuse have spent time in rehab centers. However, some of the names on this list come as a surprise. Stars that kept their struggles to themselves have gone to the same places to get help, even if they’d rather not admit it.
Here’s a look at some of the biggest celebrities who have spent time in rehab.

Scott Disick

Keeping Up With the Kardashians star Scott Disick hit a low point in October of 2015. He checked into a rehab facility in Malibu, California to seek treatment for both alcohol and drug abuse. His struggles featured heavily on the reality show, and ultimately led to the dissolution of his marriage to Kourtney Kardashian.

Josh Duggar

The eldest Duggar brother checked himself into some sort of rehab program after it was revealed that he had molested his sisters as a teenager. The reality star also used the website Ashley Madison to find partners with whom to cheat on his wife, leading some to speculate that he went to sex addiction treatment, though it was never confirmed.

“For him it will be a long journey toward wholeness and recovery,” said his family in a statement at the time. “We pray that in this he comes to complete repentance and sincere change.”

Zac Efron

The one-time teen heart-throb Zac Efron discretely checked into rehab in 2013. At the time, his representatives told TMZ that he was dealing with alcoholism, though sources from the set of Neighbors said that Efron had been known to use drugs including cocaine.

Anthony Michael Hall

Anthony Michael Hall was a member of the 1980s “brat pack” group of actors. While he typically played reserved, nerdy characters in John Hughes’ movies, he was known for partying hard with contemporaries such as Robert Downey Jr. Towards the end of the 80s, Hall’s drinking became a serious problem, and he quit drinking altogether.

Though there are many claims that Hall went through some sort of recovery program, he himself claimed that he got sober all on his own.

“The truth is, I had my partying nights, but I never really bounced at the bottom,” he told Underground Online. “I never went to rehab. There have been all these stories over the years that have pissed me off. I didn’t go down that far. I was able to govern myself and continue my work. I visited [Robert] Downey [Jr.] in jail, though. That’s about as far as I want to go with experiencing the other end of the spectrum. I’ve seen it happen with other people.”

Buzz Aldrin

Aside from being one of the first men to walk on the moon, Buzz Aldrin had a well-documented battle with alcoholism throughout his early life. Both of the astronaut’s parents committed suicide in the 1960s, leading him to believe that he inherited depressive tendencies from them.

Aldrin wrote about his struggles in his memoir, Magnificent Desolation, including his stint in rehab.

Carrie Fisher

Carrie Fisher’s battle with addiction was long and tragic. The iconic actress and writer had a knack for making light of her issues, writing about them and talking about them on stage.

Most notably, she addressed her addictions in her semi-autobiographical books Postcards from the Edge and Wishful Drinking. Following her recovery, Fisher travelled everywhere with an emotional support dog named Gary Fisher, who wound up as the unlikely star of the Star Wars: The Force Awakens press junket.

Cindy McCain

Senator John McCain’s wife, Cindy, is known as a powerful businesswoman and philanthropist. In the late 1980s, she developed an addiction to prescription opiates which were prescribed to her after a spinal surgery. McCain was reportedly taking more than 20 pills per day each day at the height of her addiction before she was checked into rehab in 1992.

Drew Barrymore

Drew Barrymore is known as one of the most influential actresses of the last several decades. She began acting professionally before she was a year old and never stopped for long, though in 1989 she took twelve days off to complete a rehabilitation treatment in a facility called ASAP.

According to a report by PEOPLE, Barrymore admitted at the time that she had first tried drinking at the age of nine. The actress was ten years old when she first smoked marijuana, and at 12 she tried cocaine. Finally, at the age of 13, Barrymore went into treatment.

“She was so sick, sick, sick when I met her,” a counselor told the outlet. “I thought, ‘What a sad kid.’”

Elton John

Sir Elton John has battled with drug abuse in his years as a public figure. In 1975, he suffered from a cocaine overdose in Los Angeles. In his memoir, Love Is the Cure, he explained that his work in the fight against AIDS is what finally drove him to seek treatment. John met a young man who contracted the virus through a blood transfusion, and realized he was wasting his own good health.

George Carlin

 

Iconic comedian George Carlin entered a rehabilitation program in December of 2004. In typical Carlin fashion, he understated the problem and invited his audience to take a fresh perspective on drugs.

“I’m going into rehab because I use too much wine and Vicodin. No one told me I needed this; I recognized the problem and took the step myself,” he said, according to a report by CNN. “My levels of use are nowhere near the worst you hear about these days; I could easily have continued functioning at a good level … for awhile. But my use would have progressed, I would have been in deeper trouble, and I didn’t want to tolerate that. I’ve never been in rehab before and I know it isn’t easy, but I’m highly motivated, and will do what ever’s needed.”

Carlin has spoken highly of other drugs such as marijuana and LSD in his work, saying that they had benefited him throughout his life.

Gary Oldman

While Gary Oldman is revered for his groundbreaking performances on the screen, his personal life has been marred by constant upheaval. A big contributing factor was Oldman’s issues with alcohol. In 1995, he checked himself into rehab. The actor has said that he continued attending Alcoholics Anonymous meetings to stay sober, and has described himself bluntly as a recovering alcoholic.