Kristen Johnston’s personal drug war

Kristen Johnston has battled addiction all her life, said Bill Hoffmann in the London Daily Mail. The actress started experimenting with drugs and alcohol in high school as a way of coping with a lot of self-loathing. She was soon “stealing Vicodin from my mother, who had just had knee replacement surgery,” says Johnston, “[and] taking painkillers prescribed for my own sweet dog.” Her lowest point came in 2006, when she was in London for a theater production. “I was thrilled to discover [you] can buy codeine over the counter in London. I discovered that if I took 30 or 40 pills a day I’d be fine.” But years of painkiller abuse had left her innards in tatters, and on the show’s second night, an ulcer in her stomach burst open. “I was covered in blood and vomit, sobbing like a 4-year-old.” Johnston spent months recuperating in a hospital, but was drinking again within a week of her release. “That’s when I realized it was a compulsion.” She entered rehab that same week, and finally confronted the “hideous monster I had tried to hide.” Johnston has now been clean for five years. “It’s not easy, but it’s easier than being a drug addict.”

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up