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Johnny Depp was 47 and one of the most famous actors alive when a back injury on a movie set left him in constant pain. Long before any of that, Johnny Depp was a kid learning to disappear. His mother lashed out without warning, a shoe, an ashtray, whatever was closest, and by 12 he was taking her nerve pills and anything else he could find, just to stop feeling so much. When he was 15, his father walked out and told him he was the man of the house now, leaving him to hold up a mother who was barely holding on. So when a doctor handed him Roxicodone for the back injury, the escape was already familiar. Pain relief became a four-year dependency, the pills nursing the injury and the old wounds at the same time. Getting off them was not glamorous. On his doctor's advice he went to a remote island and detoxed the hard way, a brutal stretch with no shortcuts. He came off the opioids, and he stayed off them. The next year, he severed part of a finger. Even in that much pain, he refused to take the opioid again. For most of his life, drugs were how he disappeared. This time, he chose to stay. If you are somewhere in that fight right now, you are not alone and you do not have to figure out the next step by yourself. Resources available to you right now: SAMHSA National Helpline — 1-800-662-4357 (free, confidential, 24/7, English and Spanish) Crisis & Mental Health Support — call or text 988 Text your zip code to 435748 to find local treatment near you If you are looking for compassionate, judgment-free treatment for opioid use disorder through a virtual visit with a real clinician, link is in our bio. Follow us for more stories of real people navigating addiction and finding their way to recovery.

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Chris Herren has survived four overdoses. When he overdosed on heroin behind the wheel in his hometown of Fall River, his vehicle crashed into a Dunkin' Donuts. Paramedics reported that his heart stopped for nearly thirty seconds before they were able to revive him. Chris Herren had lived the dream, a hometown kid who made it all the way to the Boston Celtics. Then a childhood friend sold him OxyContin outside his own house. Twenty dollars became a twenty-five-thousand-dollar-a-month habit, and when the pills got too expensive, heroin took over, following him from the NBA to overseas courts to that car. He woke up in a hospital, alive for the fourth time. A few weeks later, on August 1, 2008, he used for the last time. He has been sober ever since. He wrote a memoir, became the subject of an ESPN documentary, and built the Herren Project, which has helped thousands of families find treatment. He survived four overdoses so he could spend the rest of his life making sure other people never need a fifth. If you are somewhere in that fight right now, you are not alone and you do not have to figure out the next step by yourself. Resources available to you right now: SAMHSA National Helpline — 1-800-662-4357 (free, confidential, 24/7, English and Spanish) Crisis & Mental Health Support — call or text 988 Text your zip code to 435748 to find local treatment near you If you are looking for compassionate, judgment-free treatment for opioid use disorder through a virtual visit with a real clinician, link is in our bio. Follow us for more stories of real people navigating addiction and finding their way to recovery.

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Heath Ledger grew up in Perth, Australia, in a house that came apart when he was ten, and left school altogether at sixteen to chase acting on his own terms. By nineteen he’d broken out in 10 Things I Hate About You. By twenty six, Brokeback Mountain had him nominated for an Oscar. Then came the Joker. He shut himself in a London hotel for a month to build the character, kept a diary, pushed himself into what he called the realm of a psychopath. He was still calling the role physically and mentally draining months after wrapping. On January 22, 2008, he was found unresponsive in his Manhattan apartment. He was twenty eight. Medical examiners ruled it an accident, six prescription medications combined, including the painkillers oxycodone and hydrocodone alongside drugs meant to help him sleep and calm down. Not one thing. All of them, together. A year later, his parents and sister walked onto the Oscars stage to accept his Best Supporting Actor award, the second ever given to someone after their death. His sister said they were accepting it on behalf of his daughter. He once said it plainly: “I only do this because I’m having fun. The day I stop having fun, I’ll just walk away.” If you are somewhere in that fight right now, you are not alone and you do not have to figure out the next step by yourself. Resources available to you right now: SAMHSA National Helpline — 1-800-662-4357 (free, confidential, 24/7, English and Spanish) Crisis & Mental Health Support — call or text 988 Text your zip code to 435748 to find local treatment near you If you are looking for compassionate, judgment-free treatment for opioid use disorder through a virtual visit with a real clinician, link is in our bio. Follow us for more stories of real people navigating addiction and finding their way to recovery.