Jamie Lee Curtis is calling herself a “controlled addict” after decades of being a recovering alcoholic.
The 66-year-old actress reflected on her 26-year-long sobriety journey in a new interview, saying she has always retained some degree of control over her life, even when she was at her lowest point.
“I am a controlled addict,” she told The Guardian. “In recovery we talk about how, in order to start recovering, you have to hit what you call a ‘bottom.'”
“You have to crash and burn, lose yourself and your family and your job and your resources in order to know that the way you were living didn’t work. I refer to myself as an Everest bottom; I am the highest bottom I know,” the Freaky Friday star noted.
Unlike many struggling with addiction, Curtis explained that she didn’t face any major fallout.
“When I acknowledged my lack of control, I was in a very controlled state. I lost none of the external aspects of my life. The only thing I had lost was my own sense of myself and self-esteem.”
Curtis also noted that her success often masked her struggles. “I never let that self-medication get in the way of my ambition or work or creativity. It never bled through. No one would ever have said that had been an issue for me.”
Jamie iterated that her addiction still caused significant damage. “The external costs are awful, but the internal ones are even more sinister. Still, that was a long time ago. I’m an old lady now,” she added.
