Addiction

Bill Cosby

Rape, Trauma, PTSD and Bill Cosby

This Bill Cosby scandal has triggered memories. Before my rape, I had voluntarily drunk rum and smoked a few hits of pot. Afterward, I was afraid people wouldn’t believe anything I said because I was high.

Read More
Sarah Silverman

Comedian Sarah Silverman Isn’t Funny as an Addict. She is Oscar-Worthy!

Written for TheFix An exclusive interview with Adam Salky about directing Sarah Silverman in “I Smile Back.” Oh, addicts. Slippery and charming until everything falls apart. Watching Laney Brooks (Sarah Silverman) unravel is like rubbernecking at an Oscar-worthy disaster. Anyone who has ever been close to an addict or mentally ill person—which is practically everyone, … Read more

Read More
Jimi Hendrix with Dorri Olds

Jimi Hendrix 1970s Rock Posters, Beanbag Chair, and a Teal Green Lava Lamp

A teenager’s bedroom in the mid 1970s — Jimi Hendrix poster, Robert Plant and Jimmy Page, Yes poster, yellow beanbag chair and teal lava lamp.

Read More
Woman in Afghanistan

Meet Laila — the Brave Woman Saving Heroin Addicts in Afghanistan

Excerpts from my article written for The Fix All photos courtesy of Mirzaei Films. Laila at the Bridge—How to Combat Heroin Addiction in Afghanistan A new documentary follows a woman’s efforts in Afghanistan to fight addiction. Since the fall of the Taliban, the production of opium has skyrocketed. Afghanistan produces 90% of the world’s supply and 11% … Read more

Read More

Patrick Wilson Has a ‘Zipper’ Problem — He’s Addicted to Call Girls

In the drama Zipper, Sam Ellis (Patrick Wilson) is a successful federal prosecutor on the cusp of a bright political future. He has a happy home and a hot sex life with his smart and beautiful wife Jeannie (Lena Headey). Directed by Mora Stephens.

Read More
Rosario Dawson

Rosario Dawson Spoke With Me About Growing Up With Crack and Heroin Addicts

Rosario Dawson walked into the Waldorf Astoria looking nothing like the violent drug addict she plays in “Gimme Shelter.” Dawson’s smooth skin glowed under only a touch of makeup. The actress’s almond eyes sported a hint of smoky-blue eye shadow. When I told Dawson she looked beautiful, she laughed and said, “Why? Because I brushed my teeth?” Dawson was referring to her character’s brown, rotted teeth.

Read More
Richard Pryor's family

Part I: Richard Pryor, Jr. reminisces about his famous father and films at BAM

In 1976, Pryor earned $25,000 for the movie, “Car Wash.” In 1983, he earned $4,000,000 for “Superman III.” In Pryor’s words, “I had some great things and I had some bad things. The best and the worst. In other words, I had a life.”
New York City reporter, Dorri Olds, sat down for a candid interview with Richard Pryor, Jr.

Read More

Hit So Hard: Hole’s Patty Schemel and her near-death rock odyssey

‘Hit So Hard’ is a drugumentary, er… rockumentary about the life and near-death of drummer Patty Schemel, a member of Nineties rock band, Hole.

Read More

Unhooked: How to Quit Anything

When chain-smoking Manhattanite Susan Shapiro went to Dr. Frederick Woolverton, a Greenwich Village addiction specialist in 2001, she had little hope she’d be able to quit her 27-year two-pack-a-day smoking habit. But Woolverton, a psychologist and founder of the Village Institute in New York and Arkansas, and a former smoker himself, immediately helped her nix her nicotine addiction. Within nine months, he helped her quit alcohol, pot, gum and bread.

Read More

Face to Face — A Mother’s Story Of Her Son’s Attempted Suicide

“It was just before Thanksgiving when my son put a shotgun under his chin and pulled the trigger. He survived but the blast obliterated his face.” — Judith Casey, author of the book, Face to Face

Read More