Apparently 10 days was long enough for Philip Seymour Hoffman to kick his habit of prescription pills and snorting heroin, because
TMZ is reporting that Hoffman left a detox facility after ten days and is working on a movie in Europe. The week prior to going into the detox facility, Hoffman told TMZ that he had been abusing prescription pills and then moved on to snorting heroin which he says he only did for a week before realizing he had a problem and checked himself into detox. Maybe that is all he needed. It seems to me that if you are snorting heroin that ten days might not be enough time to get yourself sober and that he rushed into making this movie in Europe.
Wow! He has kids too. I would have never thought he was like this....He's at the TOP right now, as far as American actors in his age group too. He's finally got his choice of work and he's mucking it up!
ReplyDeleteC'mon PSH...Get it together!
Lib- my immediate reaction too, the kids.
DeleteIf he were using H for a week, breaking free in 10-days is certainly possible. Problem now, after having gone thru a very minor withdrawal, he will be left with the impression that it was easy...
ReplyDeleteI admire his honesty. Good luck, PSH
ReplyDeleteI wish him the best. He's an amazing talent.
ReplyDeleteLong-time lurker here...I felt compelled to comment. Thanks for having me CDANers.
ReplyDeleteLibby, you are one of my favorite commenters, but this isn't about him "getting it together." The personal responsibility he has shown by even choosing to share this private information is refreshing and brave. Also, it's not like he's "finally" getting plum roles...Boogie Nights was a long time ago. Hell, Capote was 7 years ago!
I just think we look at the Lohans and blind items and say "they need to check themselves before they wreck themselves"...here we have someone doing just that. Addiction is a cunning, baffling disease and we wouldn't give someone shit if after 20 years of meticulous sunscreen application they found another cancerous mole.
Addiction is a federally-recognized disease. It just is harder to understand and the side effects are way more frustrating (and seemingly chosen) than the majority of other illnesses.
The best thing we can do is offer compassion, love, boundaries and consistency to those in our lives wrestling with this complicated illness.
Just my two cents.
Unfortunately, I'm not surprised. He had been looking rough lately. I wish the best for him, he's one of my favorite actors.
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ReplyDeleteLex, thanks for the compliment, and I apologize for my semantics. I just meant it in a foot-stomp, 'I'll be so mad if you fuck this up b/c I love you' way.
ReplyDeletePSH's roles have always been great b/c he always IS. I meant that now he really gets movies he wants made, just by signing on as lead. He has power (Indie-power), and unfortunately his 'type' doesn't get that opportunity a lot in that industry.
Nice to meet you Lex, and I welcome the chance to clarify myself for you. Just read what I MEAN next time, okay? lol
Lex that was beautifully said. Thanks!
ReplyDeleteI had no idea that he had a problem with pills. I adore PSH as an actor, and I wish him all the best.
ReplyDelete@greenmountain Agree with 100% of what you said.
Deleteaccording to what he said to TMZ,he had a pill problem since one year(he hurt his back) and very recently he tried heroin
ReplyDeleteHow responsible of him. Finally a good example & hopefully equally good outcome.
ReplyDeleteI'm sorry but I have doubts about him having just started using heroin. Out of the blue? Just like that? For a few days and a quick check into rehab? More likely a stipulation of the movie producers who caught wind of his drug prkblem.
ReplyDeletePugster--That was MY shock.
ReplyDeleteWith all alcoholics in my family, I've avoided EVERYTHING addictive all my life, so ....Do people really successfully 'dabble' in HEROIN?
Serious question, does anyone really know what it's like to dabble, how seductive does it become?
It has such a rep is all.....
Libby, this is my thought, from my experience at least. You start to dabble, although I do know people who have done it with no problem, then you dabble a little more and more and then when you try to stop the withdraw is so fucking awful you feel like you can't live and just either want to shrivel up and die or you go get more so you feel better. It's a vicious vicious cycle. I'm just talking about snorting, I would imagine infecting would be a hell of a lot worse.
Delete*injecting also want to add that withdraw takes days, if not weeks and weeks...
DeleteI don't think snorting heroin is too far of a leap from pills. Hydrocodone/Oxycontin are really just a prescribed form of heroin. Many people who get hooked on Oxy turn to heroin after they can't get pills anymore.
Delete@ Pugster, yep.
ReplyDeleteNobody gets detoxed from heroin in ten days. Nobody. That's the worst crap in the world to get detoxed from, and being detoxed is only the beginning of what heroin users have to go through to finally kick the habit.
ReplyDeleteGood for him, and yes, it's entirely plausible. He realized it was the beginning of a problem and stopped before it became a bigger problem. Taking proactive measures when you know you have an addictive personality is not a bad thing.
ReplyDelete@Lex,
Well said!
If he had only been using heroin for one week, 10 days is more than enough time to kick the dope.
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ReplyDeleteSnorting heroin? I didn't know that use for heroin. Artists always innovating.
ReplyDeleteLet's wait if he is a strong guy who overtakes vices or just a despincable junkie.
While I appreciate his honesty and hope for the best, 10 days in rehab for drug addiction is not exactly taking responsibility. I'll believe that he may have freaked himself out by starting heroin, and it's wonderful he recognized it. However, graduating from a opioid pill addiction to heroin makes me wonder how bad his pill problem really is, and if its actually something that 10 days in rehab can really address. Most serious pill abusers need long term (ie more than 28 days) to work through it. It's great he's understanding he he has a problem but hopefully he'll get some real help.
ReplyDeleteljsmed, Thank you.
ReplyDeleteSo like most things it depends on the person. I seriously hope for PSH's sake, his family's, and even for acting's sake, that Philip is one of the ones who CAN just quit so fast and for good.
PugsterMom - I'm with you in suspecting that the pre-film insurance physical probably showed drugs and the movie producers gave him the option of treatment or being fired off the film. The ten days in and out makes no sense from a medical treatment point of view but makes a great deal of sense in terms of a pending film start date. While I respect the many comments here from people who have dealt with this situtaion, personally or with family members, I sincerely doubt that "courage" was his motivation in revealing this. When producers anticipate recasting a film about to start they will contact every agency in town checking the immediate availability of alternative actors. I suspect that his managers realized that a hundred industry bigwigs were suddenly speculating on why he faced replacement and, Hollywood being a small town, they probably knew about the drugs. I suspect his disclosure is largely a PR driven strategy of damage control and prevent him from being blacklisted for drug use.
ReplyDeleteIt was over a month ago. His addictions have never been a secret, but nobody talked about it because we was never out of control in person. He's a highly functioning addict and has been for over two decades. Every so often he detoxes, but goes back to it. I think he really wants to quit. Maybe by making it public knowledge he will finally take six months to go into full treatment. Sadly, he keeps his schedule busy so he can justify not having the time.
ReplyDeleteIt's enough time. It's up to him. If he's really ready maybe he can do some work and get some help while he's making the movie. He always seems like he's had his head on straight. Lots of people have fallen in to that trap, I think most people have struggled with some sort of addictive pattern, activity, problem, etc. I hope that he gets to the bottom of whatever pain is chasing him in to the arms of a chemical respite.
ReplyDeleteMaybe he's jealous of DD-L and accidentally stumbled into the "Method One" Clinic by mistake.
ReplyDelete(Sorry, Arrested Development season 4 joke)
Perhaps they put him on methadone or patches so that he can still go to work.
ReplyDeleteStill can't read his name in anything but Peter Griffith's voice.
ReplyDeletehttp://youtu.be/Ue5_jkyxrIk
My best friend snorted heroin for years and broke away cold turkey within a month (still clean after 4 years too) so it can be done in a relatively short period of time. I think the snorting doesn't get you the way shooting does.
ReplyDeleteI am glad he stopped himself before things got waaaay out of control.
ReplyDeleteA friend who works in an NYC restaurant said Hoffman came in a little while ago, polished off 2 steaks and looked like walking death the entire time.
ReplyDeleteGuess now I can tell her why.
Robert, you are really wrong about detox times. Heroin is a fast detox - less than a week. That's whether injecting or snorting (and I don't just mean pharma grade, I mean street heroin). Pills, morphine, and especially methodone however take weeks - that may be skewing people's recollection of something they've seen.
ReplyDeleteWhat Gossipmonger1 and CrazyCatLady said. He didn't go from clean to 7 days of heroin, he switched from pills, which are basically the same.
ReplyDeleteHe could conceivably get detoxed in 10 days, get through the withdrawal, but the problems that made him use will still be there. Cravings, too. Anyway, I wish him the best, and that he stays on the path to sobriety.
Good for him for admitting what he was using rather than the just going the old "prescription pills" route. He's an amazing talent, and I wish him all the best.
ReplyDeletewhocares - this is a complete surprise to me although I know I've seen pictures of him looking a hot mess, so not sure why I'm so shocked.
ReplyDeletePerhaps he quit rehab after 10 days only because he knew he would not take anything while filming because he has a strong work ethic. Considering how talented he is, I am pretty sure he takes his acting very seriously.
ReplyDeleteHe can resume his rehab/therapy/... after he s finished working. Just an hypothesis ...
Perhaps he quit rehab after 10 days only because he knew he would not take anything while filming because he has a strong work ethic. Considering how talented he is, I am pretty sure he takes his acting very seriously.
ReplyDeleteHe can resume his rehab/therapy/... after he s finished working. Just an hypothesis ...
I've read now he's been on the prescription pills that led to the heroin for a year. Does that coincide with the filming of Hunger Games? He's got a part in it and from what we're heard, its a pretty debaucherous set!
ReplyDeleteSad to read this less than a year later and he has OD'd. Such a shame. I'm not a movie fan so can't recall him in anything, just sad for the loss of a fellow human being to addiction.
ReplyDeleteA shame that he lost his battle with drugs. A fine actor. RIP.
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