Celebrity Health

18 Celebrities Who Have Died from Substance Abuse

17. Philip Seymour Hoffman

Academy Award-winning actor Philip Seymour Hoffman died of a drug overdose at age 46.

The accomplished actor struggled with alcoholism and heroin addiction on-and-off for decades. He was in therapy and Alcoholics Anonymous to try and overcome his addictions. He made a continual effort to stay clean and sober. In fact, being a recovering addict was as much a part of his life as acting and directing. He was committed to conquering his substance abuse issues. Yet, he realized that just because he was sober didn’t mean his addiction had disappeared. He knew it was a battle he’d have to fight every day for the remainder of his life.

Hoffman managed to stay clean and sober for more than twenty years. When he started to relapse, he started by just having a drink or two. It didn’t seem like a big deal at first. However, it was a slippery slope from there. He was prescribed prescription opioids for a period of time. Due to his history of drug abuse and predisposition to addiction, he quickly became addicted to the drugs and began abusing them. As his opioid addiction deepened, he started using heroin again. He returned to rehab, but he relapsed and started using again. A short time later, he was dead.

Photo source: Seytan_Duymadan_Once_45.jp by canburak