Winehouse died at the very young age of 27 on July 23, 2011. She started drinking alcohol at just 12 years old and struggled with alcohol addiction for most of her life. She had also dabbled with crack cocaine and heroin later in life while she continued alcohol abuse to numb her mental health issues. Paramedics found her body at her home with empty vodka bottles on the floor. Toxicology tests revealed she had five times the legal drink-drive limit. Celebrity deaths are always tragic, but losing notable stars to severe drinking problems is no different. She is regarded as one of the most influential jazz singers in American history, but she spent most of her life under the grip of drug and alcohol addiction. Holiday used drugs and alcohol to self-medicate and deal with years of sexual abuse as a child and teenager. On July 17, 1959, she died of pulmonary edema and heart failure due to alcohol-induced cirrhosis of the liver.

Like Steve Clark, Jeff Hanneman is another guitarist who died too young. The Slayer co-founder was 49 when he lost his life due to alcohol-related cirrhosis of the liver, on May 2, 2013. But it was a spider bite which ultimately led to Hanneman’s demise. A couple of years before he died, he developed necrotizing fasciitis in his arm. It was treated with antibiotics, but Hanneman simply couldn’t play guitar the way he wanted to anymore. That led to him drinking more and more, going into a tailspin (he’d also been drinking heavily since his father died in 2008).

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Still, she battled all along with an addiction to alcohol and painkillers. After a 1978 intervention she went into treatment, going on to establish the Betty Ford Center, a rehabilitation clinic, four years later. Later, Osler, as Halsted’s actors who died of alcoholism physician, had a secret diary that documented Halsted’s continued addiction to morphine. As long as he lived, he will occasionally have a relapse and go back on the drug.” Thus, Halsted led a life of controlled addiction.

The constant reporting of celebrity drug use can make it seem like addiction is more common in Hollywood than in the rest of the world. Our community offers unique perspectives on lifelong recovery and substance use prevention, empowering others through stories of strength and courage. From people in active recovery to advocates who have lost loved ones to the devastating disease of addiction, our community understands the struggle and provides guidance born of personal experience. We provide integrated treatment for mental health disorders and addiction. Heart disease—a well-known comorbidity to sleep apnea—was clearly a factor in Fisher’s death. Other factors from the coroner’s report show negative correlations with sleep apnea as well. In addition, people who’ve had sleep apnea for up to 5 years have a 30 percent increase in their risk for having a heart attack or dying, according to research conducted at Yale University.

Stars who died of alcoholism

In the Wisconsin Sleep Cohort follow-up published in Sleep in 2008, 42 percent of the deaths in people with severe sleep apnea were due to heart disease. Severe, in clinical terms, is defined as having an apnea-hypopnea index score of 20 or more respiratory events per hour. People enjoy alcohol for many reasons, such as its taste, a sense of belonging experienced from drinking with friends, its physical effects, and sometimes its symbolic meaning . Alcohol’s social acceptance makes us forget that it is a drug and causes harm when consumed in excess. Even though many can enjoy alcohol occasionally, some form an addiction to alcohol. Betty Ford, the wife of former President Gerald Ford, suffered from alcoholism and addiction to painkillers. She raised public awareness of addiction by confessing to her long-time battle with alcoholism in the 1970s.

• According to the LA coroner’s office, his official cause of death was suicide secondary to alcohol poisoning.
• This was not Dunn’s first DUI offense, and he was known to struggle with addiction.
• It wasn’t until 2009, when he was cast in Glee, that he rose to stardom.
• “I think I turned to those coping mechanisms because I genuinely was in so much pain that I didn’t want to die, and I didn’t know what else to do.

It’s important to address the underlying issues in order to treat alcohol addiction. Learn more about alcohol abuse and addiction, and explore treatment options to avoid negative health outcomes. Aside from her fame as Princess Leia in “Star Wars”, Carrie Fisher was also well-known for her public statements about her health and addictions. At the same time, she struggled with substance abuse and mental illness. In 2007, she was hospitalized Sober House after experiencing an overdose of cocaine, heroin, ketamine, ecstasy, and alcohol. She also admitted to having problems with depression and self-harm. In the months leading up to Prince’s death, his friends and family were reportedly becoming increasingly concerned with Prince’s prescription drug use. On a flight home from an Atlanta concert, the Academy Award-winning singer overdosed on Percocet that he was taking for hip problems.