Eliza Dushku reveals secret battle with drug and alcohol addiction
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Eliza Dushku poses at the US Weekly Fall Hot Hollywood Issue party in West Hollywood, California November 18, 2009. The actress recently opened up about battling drug and alcohol addiction. (Reuters)
Eliza Dushku opened up for the first time about struggling with drug and alcohol addiction.
"Something a lot of people don’t know about me is that I’m an alcoholic and I was a drug addict for a lot of years," the actress said the New Hampshire Youth Summit on Opioid Awareness.
The "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" actress said she is now sober.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"I’m always going to be that, but the difference between me and an alcoholic or an addict that still drinks and does drugs is that I’m sober. I don’t drink and I don’t do drugs anymore."
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The 36-year-old said she tried marijuana for the first time at age 14 and loved the way it made her feel.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"It was fun — and I loved it — until it wasn’t,” she said. “Drugs didn't love me. They didn’t love my family. They definitely didn’t love my friends that died."
She recalled a conversation she had with her brother when he told her the actress could not be around her niece because of her addictions. He said he could not trust her behavior.
Dushku said it was because of her family that she decided to get clean.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"I was depressed. I didn't like myself, but I love my family," she said. "I'm a really good auntie today. But you know what? He was right. I'm a good person, but when I did drugs and I drank, I didn't make good decisions.… All it takes is one bad decision. You don't have to live like that."