Hollywood
Mena Suvari Reveals Drug Abuse After Surviving Childhood Sexual Abuse
Mena Suvari has opened up in her new memoir about using meth to cope with surviving childhood sexual abuse.
Suvari, best known for her role in American Beauty, has shared how she survived sexual abuse and how she turned to drugs, including meth, to help her cope with the trauma.
In her new memoir, The Great Peace, Mena reveals that she was raped as a teenager. She began to abuse drugs afterwards.
View this post on Instagram
She was “introduced” to meth on holiday and said that it “blew her mind”, but that she never expected to continue taking it when she returned home to Los Angeles.
The star told PEOPLE: “I believed that I would never encounter it again. But when I came back to L.A., I ended up meeting a group of friends that one of my girlfriends had been hanging out with, and there it was again.”
She shared how she was just about “over managing” her addiction when she took the drug again. After this time, it took her down a very “dark path”.
At age 17, she entered a sexually and emotionally abusive relationship. However, her new partner – while okay with other drugs – didn’t like meth.
The actress now views this as a “gift of at least getting that drug out of my life”
“But then because of him and also the environment that I was in, you know, gave me the opportunity to try anything else,” she recalls.
“You know, acid, and ecstasy and things like this. And that time with him was so devastatingly dark that I needed those things. But then, you know, my work, that opportunity, that art that saved my life, that was the healthy addiction that I needed to replace it with.”
She eventually left that relationship, received therapy, and is now married with one child.
Her talents as an actress have brought her acclaim and a BAFTA nomination.
You can find more celebrity news on our website.
