"I also forget that they were famous and loved worldwide," she shared in her post.
Editor's note: This article was originally published on February 11, 2022. It has since been updated.
Jamie Lee Curtis, a talented actor and an even better human being, credits her kindness to her parents, Janet Leigh and Tony Curtis.
Curtis has strong connections to Hollywood. Her dad—who was an Oscar-nominated actor—had a career spanning over six decades working alongside legends like Marilyn Monroe and Sidney Poitier. He was married to Janet from 1951 until 1962 who is best known for her role as Marion Crane in the 1960's cult classic Psycho.
Curtis shared a photo of her mom and dad on Instagram, mentioning that the photo was sent to her by her sister.
"My sister sent me this. Once in a while when their images find me unexpectedly, I'm caught by not only their extreme beauty but their deep love and ambition," she captioned the black and white photo of her parents.
"As the product of 13 divorces in my immediate family I have often struggled with the idea of love, what happens to it? There are only a couple of reminders to me that I was born from love and not resentment, competition, jealousy, and rancor which are the cornerstones of any unpleasant divorce. I also forget that they were famous and loved worldwide," she wrote. She concluded her heartfelt post with: "Happy hump day Janet and Tony. Thanks for love and life!"
The Freaky Friday star has openly spoken about her life and her battle with addiction.
Curtis has a family history of addiction. While Tony was an alcoholic and a cocaine and heroin addict, the family suffered the tragic loss of her half-brother Nicholas Curtis in 1994 because of a heroin overdose.
The Halloween star spoke to PEOPLE in 2018 about her secret opiate addiction in the late 1980s. “I was ahead of the curve of the opiate epidemic. I had a 10-year run, stealing, conniving. No one knew. No one,” Curtis said.
But she got caught by a good friend of hers in 1998. “I heard this voice, ‘You know, Jamie, I see you. I see you with your little pills, and you think you’re so fabulous and so great, but the truth is you’re dead. You’re a dead woman,’” Curtis said. “The jig was up. Now I knew someone knew. I had been nursing a secret Vicodin addiction for a very long time—over 10 years.”
Once, her sister, Kelly Curtis, was prescribed pain medication for some injury she suffered during a shoot. Since Kelly didn't like the effects of the pills, she tossed them away, but Jamie started stealing them from her. “But then when she was moving out, I knew she was going to find the empty bottle,” Curtis recalled.
“So I wrote her a letter and I said, ‘I’ve done a terrible thing, and I’ve stolen your pills from you, and I’m sorry.’ When I came home that night, I was terrified that she was going to be so angry at me, but she just looked at me and put her arms out and hugged me and said, ‘You are an addict and I love you, but I am not going to watch you die.’ That’s it. She didn’t wag her finger at me. She didn’t tell me anything else,” the actor remembered.
Eventually, she managed to break out of the vicious cycle. "I'm breaking the cycle that has basically destroyed the lives of generations in my family. Getting sober remains my single greatest accomplishment… bigger than my husband, bigger than both of my children, and bigger than any work, success, failure. Anything," Curtis shared.
It's been over two decades since her journey began in 1999 when she attended her first recovery meeting. She continues to attend meetings, offering help to others who are struggling with addiction.
References:
https://people.com/movies/jamie-lee-curtis-opens-up-hiding-secret-opioid-addiction/
Cover Image Source: Getty Images | Photo by Amy Sussman
