Elvis Presley fought a very public addiction to prescription drugs, but away from the limelight his daughter Lisa Marie Presley also suffered from a similar addiction to opioids. Now, for the first time, she has spoken candidly about her struggles.
In a foreword for a new book about the opioid crises in the U.S., Lisa Marie admitted she was "grateful to be alive," according to an excerpt published by Yahoo on Wednesday.
"You may read this and wonder how, after losing people close to me, I also fell prey to opioids," the 51-year-old singer-songwriter explained in writing for "The United States of Opioids: A Prescription for Liberating a Nation in Pain" by Harry Nelson.
Both her father and her former husband Michael Jackson died of an overdose from the drug but it did not stop Lisa Marie from falling victim to opioid addiction.
"I was recovering after the [2008] birth of my daughters, Vivienne and Finley, when a doctor prescribed me opioids for pain. It only took a short-term prescription of opioids in the hospital for me to feel the need to keep taking them due to their dangerous addictiveness."
It was a long and challenging road to recovery for Lisa Marie, who had to pick up the pieces and rebuild her life. She is speaking out about her addiction in the hope of shedding light on the opioid epidemic gripping the country.
A report by CNN last week highlighted how dire the situation has become. Most recent data showed that roughly 1.7 million people in the U.S. suffered from substance use disorders related to prescription opioid in 2017 alone. That same year there were over 47,600 overdose deaths related to opioids.
Lisa Marie said the time had come to say goodbye to the shame and stigma of addiction.
"We have to stop blaming and judging ourselves and the people around us," she said. "That starts with sharing our stories."
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