8 Black Celebrities Who Overcame Drug Addiction

During an episode of her talk show in the ’90s, media maven Oprah Winfrey admitted that she was a habitual cocaine user in her '20s. In a tell-all book by her former boyfriend, he claimed that Winfrey struggled with the drug well into the ’80s, during the early years of her show. However, today Winfrey has beaten her addiction and has become one of the richest women in the world. Earlier this month, supermodel Naomi Campbell admitted on Power 105's Breakfast Club that she is a recovering cocaine user. Campbell apparently struggled with a drug problem that started in 1994 and escalated following the death of her good friend, designer Gianni Versace, in 1997. After several attempts to clean herself up beginning in 1999, Campbell finally became sober for good in 2004. In 2011, rapper T.I. shared information about his drug problem and said that fellow rapper Eminem was partially the reason he was able to kick his habit. Shortly after his release from prison in 2010, T.I. said that he was addicted to the prescription drugs Oxycontin and Percocet. In 2010, T.I. explained to VIBE that he feared his drug use was out of control and asked Eminem, who had previously sobered up from his battle with similar drugs. “I asked him how he knew he was an addict,” Tip said. Eminem, who reportedly took 60 to 90 pills a day told T.I., “if you put yourself in harm’s way … if you risk that, you’ve got to assume that there is something fundamentally wrong with your thought process.” T.I. has since beaten his addiction to prescription drugs. In an interview with In Touch magazine, talk show host Wendy Williams opened up about her addiction to cocaine and how she was able to stop using. “I was a functioning addict. I’d work from 3 in the afternoon until 7 at night, get off and party until 7 in the morning — then sleep until 2, go to the radio station and do it all over again,” Wendy said. “People around me knew, but nobody ever said anything to me. Nobody had the guts, which is shocking to me. I guess it was like watching a circus freak show.” Wendy said meeting her husband around her 30th birthday and falling in love guided her along the path to becoming sober. “I learned to just wean, wean, wean, and then finally stop. I didn’t even have to go to rehab.” Actor Samuel L. Jackson has been open about his addiction to heroin as well as cocaine back in the '80s. He’s admitted to overdosing several times and credited his wife, LaTanya Richardson, for helping him get clean. In 1991, he went to a drug rehab facility and has been sober ever since. Jackson is now one of the highest paid actors in Hollywood. R&B singer Mary J. Blige's struggle with cocaine addiction dates back to her teenage years. The star said she began to use drugs to ease the pain of her abusive childhood, but the habit spiraled out of control in the ’90s after she became a star in the music industry. Blige reportedly took years, with the help of her husband, Kendu Isaacs, to sober up. Back in the late '70s, singer Chaka Khan reportedly used heroin and cocaine. She says she snorted the drugs, never injecting, after receiving a warning from fellow singer, Etta James. Khan said she struggled with drug abuse for 10 years and said she was addicted to alcohol as well. Years later, the Queen of Funk-Soul is 100 percent sober. In 2010, rapper Kid Cudi made the news after he was arrested for possession of liquid cocaine. At the time, he reportedly abused both cocaine and alcohol. As of 2011, Kid Cudi claims that he is clean from all drugs. The artist even wears tattoos on his wrist that symbolize the death of his drug-addicted past.

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