When asked how, despite ongoing drug abuse and several rehab stints, the members of Fleetwood Mac stayed alive, Stevie Nicks’ answer was simple: no heroin.
“None of us ever did heroin. Right there, that's why we are alive,” Nicks told The Independent. “We were careful – we didn't die. But we could have.”
While Nicks’ drug of choice, cocaine, still caused her years of trouble, Nicks was correct in saying heroin is one of the most addictive and dangerous substances known to man. The National Institute on Drug Abuse said heroin addiction has become one of the most important drug use issues affecting the country, with use numbers steadily rising since 2007.
Though many people think heroin and other opiates are often more prevalent in poorer, more urban areas, addiction does not discriminate. The Center for Disease Control said heroin use had increased across the US in men and women in all income levels in 2015. And while famous athletes, musicians and actors may have the money to get help, several still struggled with opioid addiction.
Billie Holiday
Billie Holiday, a jazz singer with a difficult upbringing, died of congestive heart failure at the age of 44 after her alcohol and drug abuse caused her health to decline. Holiday died with less than a dollar in her bank account after spending much of it on drugs.
Janis Joplin
Janis Joplin, conversely, grew up in a middle-class Christian home in Texas. When she left for California, Joplin became known as a speed freak, using methamphetamine and heroin in addition to drinking heavily. Her friends became so worried about her, Joplin returned home to get help in 1965.
Despite changing her lifestyle and going to a psychiatrist, Joplin relapsed when she returned to California. Joplin’s close friend and former lover Peggy Caserta wrote in her expose “Going Down with Janis” that the singer shot at least $200 worth of heroin per day at the peak of her career. When she did not show at a recording session in 1970, her manager John Cooke found her dead of a heroin overdose in her hotel room.
Tom Petty
Despite overcoming his heroin addiction in the 1990s, Tom Petty died of an accidental drug overdose while using medication involving opioids in 2017. After the cause of death was announced, Petty’s family made a statement saying the medications were prescribed to Petty for several injuries.
“Many people who overdose begin with a legitimate injury or simply do not understand the potency and deadly nature of these medications,” the family wrote on Facebook. “…we hope in some way this report can save lives.”
Elvis and Lisa Marie Presley
In the foreword for The United State of Opioids: A Prescription for Liberating a Nation in Pain, Lisa Marie Presley wrote about her addiction to opioids after giving birth. Presley said she began to feel like she needed to keep taking opioids to feel better after she was given a short-term prescription.
Presley’s father, the King, famously died of a heart attack in his bathroom. The toxicology report found opiates Dilaudid, Percodan, Demerol, and codeine in his system, as well as Quaaludes. Presley suffered from glaucoma and liver damage at the time of his death, presumably due to ongoing drug abuse.
Brett Favre
Brett Favre has spoken several times about his addiction to Vicodin, a medication containing hydrocodone and acetaminophen. The Hall of Fame quarterback was temporarily banned by the NFL from drinking alcohol after he spent 46 days in rehab before the 1996 season for his addiction.
In an interview with Graham Bensinger, Favre said he began taking two pills a day to manage pain before eventually taking 15 at a time. When he suffered an opioid-related seizure during ankle surgery, Favre said he knew he needed treatment.
Carrie Fischer
Born and raised in Hollywood, Carrie Fischer struggled with drug addiction her entire life. Her autopsy found alcohol, cocaine, ecstasy and heroin her system when she died in 2016. Fischer spoke openly about her addiction and mental illness.
When asked what drugs she wished she never touched in a Rolling Stone interview, Fischer answered opiates, saying she snorted heroin, but never did it fully because that was “basically what you do when you’re trying to kill yourself.”
Philip Seymour Hoffman
Philip Seymour Hoffman was open about his drug abuse during his 20s, checking into his first rehab at 22. When Hoffman died in 2014, his friend found him with a syringe still in his arm.
Hoffman’s ex-wife, Mimi O’Donnell, wrote about his overdose in an op-ed for Vogue magazine, saying his relapse in 2013 was the first time she realized his addiction was too much for them to fix.
"'You’re going to die," O'Donnell said she told him. "That’s what happens with heroin."
RELATED: 'It's like you're grieving a death that hasn't happened yet': Harsh realities of the opioid crisis
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