Fan Fare
Entertainment behind the scenes
DJ AM’s death a classic case of drug relapse
Toxicology reports for celebrity disc jockey Adam “DJ AM” Goldstein, who died of an apparent drug overdose in New York on Friday, aren’t due back for a couple of weeks. But addiction-medicine specialist Dr. Drew Pinsky is in no doubt about what killed his friend. He told listeners of his syndicated “Loveline” radio show Sunday that Goldstein — a long-time recovering addict who was serious about maintaining sobriety — was battling a terminal illness with a worse prognosis than cancer.
Goldstein was likely — and appropriately — put on prescription medications to help him deal with post-traumatic stress disorder following a fatal plane crash last September, said Pinsky.
The Board-certified physician and author is pictured at left in an undated photo taken from his MySpace page with Goldstein (center) and Los Angeles radio DJ Ted Stryker (right).
“I don’t know how severe his symptoms were, but sometimes it’s reasonable to take a risk with that if somebody is in real misery,” Pinsky said. “Our job is not to make people miserable. But he stayed on those medicines, and I cannot tell you how frequently I see that take people out.
“No one sits down and tells them, ‘As long as you are on that medicine your disease is active. I know you feel like it’s under control. But you can’t stay sober when that part of your brain is being massaged.’
“I’ve seen it so many times … maybe thousands of times, now. I just wish I’d been able to have that conversation with him, and he may or may not have listened.
Celebrity gossip Web site TMZ said DJ AM developed a dependency on Xanax and related anti-anxiety drugs as a result of the South Carolina plane crash that left both him and Blink-182 drummer Travis Barker with burns and killed four others.
Paula Abdul has a new story on painkillers
“American Idol” judge Paula Abdul on Thursday slammed a magazine report that she suffered a dependency on painkillers, saying that her statements were taken out of context.
The report posted on the Web site of Ladies’ Home Journal earlier this week described Abdul as having overcome a painkiller habit that began years ago when she was wracked with pain from various injuries. The magazine said that Abdul, to overcome her habit, checked into the La Costa Resort & Spa in California last Thanksgiving to wean herself off painkillers.
But in an interview on Thursday with Detroit radio station WKQI, Abdul disputed that.
“It was very stressful for me to hear that and to be quoted saying something I’ve never said,” Abdul told the radio station. ”I’ve never checked into a rehab clinic, I’ve never been addicted or abused drugs and I’ve never been addicted or abused alcohol. I’ve never been drunk in my life.”
But Abdul did not dispute everything in the magazine article. One of the radio hosts asked about a quote in the Ladies’ Home Journal article in which Abdul, after the description of her checking into the spa, said that she suffered freezing cold, chattering teeth and excruciating pain. “That actually is true,” Abdul told the radio station, without elaborating.
In the magazine article, Abdul was quoted as saying she suffered from “withdrawal” at the time.
But Abdul said that she simply checked into the spa to relax, and that it is not a rehab center.
Does anyone care if Paula is or was or has been on painkillers? The important thing is that for a woman of 46 she is smokin’ hot to look at! That’s what matters. She still has the body and the face to make even younger guys stand at attention.
