When sharing her story on AppleTV+'s new docuseries 'The Super Models', the 53-year-old English native admits that she 'was killing' herself by turning to drugs to cope with abandonment issues and grief.
- Sep 22, 2023
AceShowbiz - Naomi Campbell has gotten candid about her drug addiction that nearly cost her life in the '90s. When sharing her story on AppleTV+'s new docuseries "The Super Models", the supermodel admitted that she turned to cocaine to cope with childhood trauma and the death of her close friend, Italian designer Gianni Versace.
"I guess when I started using, that was one of the things I tried to cover up, was grief," the 53-year-old shared. "Addiction is such a ... bulls**t thing, it really is."
Campbell eventually realized that drugs couldn't help her "heal the wound." She recalled, "You think, 'Oh it's gonna heal that wound.' It doesn't. It can cause such huge fear and anxiety. So I got really angry."
The English native said she was really devastated upon hearing that Versace was murdered outside of his Miami Beach home in 1997. Remembering her late pal, she stated, "He was very sensitive to feeling me, like, he pushed me... He would push me to step outside and go further when I didn't think I had it within myself to do it. So when he died, my grief became very bad."
"When you try to cover something up, your feelings," the catwalk beauty continued. "You spoke about abandonment. I tried to cover that with something. You can't cover it. I was killing myself. It was very hurtful."
Campbell battled her addiction for five years. It was not until she collapsed during a 1999 photoshoot that she decided to seek help. "I chose to go to rehab. It was one of the best and only things I could have done for myself at that time," she declared.
"It's taken me many years to work on and deal with," the mom of two further elaborated. "And it does still come up sometimes. But I just now have the tools how to deal with it now when it comes up."
