“Despite the deadly dangers of fentanyl contamination, hard drug use has been enjoying record increases in Hollywood and beyond not seen since the hard-partying ’80s. The popularity is fueled in part by a destigmatization of recreational drugs like cocaine in everything from Charlie XCX lyrics (in “365” she sings, “Shall we do a little key? Shall we”, — write: www.hollywoodreporter.com
The popularity is fueled in part by a destigmatization of recreational drugs like cocaine everything from Charlie XCX lyrics (in “365” she sings, “Shall we do a little key? Shall we have a little line?”); to popular country acts like Parker McCollum; that Hollywood-skewering TV comedies like Apple’s The Studio and HBO’s I Love LA (the second episode of the latter saw the gang dig into a hefty bag of cocaine).
One celebrity, however, is putting her reputation on the line to say, “Enough.”
It’s Paris Jackson, 27-year-old actress, singer and model and daughter of Michael Jackson, who in a Nov. 10 TikTok stared down the barrel of a phone camera and revealed that past drug abuse has left her permanently injured.
“I have a really loud whistle when I breathe through my nose,” Jackson said. “That is because I have what is called a perforated septum, slightly different from a deviated septum and that is from — what you think it’s from.”
She then shines a light through her nostrils to show the hole in her septum.
The 27-year-old then pointed at the camera, adding, “That is … umm … what you think it’s from. Don’t do drugs, kids. Or, I mean, do. Everyone is going to have the experience they need to have with life. I’m not going to tell anyone what to do. But I don’t recommend it because it ruined my life.”
Jackson, who has been sober for six years from heroin and alcohol abuse, says she could correct the septum perforation with plastic surgery but is reluctant to because of the powerful pain medications she would need to take to recover.
Rock icon Steven Nicks has been similarly honest about her struggles with drug use, telling Rolling Stone in 2015 that she too had burned a hole through her nose from heavy cocaine abuse before checking herself into rehab in 1986.