Former Nickelodeon Star Used Drugs to "Numb Feelings"

Actor Josh Peck has had a long and successful career, and is currently starring in Hulu’s How I Met Your Father. He first came into prominence at age 13, with his time as a supporting cast member on the Nickelodeon sketch comedy series, The Amanda Show. After the show ended, Peck landed his most famous role as Josh Nichols in the Nickelodeon comedy series, Drake and Josh. He would reunite with former Amanda Show cast member, Drake Bell, in the series, which lasted four seasons from 2004 to 2007. However, during that time period, Peck was dealing with a lot of inner demons.

1. Comedy Was His Defense, At First. Then He Turned to Food.

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Peck opened up about his past in an interview with People, specifically his struggles with addiction. "I spent most of my life dying to be typical but I grew up with a single mom, I was overweight and I was a musical theater kid who really had no social status," says Peck. "Comedy was my natural defense mechanism." Growing up, Peck was subjected to a lot of bullying from his peers, specifically about his weight. He says that he first turned to food for comfort, and recalls eating large pizzas on his own, and being nearly 300 pounds as a teenager. Peck then decided to adopt a healthier lifestyle, and after 18 months, he lost the weight. But then....

2. He Then Discovered Drugs

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Despite this change, Peck was still unhappy, and began turning to other substances for comfort. "It became clear that once I lost the weight that I was the same head in a new body," Peck explained to People. "What is really clear is that I overdo things. And then I discovered drugs and alcohol. And that became my next chapter. I used food and drugs to numb my feelings."

3. Drugs for Him Were Like "a Buffet"

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Peck says that he continued experimenting with drugs into his early 20’s. “It was like a buffet. I had this illusion of becoming more confident and attractive when I was partaking. I was trying to quiet that voice that woke me up every morning and told me I wasn't enough," he told People.

4. He Almost Lost His Career

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This lifestyle would later affect Peck’s career, as he struggled to book jobs. Peck recalls being seen by people as “unstable and erratic.” This realization is what pushed him to get help. "I had worked so hard for this thing and I was getting very close to losing it," he told People.

5. He Got Treatment, and Steady Work

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Peck then began to get treatment, which would lead to him getting sober in 2008. After that, his career began to take off again, which included film and sitcom roles, notably the 2015 FOX series, Grandfathered, with legendary actor, John Stamos. He also built a steady social media presence on Twitter, Vine, and YouTube. Peck credits his decision to get help with the reinvigoration of his career. "By walking through discomfort and by doing my best to break down the false identity I had for myself, I was able to get to the place that I was always seeking," he told People.

"If your drug use is out of control or causing problems, get help. The sooner you seek help, the greater your chances for a long-term recovery. Talk with your primary doctor or see a mental health professional, such as a doctor who specializes in addiction medicine or addiction psychiatry, or a licensed alcohol and drug counselor," says the Mayo Clinic.

JoJo is showing off her fit figure in a swimsuit! The singer and actress heated up social media this week with her latest snap, highlighting her washboard abs. “If I were to write a book about my life… what would you most wanna know? obviously I would hold nothing back…” she asked her millions of followers in the caption. How does she stay so fit? Read on to see 5 ways JoJo stays in shape and the photos that prove they work—and to get beach-ready yourself, don't miss these essential 30 Best-Ever Celebrity Bathing Suit Photos!

1. She Was Put On A Scary Diet as a Teen

When JoJo was 18 her record label put her on a 500 calorie per day diet, telling her that she need to “look as healthy as possible,” she told Uproxx. “I was like, ‘I’m actually the picture of health. I actually look like a healthy girl who eats and is active. And I don’t think this is about my health. I think that you want me to be really skinny,” she continued. “And he’s like, ‘No, I wouldn’t say that,’ blah blah blah,” JoJo recalled. “But I ended up getting put with a nutritionist that had me on a 500 calorie a day diet, and I was on these injections that make you have no appetite.”

2. It Negatively Impacted Her Self Esteem

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The experience had a very big impact on her self-esteem. “I was like, ‘Let me see how skinny I can get, because maybe then they’ll put out an album. Maybe I’m just so disgusting that no one wants to see me in a video and they can’t even look at me,'” she said. “That’s really what I thought.” It set up a pattern of disordered eating. “I’m sure a lot of us develop extreme insecurities and disordered eating and really unhealthy thinking about ourselves,” she continued. “I felt that how I was must have been not enough. Must have been dissatisfying.”

3. She Battled Substance Abuse

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Her insecurities led to abusing substances and self-destructive behavior. “So I started getting really f—ed up, drinking, making out with strangers, looking for validation and attention and looking to feel pretty, looking to feel good, to feel worthy. There were definitely nights that I stumbled out of clubs and that I blacked out. I was just completely reckless, did not care. I needed to be buzzed to feel okay. I would go to the edge, stand on my tiptoes on the edge and then come back,” she continued. “I should be dead,” she said, adding that her late father was an addict. She stopped abusing substances because “I would’ve ended up like my dad, just going to sleep one day and not waking up. Because life is hard.”

4. She Maintains a Mostly Plant-Based Diet

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JoJo told Fault Magazine that she transitioned to a plant-based diet, first because she was hoping to alleviate allergies and help with her voice. “I first was interested in a plant-based diet because of my voice. I struggled with my allergies for a long time, and I wanted to try something different to combat that. I’m singing every night, and I wanted that to be easier for me. So, I cut out dairy first, and then I started talking to my vegan friend and I started to feel what they told me about how when you eat animal products, you’re ingesting fear, death, and disease. I didn’t feel good about doing that anymore. So, I just slowly made a transition,” she said. “I’m by no means a perfect vegan, but I do eat plant-based. That’s how I try to eat.”

5. Her Workouts Are Intense

JoJo goes hard at the gym, and not just for the physical benefits. “Does anyone else visualize the real or perceived obstacles/ adversities in their life while they’re working out? especially when it’s tough (like on a third or fourth set) I LOCK IN and focus on a particular point in the room where I can really think of how I’m going to feel on the other side of an exercise. One movement at a time. Just like how I tend to feel on the other side of a tough conversation or a difficult choice or even a whole hard ass season. So many parallels between moving through a workout and moving through life. The highs and lows, the stop and go, the self-talk and digging deep required to keep trying after you fall,” she captioned a recent clip of herself at the gym doing battle ropes.

Demi Lovato is teasing her new track in her swimsuit. In one of her latest social media posts, the singer shows off her beautiful body in a bathing suit, while revealing that one of her new songs is now out. “My track with @le_sserafim “Eve, Psyche & The Bluebeard’s wife” is out now,” she captioned the Instagram post. Demi has been very open about her mental and physical health struggles over the years. Here are a few of the ways she approaches health and wellness.

1. She Works Out for Her Mental and Physical Health

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While on the road, Demi has “a lot of people visit, which is really grounding for me,” she says. She also exercises, which is great for her body and mind, she says. “And I bring my trainer on the road. We work out and that centers mean mentally and physically. That helps a lot,” she told Vogue.

2. She Is Open About Her Eating Disorder Struggles

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“The very first time that I went to treatment was when I was 18,” Lovato told Today in an interview. “I went from my eating disorder, and I went for self-harm and emotional issues.” She added: “When you’re looking at images of people with perfect bodies, you start to look at yourself, and you start to pick yourself apart, and it’s hard to grow up in a world where that’s right in front of your face and at your fingertips at all times, she added. “I grew up in a period of time where young Hollywood was very, very, very thin, and that was the look, and I think that had a really negative impact on my eating just on my mental health, which I think fed into my eating disorder.”

3. She Uses Her Experiences to Help Others

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“I wanted to help others,” Demi explains about why she chooses to be open about her health issues. “I wish that I had somebody when I was 13 years old and having an eating disorder and starving myself. I wanted somebody in the public eye to say that ‘Hey, this is what I’ve gone through, and you don’t have to choose that route.’” She added: "I want them to know that talking to people and asking for help is more than okay and is absolutely what you should do," she said.

4. She Is Okay with Having “Bad Days

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Demi now has tools to handle hard times. “I don’t want to paint the facade that everything is totally perfect and fine. But I am in a really good place, and it has been kind of challenging to write a happy rock album,” she atold Today. “But I’m doing it! But I have bad days. I had a bad day on Sunday. I realized that even to this day, no matter how happy I might feel and seem. I’m human, and it’s okay to still struggle even when you’re in a great place.”

5. She Suffers From Hearing Impairment and Vision Loss From Her Heroin Overdose

In an interview with Andy Cohen for SiriusXM, Lovato shared that five years after the heroin overdose that almost left her dead, she is still suffering health-wish in the form of hearing loss and vision impairment. “I wouldn’t change my path because I don’t have any regrets. When I think about things, the closest thing that I get to a regret is when I overdosed … that overdose caused me a lot of … it actually caused a disability. I have vision impairment and hearing impairment to this day,” she said. “I don’t drive because I have blind spots in my vision. “It’s a daily constant reminder. You know, anytime I look at something, like, I have blind spots in my vision when I look at your face, and so it’s a constant reminder to stay on the right path because I never want that to happen again.”

Stacey Dash is celebrating five years of sobriety. On Thursday, the Clueless star opened up about her addiction to painkillers, revealing how many pills she was taking when she hit bottom, and how she climbed her way back up. Read on for everything Stacey Dash revealed to Dr. Oz during her interview on The Dr. Oz Show.

“I just celebrated five years of sobriety. I'm clean five years,” she revealed. “And in these five years, my blessing, the greatest blessing is that not only have I been able to be honest with myself and become a better person, I've been able to understand my parents and that they did love me and that they were doing the best they could. And they were just sick. They were addicted.”

More from Celebwell: Don't miss these essential 30 Best-Ever Celebrity Bathing Suit Photos!

She revealed she was taking between 18 and 20 Vicodin pills per day at one point. "18-20 Vicodin a day — that's expensive," Dr. Oz responded. “I lost everything,” she replied.

Even though she was prescribed the medication, she blames nobody but herself. "I'm not blaming doctors at all because it was my choice to take more, you know?" she said. "It was my choice to take that extra one even though I wasn't in pain. I chose to do that because the Vicodin filled that hole inside of me."

She also discussed why she self-medicated. "It filled that anger. It calmed that anger down. It slowed my brain down. It gave me the ease so that I could deal with life. That's how I became addicted. It's no one's fault but my own,” she said.

On Wednesday, before appearing on the show, she also shared a post to Facebook. “Tomorrow, I will be sharing my deepest, darkest secret. I thank the Lord for being able to say that I have grown more over the last 5 years than I have in my entire life,” she wrote. “I am so blessed to be surrounded by people who have loved and supported me through my most challenging time. Thank you all! I encourage anyone who has a story they are scared of telling to share it with the world. You never know who will be able to relate to you and who it can help.”

Danielle Nicolet, star of The Flash, is missing the summertime. And she’s missing the times when she gets to wear swimsuits. She just posted a new photo on Instagram of herself in a floral print bikini. She captioned the photo, “Still feeling all summertime and chill while it rains buckets outside, (also remembering my pre-pandemic abs. Scuze me while I go do some crunches!)” How does she stay so fit? Read on to see 5 ways Dani Nicolet stays in shape and the photos that prove they work—and to get beach-ready yourself, don't miss these essential 30 Best-Ever Celebrity Bathing Suit Photos!

1. She Does Yoga

One of the ways Nicolet stays in shape is by practicing yoga. She recently posted this photo on Instagram of herself doing a leg extension pose on the beach. Nicolet captioned the photo, “Springtime is coming. Got me feelin’ groovy.” Yoga really can improve your mood. "Prepost results indicate that both interventions represent an effective therapeutic approach in reducing anxiety and stress levels. However, there was a tendency toward a greater effectiveness of the Yoga Nidra intervention regarding anxiety, which might represent an effective tool in reducing both cognitive and physiological symptoms of anxiety," said one study.

2. She Wants To Inspire Other Black Actors

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In an interview with KISH Magazine, Nicolet opened up about the struggles she has faced as a black actress. She also says that she wants to use her experiences to help other young black actors. “I have experienced a lot of challenges as a black actress. I started off really young. There were a lot of things I didn’t know. I didn’t know that there’s a whole separate set of baggage that comes along as a black actress in this industry. It’s hard enough to pursue your creative vision in any way in this industry, but when you are young and black, no one says to you, ‘Oh and by the way. It means that people won’t take you seriously.' ...As an adult now, and as an experienced actress who doesn’t have to face as many of those challenges, I try and take on the responsibility of protecting younger actors and actresses from that, and shielding them and educate them.”

3. She Speaks Out

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Nicolet has never been afraid to speak out about issues and causes. During the rise of the Black Lives Matter movement in June 2020, Nicolet posted several photos supporting the movement on Instagram. On one post, she announced that she had posted a link of charities and resources that her followers could donate to. She captioned the post, “Use it. Share it. Be safe. We’re in this together.”

4. She Let Her Childhood Push Her Towards Acting

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Nicolet tells KISH Magazine that her childhood is what gave her the idea to pursue acting and gave her the motivation to keep her career going. “I think what inspired me to be an actress is having had an unconventional childhood. I think I was drawn to acting as my spirit’s way to express itself creatively. It gave me someplace to put all of these sort of strange things that happened in my life. It let me use my imagination to process them, and make them useful…to make some sense of it all.”

5. She’s Inspired By Her Family

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In an interview with New You Media, Nicolet revealed some of her biggest inspirations. She said that she is heavily inspired by members of her family. “I have a really amazing group of girlfriends who inspire me to stay grounded, and do the best that I can with everything. My grandmother inspires me. Most of all, my dad, who is battling cancer right now, is the biggest inspiration in the world. Cuz I can't believe how well he's handling it and how strong he's staying for me.”

6. She Believes In A Balanced Diet

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In her interview with New You Media, Nicolet revealed her approach to food. She says that she believes in eating a balanced diet, and saves her indulgence days for the weekends. “​​I'm all about eating right, and then on Sunday it's just copious amounts of wine because you have to balance it out.”