10 Disney Stars Who Went to Rehab For Drug and Alcohol Addictions

10 Disney Stars Who Went To Rehab 

From an early age, Disney artists have always been the focus of attention and recognition. The demands of breaking into the entertainment business at a young age have a negative psychological impact, and occasionally these up-and-coming performers develop serious addictions. As per Tuko, many such famous Disney stars faced rehab time during their climb to fame due to drug and alcohol abuse. Here are a few familiar faces from the Disneyverse who have turned their life around after facing near-death experiences and serious mental health issues. 

1. Britney Spears

Britney Spears was forced into rehab for objecting to perform during a rehearsal. As per Newsweek, court documents indicated, "she asserted that she had been forced into a mental health facility against her will on exaggerated grounds, which she viewed as punishment for standing up for herself and making an objection during a rehearsal." As per CBS News, in 2007 the pop star was placed in a luxurious rehab center— Promises Malibu Alcohol and Drug Rehab Treatment Facility, for almost a month after she shaved her head and attacked paparazzi with an umbrella. "She went into rehab because she was afraid of losing her children. I think that when this story is ultimately told, it is going to be a story about a very young mother fighting to save her kids and hopefully getting better," Jess Cagle, People magazine Editor said at that time. "I was like a bad kid running around with ADD (Attention Deficit Disorder)," Spears wrote on her site, www.britneyspears.com. "I confess, I was so lost."

2. Miley Cyrus

Miley Cyrus confessed to being sober for years in her interview with Rolling Stone in 2021, "[I] haven’t done drugs in years. Honestly, I never try to, again, be a fortune-teller. I try to not be naive," she said. "Things f—--- happen. But from sitting here with you right now, I would say it would have to be a cold day in hell for me to relapse on drugs." She revealed taking recreational drugs like ayahuasca, a psychoactive brew. "Ayahuasca was one of my favorite drugs I’ve ever done," she revealed. "When I did it, I asked everyone else in the room, 'Did your entire life just change? Are you a new person?' They all looked at me and said, 'No.' And they’re like, 'You’re so extreme. Of course, you have to have the most extreme trip of all.'" As per Cinema Blend, Cyrus confessed to battling addiction during her failing relationship with ex-Liam Hemsworth.

3. Selena Gomez

Selena Gomez surprisingly checked into the Meadows rehab facility in Arizona at the peak of her career in 2014. As per Harper's Bazaar, Gomez canceled her Revival tour that year to undergo treatment. "Tours are a lonely place for me," she told the publication. "My self-esteem was shot. I was depressed and anxious. I started to have panic attacks right before getting onstage, or right after leaving the stage." After her 90-day stint, she revealed, "You have no idea how incredible it felt to just be with six girls, real people who couldn't give two shits about who I was, who were fighting for their lives. It was one of the hardest things I've done, but it was the best thing I've done." As per Variety, the Only Murders in the Building actress confessed to contemplating suicide during her tough phase, “I’m going to be very open with everybody about this: I’ve been to four treatment centers,” Gomez said. “I think when I started hitting my early 20s is when it started to get dark when I started to feel like I was not in control of what I was feeling, whether that was great or bad.” She added, “I thought the world would be better if I wasn’t there.” 

4. Demi Lovato

Demi Lovato was rushed into the emergency ward in 2018 after a fatal drug overdose. Lovato claimed to have taken OxyContin, which they believe also contained the synthetic narcotic fentanyl. The overdose led to three strokes and a heart attack. “I was left with brain damage,” Lovato said. They had a 'really hard time reading' because of blurry vision. “I’d never done meth before, I tried meth. I mixed it with molly, coke, weed, alcohol, and OxyContin. And that alone should have killed me,” they confessed in their 2021 YouTube docuseries Demi Lovato: Dancing with the Devil, as per ET Online. Lovato checked into a rehab facility for the third time in 2022. As per People, a close source revealed then, “Demi is committed to their well-being, and throughout their life, they plan to do regular check-ins to make sure they are putting themselves first.” Lovato went to rehab for the first time in 2010 and later lived in a sober facility in 2012. 

5. Zac Efron

Zac Efron entered rehab treatment during the spring of 2013 for cocaine addiction. As per The Hollywood Reporter, he confessed, “I was drinking a lot, way too much” and acknowledged doing drugs, too. “It’s never one specific thing. I mean, you’re in your 20s, single, going through life in Hollywood, you know? Everything is thrown at you. I wouldn’t take anything back; I needed to learn everything I did. But it was an interesting journey, to say the least.” The Baywatch actor shared that he had joined Alcoholics Anonymous and also had a therapist. “I just started going,” he said. “And I think it’s changed my life. I’m much more comfortable in my skin. Things are so much easier now.” 

6. Lindsay Lohan

Lindsay Lohan famously checked into a rehab facility after being ordered by the court in 2013. The Mean Girls actress spent more than 250 days getting sober. “It was the first time I’d taken drugs. I was out in a club with people I shouldn’t have been with, and took cocaine, and got in the car. It was so stupid,” Lohan confessed. As per CNN, she continued, “I’ve been court-ordered to do it six times,” she said. “I could write the book on rehab. Constantly sending me to rehab is pointless. The first few times I was court-ordered to rehab, it was like a joke, like killing time.” “I look at it as a good thing,” she said about her harrowing experience. “I can come back afterward and be fully focused on work. But I think there are other things I could do instead of going to a rehab center that would benefit me more."

7. Shia LaBeouf 

Shia LaBeouf had a nine-month rehab stint in 2014. As per The Hollywood Reporter, he revealed, "I just got out of rehab nine months ago, and in rehab, you do this kind of operatic therapy, where you go in and sit with your small little group, three or four people, and you work through your s--t. Somebody will play your father, somebody will play your mother, and there's literally like an action/cut thing and you go all the way there." The Transformers actor also confessed to writing an autobiographical script while under treatment. “I was in a court-ordered rehab facility and it was part of sussing out my past, a flashlight to your soul, trying to get to know myself, like a shedding of the skin in a way,” he said. As per EW, he spoke about how the script titled Honey Boy mirrored struggles in his life, adding that writing the same helped him heal. 

8. Mischa Barton

Mischa Barton was taken into custody in December 2007 on a suspected DUI. She entered a plea of not guilty in April 2008, and a Los Angeles court judge ultimately sentenced her to 36 months of probation, alcohol education programs, and a fine. “I wanted to prove to the court that I would take it completely seriously, so I went to rehab to prove I was sober,” she said in Marie Claire’s 2008 September issue. “It helped in getting the more serious aspects of my case dropped because, you know, that’s what they want to hear; you’re not an alcoholic and you don’t have a problem. So I did it in the most low-key way possible – I didn’t make a fuss about it and I didn’t tell a lot of my friends. I just did the program and got through it.” 

9. Aaron Carter 

Aaron Carter unexpectedly passed away in November 2022. The That's How I Beat Shaq singer was found "incapacitated while in the bathtub," a suspected drowning due to drug intake. As per People, Carter had been open about his addictions, substance abuse, and mental health, for which he entered rehab multiple times. "I'm happy that I came out on the other side," Aaron told the publication in 2018. "I was a very happy baby growing up. [Now] I just want to have fun, be healthy — mind, body, soul, emotions…all of those things, and be responsible for my actions too." As per OK! Magazine, the musician was happy about 'getting things right' before his death. In an interview with Kaila Methven for her show, K’LA After Dark, Carter discussed his return to music after taking a five-year break, "I needed to go to rehab. I think I grew into the real, true, authentic version of myself. I went to rehab four times until I finally got it right." 

10. Frankie Jonas 

Frankie Jonas spoke about his struggles as a drug addict in a video uploaded on his TikTok account in 2021, according to People magazine. The youngest of the Jonas Brothers revealed that he contemplated suicide. "This is by no means the eloquent explanation I hope to give on a much more serious mode than this. However from a very young age, I struggled with drinking and drugging as an escape because I hated life, and I didn't want to be here," Jonas said in the video. "I eventually, after many years of trying to kill myself accidentally, came to a point where I was going to do it for real." "Something intervened, and my life was saved," he continued. "I went to treatment, and it saved me. I couldn't be more grateful for the fact that I'm alive today because my world has changed so beautifully and so astronomically, and I am not that person anymore. I couldn't be more grateful that I'm alive and happy." "I am a sober drug addict who goes to Columbia University now," Jonas, who faced charges of marijuana possession in 2016, concluded.