Philip Seymour Hoffman Overdose: Actor Was Clean 23 Years Before Recent Relapse

Philip Seymour Hoffman had been clean for 23 years before falling off the wagon and spiraling into an addiction of prescription painkillers and heroin that led to him dying of an apparent overdose.

Hoffman was found dead in his Manhattan apartment on Sunday, and though the cause of death had not been officially determined, reports have said his death appeared to be caused by an overdose. A personal assistant found the body of the 45-year-old actor with a hypodermic needle reportedly still in his arm.

Late last year it had been revealed that Philip Seymour Hoffman made a trip to detox for a narcotics-related addiction. According to TMZ Hoffman fell off the wagon in 2012 after more than two decades of staying clean.

The report noted that Hoffman became addicted to prescription pain pills and eventually escalated into snorting heroin. He then spent a week at an East Coast detox facility.

Philip Seymour Hoffman was open about his struggles with drugs in the past. In a 2006 interview with 60 Minutes, Hoffman said he was on a downward spiral in his early 20s and was lucky to come out alive.

“It was all that [drugs and alcohol], yeah, it was anything I could get my hands on… I liked it all. I went [to rehab], I got sober when I was 22 years old. You get panicked… and I got panicked for my life. It really was just that,” he said.

“I have so much empathy for these young actors that are 19 and all of a sudden they’re beautiful and famous and rich,” Hoffman added. “I’m like, ‘Oh my God. I’d be dead.’ You know what I mean? I’d be 19, beautiful, famous and rich. That would be it. I think back at that time. I think if I had the money, that kind of money and stuff. So, yeah [I would have died].”

It is expected to take days, or even weeks, to officially determine if Philip Seymour Hoffman died of an overdose.