Barry Keoghan Opens Up: Raw Admissions on Addiction and Recovery
Fantastic. Barry Keoghan’s latest headline isn’t tied to his award-worthy performances but to his unfiltered confession of being an addict. In a revealing chat with Variety, the Dublin native slammed the notion that fame insulates you from self-destruction, admitting he “will always be an addict” (Variety, March 2024). He traced his spiral back to grief and childhood upheaval—putting pills in his mouth at 18, sliding straight into heroin and cocaine for years before hitting rock bottom. And yes, I told you so: making it big doesn’t guarantee you’re bulletproof.
Look, I didn’t want to be the bearer of bad news, but Keoghan’s story is as predictable as an Oscars after-party meltdown. According to The Guardian’s exclusive profile, the 28-year-old actor detailed how substance abuse became his default coping mechanism after losing family members and shuttling through foster care. He confessed he treated fame like a prescription pad, popping whatever he could get his hands on to numb the spotlight’s glare. You’d think Hollywood PR teams would have a memo against this, but here we are.
He did credit therapy and a close circle of friends—kudos to his partner for insisting he face reality. As reported by Irish Independent, Keoghan has been clean for over a year and channels his experience into advocacy, hoping his slip-ups warn others before they heed the same siren call. He’s now seeing a shrink weekly and puts gratitude journals above champagne flutes. Sorry, folks—no glamour in detox.
Of course, this feels like another invitation to quantum-leap do-good content: an actor rebounds, we clap, the next star replaces him on the crisis carousel. But Keoghan’s candor might actually teach us something about the mess behind movie magic. He’s urging fellow survivors to ditch the shame, lean on professional help, and recognize addiction isn’t a bad habit, it’s a disease. And hey, I guess that’s worth an eye roll or two.
With buzz building around his upcoming roles—rumor has it he’s up for a gritty indie where his character battles inner demons—you can bet Hollywood will spin this as “character research.” Yet underneath the PR spin, his raw admissions remind us: nobody’s untouchable, and rehab is hell until it isn’t.
Did you expect a fairy-tale recovery? No? Thought so. And that, dear reader, is why we can’t have nice things.
Sources: Celebrity Storm and Variety, The Guardian, Irish Independent
Attribution: Creative Commons Licensed
