Celebs Who Treated Their Bodies Like Garbage

The following article includes mentions of mental health struggles and addiction.

They say the body is a temple and should be treated as such. Ask pretty much any wellness guru about the importance of self-care, and they'll probably mention the mind-body connection — but wanting to prioritize one's physical, mental, and emotional health and actually putting this into practice don't always go hand-in-hand for a variety of reasons. In fact, the following celebrities have misused and mistreated their bodies in more ways than one. 

Now, we're not talking about mere reputations for having bad personal hygiene, being known for having a love affair with comfort food, sharing beliefs in the odd dieting fads, or even expressing themselves through extreme body modifications. From the MTV star who's essentially used his body as a crash test dummy, to the reality starlet who regrets volunteering hers for intense amounts of plastic surgery, to the actor who accidentally landed himself in the hospital after developing a seemingly innocuous habit for a role, the following stars have admittedly tested the limits of their own bodies.

Heidi Montag is known for her starring role on "The Hills" (2006-2010) and its 2019 "New Beginnings" reboot, but she perhaps gained greater recognition for appearing to become a real-life Barbie doll in 2010, after she underwent a massive body renovation, electing to have 10 different surgeries at once.

According to People, Montag had a mini brow lift, her chin shaved, Botox injections in her face, fat injections in the cheeks, lip injections, her ears pinned back, a breast augmentation to a size F (which she later had removed), liposuction in assorted places, a butt augmentation, and her back shaped. But in 2016, the reality star told the magazine she regretted going under the knife. "I was in way over my head with the surgeries," Montag admitted. "... Sometimes I can't believe I did that to us and to me. It's been a lot to overcome."

Later shedding more light to Paper magazine, Montag revealed that she'd "died for a minute" while recovering from the surgeries. "Spencer [Pratt] thought he lost me," she added of her longtime husband. "... With that much surgery, I had to have 24-hour nurse care and Spencer didn't want to leave my side. I was at a recovery center and had Demerol to deal with the pain because it was so extreme. My security guards called Spencer and told him, 'Heidi's heart stopped. She's not going to make it.' And I easily could've." Ultimately, Montag advised, "Cutting yourself up isn't something I'd recommend."

Few people know what it feels like to be a human crash test dummy — and definitely not as well as Steve-O of the famous MTV thriller franchise, "Jackass" (2000-2002), who by 2015 had broken 12 bones in his body and knocked out about 10 teeth. Ouch. With the latest installment of the series, "Jackass Forever," set to hit theatres in 2022, this popular stuntman is showing no signs of slowing down. 

Per HuffPost, however, Steve-O's worst injury was when he threw himself off a second-floor balcony and landed on his face on the concrete. "In that one fall I broke my cheek bone, I broke seven teeth, I had a concussion, I had 10 stitches in my chin and a broken wrist," he said, but claimed the stunt was worth the pain. In 2016, he shattered his right ankle and broke his left heel after attempting to skateboard off a wooden porta potty as it was being smashed into by a car. You know, as you do.

Outside of his zany and dangerous onscreen gig, Steve-O also infamously struggled with drug addiction. According to MTV News, he entered rehab in 2008 after writing a goodbye letter to alcohol, marijuana, nitrous oxide, amphetamines, LSD, ketamine, and cocaine. In 2021, Steve-O celebrated being 13 years sober.

If you or anyone you know is struggling with addiction issues, help is available. Visit the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration website or contact SAMHSA's National Helpline at 1-800-662-HELP (4357).

Former child star Lindsay Lohan has admittedly put her body through the wringer. The actor-singer, once known as a troubled professional party girl, has confessed to excessively using alcohol and cocaine in her past — completing at least six different trips to rehab to fight her demons, according to the Daily Beast.

Lohan's seemingly erratic behavior, which has resulted in at least six arrests, including two for DUI in 2007, even raised a firestorm of concern about her body in July 2016. After a major public fight with her now ex-fiancé, Egor Tarabasov, Lohan alluded to a pregnancy on social media. Days later, she surfaced on a yacht smoking cigarettes and drinking alcohol. The internet swiftly slammed the "Mean Girls" star for appearing to misuse her body while supposedly caring for another life. While Lohan's father confirmed her pregnancy, her mother denied it, and the star herself later revealed that she wasn't expecting.

Thankfully, Lohan seems to be much happier and settled these days. Having resided in Dubai for most of the 2010s, she announced her engagement to Bader Shammas on Instagram in November 2021. "I'm a normal, nice person," the star, who's long been open about her road to recovery, previously told The New York Times in 2018. "A good person. I don't have any bad intentions. And my past has to stay in the past."

If you or anyone you know is struggling with addiction issues, help is available. Visit the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration website or contact SAMHSA's National Helpline at 1-800-662-HELP (4357).

There's perhaps no bigger star known to seemingly treat his body like a trash receptacle than Charlie Sheen. The controversial actor has a history of paid sex, drugs, and alcohol. According to the National Enquirer (via the New York Post), Sheen allegedly spent $1.6 million on time with sex workers in the 2013 fiscal year alone. The former star of "Two and a Half Men" (2003-2015) has also entered rehab a number of times, and in a 2011 interview with ABC News, he confessed to regularly doing large amounts of crack to achieve his desired high. 

"I was banging seven-gram rocks and finishing them, because that's how I roll," Sheen said. "I have one speed. I have one gear. Go." When asked if he's worried about someday dying from drug use, the actor said "dying's for fools." But when Sheen announced that he was HIV positive in 2015, noting that he'd been living with the disease for four years at that point, he admitted on the "Today" show, "It's a hard three letters to absorb. It's a turning point in one's life. ... It started with what I thought was a series of crushing headaches. I thought I had a brain tumor. I thought it was over." 

Of his headline-making wild past, Sheen confessed, "There's a lot out there I'm not proud of," but added of coming forward with his diagnosis, "I have a responsibility now to better myself and to help a lot of other people."

If you or anyone you know is struggling with addiction issues, help is available. Visit the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration website or contact SAMHSA's National Helpline at 1-800-662-HELP (4357).

Lil' Kim went from beautiful and boisterous to nearly unrecognizable. This, at least, is according to some fans, who took the "Crush on You" rapper — who's appeared to have slowly transformed her body over the years, allegedly lightening her skin, changing the shape of her nose, and making other alterations — to task after she posted a since-deleted collage of selfies on Instagram in 2016. 

According to a plastic surgeon contacted by Us Weekly, Lil' Kim has supposedly gone to toxic lengths to change her body. "It's clear that there has been some skin bleaching," Dr. Jennifer Levine claimed. "She's probably used chemicals, which contain very high doses of acids, on her face, combined with highly-acid creams to lighten her skin."

Lil' Kim herself has mostly remained coy about her physical metamorphoses, but she did admit to sometimes being "excessive" when it came to going under the knife in a 2005 interview with Hot 97's Angie Martinez. While the musician also previously confessed to Newsweek that her decision to opt for these procedures was linked to her feeling like "being a regular Black girl wasn't good enough" following a string of boyfriends' infidelity with "women who were European-looking," she also admitted to being "a little too vain" in her goal to look what she deemed to be "perfect." 

Ultimately, however, Lil' Kim stated, "It was to make me look the way I wanted to look. It's my body." Well said.

Paula Deen is known for her down-home Southern cooking and recipes that involve lots of butter, cream cheese, salt, deep-fried everything, and more butter, but it seems those calorie-laden meals may have caught up with her in the worst way. Back in 2012, a 64-year-old Deen announced that she had Type 2 diabetes, reported The New York Times. She was officially diagnosed three years prior, but chose to keep the information private, explaining, "I wanted to wait until I had something to bring to the table."

However, some critics found the delay to be deceitful and irresponsible, considering the health risks accompanying many of the recipes on her hit cooking show. After going public with her illness, Deen had dropped about 35 pounds by 2015, telling ABC News at the time, "The thing that I'm really trying to focus on y'all is moderation, moderation, moderation. Eat a cookie, just don't eat six of them."

Model, beauty entrepreneur, and reality star Blac Chyna attracted plenty of negative press for the way she appeared to treat her body during her pregnancy with daughter Dream back in 2016. Though health experts warn expectant mothers to be choosy about the types of cosmetic products they use, Chyna was becoming famous for promoting questionable beauty enhancements. That August, for example, TMZ reported that she momentarily endorsed a controversial butt spray called Booty Pop that promised to magically enhance one's backside.

And despite all the science supporting healthy eating and conscientious weight gain during pregnancy, Chyna seemed to be paying no mind to the pregnancy professionals. "Why should I watch my weight when I'm pregnant," she posted on Instagram at the time (via Us Weekly), while also announcing on Snapchat, "My goal is to gain, like, 100 pounds this pregnancy." However, the star added that she planned to "snap back" following her child's birth. 

While it turns out Chyna's pregnancy diet was actually pretty well-balanced, all things considered, she also reportedly loves takeout (the word "love" could be an understatement). According to Us Weekly, baby daddy (and now ex) Rob Kardashian admittedly dropped a whopping $13,000 on food deliveries in just one month. Her favorite delicacy: Philly cheesesteaks and P.F. Chang's. Hey, you do you, Chyna.

Best known for his role on "That '70s Show" and hosting MTV's "Punk'd," Ashton Kutcher has been a Hollywood star for decades. While his most notable works to date are in comedy, Kutcher has taken a more serious turn in his acting career — and with serious roles comes serious commitment, which the actor once made at the cost of his health.

In 2013, Kutcher portrayed the famous late Apple CEO and technology genius Steve Jobs in the biopic, "Jobs." Most actors have some sort of preparation method they employ before beginning their roles, especially when portraying a real person. Although the two couldn't meet, Kutcher read about Jobs' lifestyle and incorporated his habits in preparation for the part.

Kutcher took to "Hot Ones" to detail his experience, noting that after reading that Jobs "drank a lot of carrot juice," he adopted the same habit, but to his detriment. "Two weeks before we went to start shooting ... I had this pain in my back. ... I ended up in the hospital on like the maximum dose of Dilaudid because my pancreas was crazy out of whack," he told the show's host. Kutcher learned that his drinking high amounts of carrot juice caused pancreatitis, and warned the host, "Don't drink too much carrot juice."

Actor and singer Demi Lovato has been working in the entertainment industry since they were a child. Lovato rose to prominence as a teen when they starred opposite the Jonas Brothers in hit movies "Camp Rock" and "Camp Rock 2: The Final Jam," as well as the Disney Channel's "Sonny with a Chance," and soon transitioned from Disney star to bona fide pop superstar after releasing their first studio album, "Don't Forget." Sadly, child actors often struggle with the Hollywood lifestyle as they grow into young adults, and Lovato was no exception.

Lovato has been open about their battle with substance addiction and recovery, which continually evolves. The singer has sought sobriety, relapsed, and overdosed multiple times, the latest of which nearly took their life in 2018. Lovato documented their recovery from the near-fatal heroin overdose in the YouTube docuseries, "Demi Lovato: Dancing with the Devil." "I actually don't think people realize how bad it actually was," Lovato said of the overdose, adding, "I had three strokes, I had a heart attack, I suffered brain damage from the strokes. I can't drive anymore, and I have blind spots in my vision. ... I also had pneumonia ... and multiple organ failure."

While recovering, Lovato adopted a "California sober" lifestyle, which refers to cutting out alcohol and all drugs, except for marijuana, per Cleveland Clinic. In a December 2021 Instagram Story, though, Lovato announced their decision to live fully sober moving forward, noting, "Sober sober is the only way to be," as reported by Vulture.

If you or anyone you know is struggling with addiction issues, help is available. Visit the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration website or contact SAMHSA's National Helpline at 1-800-662-HELP (4357).

Stand-up comedian and former "Saturday Night Live" writer John Mulaney made headlines in late 2020 and throughout 2021 for separating from his wife of six years, beginning a relationship and conceiving a child with actor Olivia Munn, and entering rehab for relapsing on his sobriety (though, not necessarily in that order).

The comedian has long been open with his drug and alcohol use, noting in his 2012 stand-up comedy special, "John Mulaney: New in Town," "I don't drink. I used to drink, and then I drank too much, and I had to stop." Page Six reported in early 2021 that Mulaney had finished a 60-day program in rehab, and was continuing his recovery through outpatient sober care.

Upon returning to the spotlight that September, Mulaney took to his friend Seth Meyers' talk show, "Late Night with Seth Meyers," to discuss his relapse, intervention (which Meyers was part of), rehab stint, and recovery that led him to renewed sobriety. "It's been a challenging time," Mulaney admitted to Meyers. "... It's like newborn Bambi legs. You know, how when Bambi's born, Bambi's like, 'Hey, I used to be on cocaine,'" he added, broaching the subject with his signature sense of humor. Mulaney has remained sober since his time in rehab.

If you or anyone you know is struggling with addiction issues, help is available. Visit the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration website or contact SAMHSA's National Helpline at 1-800-662-HELP (4357).

The 2000s brought the world many wonderful things, but at the top of the list might be Zac Efron. The teen heartthrob first entered Hollywood via Disney, starring in all three iconic "High School Musical" films. Unfortunately, another list Efron can be added to is that of former Disney stars who struggled with substance use. In 2014, the actor opened up to The Hollywood Reporter about his experience, saying, "I was drinking a lot, way too much," and noting that he'd dabbled in drugs, as well.

After starting therapy and joining Alcoholics Anonymous, Efron made a serious lifestyle shift, both for his health as well as to prepare for movie roles, particularly 2017's "Baywatch." The star's trainer revealed his pre-film workout regimen and diet to Healthline, and both were intense. Although Efron looked ripped for "Baywatch," his ultra-strict lifestyle took a toll on him, as well. He told Men's Health, "I went, like, years without eating carbs. ... I almost lost my mind." 

After living on both ends of the health spectrum, Efron is now focused on living a more balanced lifestyle.

If you or anyone you know is struggling with addiction issues, help is available. Visit the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration website or contact SAMHSA's National Helpline at 1-800-662-HELP (4357).

In 2021, model and cookbook author Chrissy Teigen, aka wife of EGOT-status performer John Legend, committed to sobriety after a years-long bout with alcoholism. 

"I was, point blank, just drinking too much," she told Cosmopolitan back in 2017 of her habits, adding, "I felt bad for making kind of an a** of myself to people that I really respected." Teigen has attempted a sober lifestyle multiple times over the past decade, even acknowledging, "I used to think it was kind of nutty to have to go totally sober, but now I get it." The cook mentioned, too, the impact alcohol had on her body, noting how much better she feels when abstaining.

Teigen and Legend suffered heartbreak in 2020 at the loss of their third child, which Teigen admitted had been difficult to cope with sans alcohol. The model also underwent scrutiny the following year for resurfaced comments of hers bullying Courtney Stodden, which Teigen apologized for via Instagram. Despite the controversy and tragedy of the year prior, Teigen marked major milestones in her sobriety journey in the fall of 2021, making it 10 weeks without a drink, per Instagram. "I still dunno if I'll never drink again," she detailed in an earlier post, "but I do know it no longer serves me in ANY way."

If you or anyone you know is struggling with addiction issues, help is available. Visit the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration website or contact SAMHSA's National Helpline at 1-800-662-HELP (4357).

Oscar-winning actor Brad Pitt is no stranger to media storms. The moviemaker has been married to and divorced from some of the most famous women in the world, Jennifer Aniston and Angelina Jolie, and both relationships came with an onslaught of attention from around the globe. But since the dissolution of his marriage to Jolie, Pitt's headlines have included stories of his sobriety.

In 2016, rumors swirled about an argument Pitt and Jolie had about his drinking, which was reportedly what ultimately ended their relationship. In 2019, Pitt told The New York Times of the exchange, "I had taken things as far as I could take it, so I removed my drinking privileges." The actor noted to GQ, too, that he's given up smoking marijuana, saying, "[I] don't want to live that way anymore."

After becoming sober, Pitt remained dedicated to his health, and perhaps nothing motivates an actor to alter his body like a role in a movie. To prepare for his part in "Once Upon a Time in... Hollywood," the role for which he won his acting Oscar, Pitt trained with fight coordinator Rob Alonzo, and practiced martial arts whenever he had the chance, per Men's Journal. While Pitt hasn't given any more updates on his sobriety, as of this writing, he seems to be in good shape in every sense of the word.

If you or anyone you know is struggling with addiction issues, help is available. Visit the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration website or contact SAMHSA's National Helpline at 1-800-662-HELP (4357).

At risk of beating a dead horse, let us repeat that child actors sometimes struggle with the Hollywood lifestyle as they age, and Amanda Bynes unfortunately succumbed to the dark and dangerous side of celebrity. Bynes became a household name after starring in a slew of hit television shows and movies in the late '90s and '00s, including the eponymous "The Amanda Show" and "She's the Man."

After co-starring alongside Emma Stone in "Easy A," which was released in 2010, Bynes retired from acting, upset by how she looked on screen, which she believes was influenced by her drug use. At that point in her career, Bynes had already formed a dependence on drugs, but she appeared to unravel publicly, firing a string of explicit tweets that led fans to question her mental health, per Entertainment Weekly.

In a rare 2018 interview with Paper, Bynes detailed her excessive substance use, noting that the pressure to stay thin compounded her addiction: "I started smoking marijuana when I was 16. ... Later on it progressed to doing molly and ecstasy. ... I definitely abused Adderall." She added, "Certain things that you think are harmless, they may actually affect you in a more harmful way. Be really, really careful, because you could lose it all and ruin your entire life like I did."

If you or anyone you know is struggling with addiction issues, help is available. Visit the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration website or contact SAMHSA's National Helpline at 1-800-662-HELP (4357).