Natasha Lyonne announced that she has relapsed after close to 10 years of sobriety.
The Orange Is the New Black star shared the news on her X account on Friday (Jan. 23), writing, “Took my relapse public more to come.”
She followed up hours later with a longer message, “Recovery is a lifelong process. Anyone out there struggling, remember you’re not alone. Grateful for love & smart feet."
She continued that she was gonna "gonna do it for baby Bambo," referring to Lyonne's upcoming film that she is writing and directing. The story follows a New York boxing promoter trying to balance fatherhood with his career.
"Stay honest, folks. Sick as our secrets. If no one told ya today, I love you," she said. "No matter how far down the scales we have gone, we will see how our experience may help another. Keep going, kiddos. Don’t quit before the miracle. Wallpaper your mind with love. Rest is all noise & baloney.”
"We need better systems and to end shame - bill the sacklers & stilettos or something but don't @ me for getting honest," the 46-year-old wrote in response to a fan who commended her for her transparency.
Lyonne previously spoke about her addiction in a 2012 interview with Entertainment Weekly. At the time, she said she was "wary" about publicly acknowledging her substance abuse.
“It's weird to talk about. I was definitely as good as dead, you know? A lot of people don't come back,” she said. “That makes me feel wary, and self-conscious. I wouldn't want to feel prideful about it. People really rallied around me and pulled me up by my fucking bootstraps. There was a warrant for my arrest, which helped too.”
As explained by EW, Lyonne found early success in the late 1990s with roles in American Pie, But I'm a Cheerleader, and Slums of Beverly Hills. Her rise stalled as tabloid coverage intensified around her battles with addiction and legal trouble. In 2001, she was arrested for driving under the influence.
By December 2004, while living in a Manhattan townhouse owned by her friend Michael Rapaport, she was arrested for mischief, trespass, and harassment of neighbors and a neighbor's dog, as well as for destroying property. Rapaport later wrote about the incident in a Jane magazine article titled “Evicting Natasha Lyonne."
"At the time I didn't understand, but now it's like, if I owned a nice brownstone-and [someone] was constantly moving pianos while listening to Richard Pryor CDs, and trying to figure out how to play 'Easy Like Sunday Morning' on the piano for days at a time—I would potentially be pissed too," Lyonne said about her arrest. "It's the fallout of shenanigan-based behavior."
The charges stemming from her 2004 arrest were ultimately dismissed after she completed court-appointed rehabilitation in 2006.