Image: Courtesy
English supermodel Naomi Elaine Campbell is opening up on how she almost lost her life back in the 90s during the highlight of her glorious career.
The 53-year-old celebrated icon opened up during an episode of AppleTV+’s groundbreaking docuseries, “The Super Models,” where she revisited her dark past that was clouded with substance abuse.
Naomi revealed she used to be a substance abuser, mainly a cocaine addict. She recounted she started using it as a means of dealing with the heaviness of grief and didn't realize how bad it all was up until she collapsed during a photo shoot.
“I guess when I started using, that was one of the things I tried to cover up, was grief.
Addiction is such bs, it really is. You think, ‘Oh, it’s gonna heal that wound...’ It doesn’t. It can cause such huge fear and anxiety. So I got really angry," the groundbreaking supermodel candidly said.
She notes things got worse for her after her great friend and mentor Gianni Versace was tragically murdered outside his Miami Beach home in 1997.
Versace had been a driving force in her life, continually pushing her to achieve more than she thought possible.
She noted that when he was gone, her grief spiraled out of control.
Image: Courtesy
“He was very sensitive to feeling me, like, he pushed me. He would push me to step outside and go further when I didn’t think I had it within myself to do it. So when he died, my grief became very bad,” Naomi said with a tingle of sadness lingering in her voice as she recounted the days of old.
“When you try to cover something up, your feelings — you spoke about abandonment. I tried to cover that with something... You can’t cover it. I was killing myself. It was very hurtful," the model added.
Naomi would go on to use substances for 5 years while still attempting to navigate the world of high fashion as a black model. 2 years after her dear friend passed, Naomi had a near-death experience that served as a wake-up call.
In 1999 she collapsed during a photo shoot and she immediately knew she had to get help and check into rehab if she was to go on living.
"I chose to go to rehab. It was one of the best and only things I could have done for myself at that time..." Naomi proudly said.
Finishing up she revealed that she has never fully recovered and still battles demons but luckily these days after all the help she got she is at a better position to deal with things.
"It’s taken me many years to work on and deal with. And it does still come up sometimes. But now I have the tools to deal with it when it comes up,”
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