Pain, Tears, Vomit, Relapse: the Realities of Rehab Hit Celebrities, Too

Jan. 10, 2008 — -- For down-and-out stars, one getaway seems to be more popular than the Caribbean, Cabo and the Côte d'Azur combined: Rehab.

Looking at last year's photos of Lindsay Lohan leisurely riding horseback at Utah's Cirque lodge and a bald Britney Spears strolling the grounds of California's Promises facility, it's easy to assume that for celebrities, a stint in rehab is no more grueling than a trip to Starbucks or the nail salon.

Dr. Drew Pinsky wants to flush that notion like a bottle of black-market barbiturates.

"People think celebrities are going to some kind of spa treatment program when they go to rehab. They don't understand how hard it actually is," said Pinsky, who attempts to shepherd nine celebrities from drug and alcohol addiction to sobriety in "Celebrity Rehab With Dr. Drew," premiering on VH1 tonight.

"People somehow believe celebrities are different from everyone else," he continued. "They don't understand how much mental disease there is among the famous."

Series like A&E's "Intervention" and HBO's "Addiction" have turned the spotlight on drug and alcohol abuse before. VH1's show is the first to bring a group of addicts together and follow their treatment.

"Celebrity Rehab" begins with nine stars checking into the Pasadena Recovery Center. Among them: actor Daniel Baldwin, former pro-wrestler Chyna, VH1 reality series alum Brigitte Nielsen, Crazy Town singer Seth "Shifty" Binzer, and a celeb who recently fell off the wagon again, "American Idol" finalist Jessica Sierra.

Unlike many addicts who are forced into rehab by family, friends or the law, the "Celebrity Rehab" participants came to the program on their own.

"I was past due for needing help," said Binzer, a cocaine addict who freebases crack in a home video featured in "Celebrity Rehab." "I took it to that level where it became a really scary thing to me."