A couple of days after the death of Philip Seymour Hoffman and we’re starting to learn more of the details surrounding his final days and it certainly seems like it was pretty obvious that the actor had been spiraling out of control. He had been kicked out of his family home back in late October by longtime love, Mimi O’Donnell who simply couldn’t have the couples’ three children around his burgeoning drug use. Those in the neighborhood now claim that Hoffman looked sad, disheveled and out of it in his final weeks. Then there was that startling confession that he made to magazine publisher John Arundel at Sundance two weeks ago. When Arundel didn’t instantly recognize Hoffman and asked who he was the actor replied, “I’m a heroin addict.”
Hoffman had also begun drinking heavily and had gone back to AA meetings in the hopes of getting his disease under control. Ironically, according to TMZ those who knew Hoffman claimed that he had been like an AA guru because he had been sober for over two decades up until his recent slips. He also had a clear view of his addiction and predicted that if he didn’t quit shooting heroin he was ultimately going to die of an overdose. It makes me wonder if those around him had tried to intervene. I get that Mimi thought that tough love might work, especially since Hoffman was by all accounts a great dad. Taking him out of his children’s everyday life could have provided him with a reality check, but what else did the family attempt to do in order to help?
I mean, most addicts choose to hide their actions and deny that they have any kind of problem. Hoffman seemed to be just the opposite. Was he perhaps looking for help and that’s why he was telling casual acquaintances of his current struggle? Was this a guy that wanted it all to be over with or was he hoping that salvation was around the next corner? Tell us your thoughts in the comments below!
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