Naomi Campbell has admitted that she was “killing herself” with her past drug addiction.
While discussing her past substance abuse problems on the new Apple TV+ docuseries, “The Super Models,” Naomi admitted using cocaine to help her cope with childhood traumas and grief.
“I guess when I started using, that was one of the things I tried to cover up, was grief. Addiction is such a… bulls**t thing, it really is,” the supermodel said candidly. “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 53-year-old opened up about the death of her close friend, fashion designer Gianni Versace, and how it impacted her life. The designer was famously murdered outside of his home in Miami Beach in 1997.
“He was very sensitive to feeling me, like, he pushed me,” Naomi said. “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.”
The fashion icon battled her drug addiction in the ’90s for five years.
“When you try to cover something up, your feelings – you spoke about abandonment. I tried to cover that with something,” she admitted. “You can’t cover it. I was killing myself. It was very hurtful.”
Naomi decided to check herself into a rehabilitation center after collapsing during a photoshoot in 1999.
“It was one of the best and only things I could have done for myself at that time,” she said. “It’s taken me many years to work on and deal with. And it does still come up sometimes. But I just now have the tools to deal with it when it comes up.”