Just read a very fascinating and thoughtful piece in the LA Times by Rachel Abramowitz entitled “Death Spiral” which takes a closer look at the career path and untimely demise of actor Brad Renfro.

In 2001-2003 I worked at the talent agency that represented Renfro and saw first-hand how this golden-boy could charm his way out of nearly every fuck-up and mishap.  His agents were like parents to him and his problems were tolerated by colleagues and collaborators because of his acting skill and financial value to the projects he worked on.

Perhaps the most illustrative story of how Renfro’s professional life and drug addiction collided is the story that director Larry Clark (”Bully” and “Kids“) re-tells.  Clark, a former heroin addict himself literally kidnapped Renfro from his Knoxville, Tennessee home on the way to the “Bully” film location in Florida.  Renfro had been injecting cocaine into his arms and was bloated and looked 35 years old. He was just 18.

When Brad Renfro died on January 15th of this year he was 25.  A week after his death, the 28-year-old Heath Ledger was found dead in New York from a lethal dose of prescription drugs such as OxyContin, Vicodin, Valium, Xanax, Restoril and Unisom.  And this past week we’ve learned of Kirsten Dunst and Eva Mendes’ problems with substance abuse.  Hollywood’s dirty secret of drug abuse is no secret any longer. 

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