"I'd hit rock bottom. I was going to commit suicide or die of alcohol poisoning. My husband had said that unless I did something, he was going to leave, and I'd lose contact with my children."
Those are the stark words of Brigitte Nielsen, who found a new kind of fame and a new kind of calling after appearing on Celebrity Rehab with Dr. Drew. Saturday, September 27, she will be a featured speaker at the Entertainment Industry Council's 12th annual PRISM Awards, broadcast on FX, to share her story of addiction and recovery.
The PRISM awards honour the best depictions of social and mental health issues in the film, television, and recording industries. This year's honorees include the film Michael Clayton, TV series The Sopranos and The View, actors Casey Affleck (Gone Baby Gone), Sally Field (Brothers & Sisters), Hugh Laurie (House), and James Denton and Andrea Bowen (Desperate Housewives), along with Homer Simpson.
The Danish actress believes the media plays an important part in educating people about substance abuse, including fictional shows like A&E's Intervention that try to point to solutions.
"I'm just a person who's been there, seen it, and I'm a survivor of it, this terrible disease. I talk about how I kicked it with the help of my family and my four wonderful children," Nielsen explained of her association with the PRISM Awards in a recent interview. "It's so important to communicate to our society and to our youth how important your health is, and to understand that this is a sickness."
"If you had cancer, you would try to cure it immediately. When you are an alcoholic or a drug abuser, it's the same thing — you won't cure it if you don't stop it in time."
For Nielsen, the new beginning began with a phone call to Cri-Help, followed by her time on Celebrity Rehab with the "most amazing doctor," Drew Pinsky. "I just knew deep down that I had found a new life. I took it very seriously. I also stopped smoking after 30 years of cigarettes."
Article comments