Former Guns N’Roses Drummer Steven Adler To Appear On Celebrity Rehab

FORMER GUNS N’ROSES DRUMMER STEVEN ADLER TO APPEAR ON CELEBRITY REHAB:

June 10, 2008

VH1 has once again partnered withDr. Drew Pinsky for a second season of the hit reality series “CelebrityRehab with Dr. Drew.” The series, consisting of eight one-hour episodes, isslated to premiere October 2008.

Similar to the first cycle, the second season of “Celebrity Rehab withDr. Drew” will follow the real-life experiences of celebrity patientsundergoing detoxification and treatment at a center in the Los Angelesarea. The show will follow Jeff Conaway as he checks back into rehab aftera series of back surgeries, setbacks and subsequent reliance on painmedications. Joining him in rehab are Sean Stewart (Sons of Hollywood),Amber Smith (model/actress), Rodney King, Nikki McKibbon (American Idol),Steven Adler (Guns N’ Roses) and Tawny Kitaen (Actress). Gary Busey, who is13 years sober from his cocaine addiction, will also be joining the cast totake the journey with the others and to share his experiences on therecovery process.

The series will chronicle the patients’ intensive 21-day program withboth group and one-on-one therapy and non-traditional therapies like artand music. Returning to the show to help Dr. Drew are drug counselor BobForrest and resident technician Shelly Sprague who have each spent years onboth sides of the rehab fence. Dr. Drew is also bringing in some additionalprominent physicians to help him give the patients supplementary one-on-onecare. The patients’ families will also be more involved with their recoveryprograms and, in some cases, will receive treatment themselves. After theycompleted the program, the patients will be strongly encouraged to continuetheir treatment in a sober living facility or treatment center for at leastthree months at VH1’s expense.

Dr. Drew is a highly respected practicing MD and assistant clinicalprofessor at KECK USC School of Medicine, who will once again give viewersan unflinching look at exactly how the rehab process works and what itfeels like for participants. Dr. Drew hopes to use his celebrity patientsto humanize the process and show viewers that treatment is a viable way tobreak the cycle of addiction.

“Over the course of the first season we were inundated with positivefeedback about the series from our viewers and those in the rehabcommunity. Dr. Drew is a powerful, positive force for those seekingrecovery and I am quite simply amazed not only by the quality of hismedical care, but for how much Drew and his team truly care about thepeople they are treating,” said Jeff Olde, Executive Vice President,Original Programming and Production, VH1. “This series is a deeplytransformative emotional experience in front of the cameras and behind thescenes for everyone involved and I believe it resonates with the viewersbecause the stakes are so high and the journey is so very human.”

While most people know Dr. Drew as the host of the syndicated radioshow Loveline and the MTV show of the same name, Dr. Drew is a medicaldoctor on staff at Huntington Hospital, a board certified addictionologistand medical director of the chemical dependency unit at Las EncinasHospital in Pasadena, where he has been treating addicts for over 20 years.Although he is an associate professor of clinical psychiatry at the KECKUSC School of Medicine, he is not a psychologist or psychiatrist. His book,Cracked: Putting Broken Lives Together Again (Harper-Collins,) is all aboutwhat treating addicts is like from a caretaker’s perspective. Dr. Drewco-authored the first academic study on celebrities and narcissism. Thestudy was published in the Journal of Research in Personality (Elsevier) inSeptember 2006, and is the first systematic, empirical scholarly study ofcelebrity personality. Dr. Drew can also be heard during the day Mondaythru Friday on the nationally syndicated radio show “Dr. Drew Live.”

As it did in the first season, VH1 will present on-air PSA’s aboutaddiction and the possibilities of recovery as well as online resources forthose in need of assistance.

Courtesy of www.prnewswire.com