EXCLUSIVE: Dr. Drew Calls It Quits With Celebrity Rehab, Jennifer Gimenez Responds
Dr. Drew has just announced that he will no longer be doing Celebrity Rehab.
The show, which has aired five seasons since its January 2008 premiere, helped many struggling celebrities get help for their addictions. However, not everyone was able to overcome their issues and because of that Dr. Drew has dealt with a lot of criticism — some have even gone as far as to call him “Dr. Death.”
“I don’t have any plans to do it anymore,” Dr. Drew said during a recent interview on Zach Sang & The Gang. “I am tired of taking all the heat, it is just ridiculous.” Out of the show’s 43 celebrities who have gotten treatment from Dr. Drew, five have passed away. While those odds may seem alarming, that is actually quite average — if not low — for patients with addiction. According to studies, a whopping 47 percent of addicts will relapse within the first year after treatment. Unfortunately, that often leads to death.
For viewers to expect that Dr. Drew would be able to successfully treat 100 percent of his patients is simply ridiculous. He did his part but, at the end of the day, it’s up to the addict to continue their treatment and keep sobriety their #1 priority. The fact that he is getting any sort of criticism shows just how little people know about the disease. There is much more to it than one doctor, regardless of how amazing he or she may be.
Needless to say, the criticism has taken a toll on Dr. Drew. “It’s very stressful and very intense for me,” he explains. “To have people questioning my motives and taking aim at me because people get sick and die, because they have a life threatening disease, then I have to take blame for that? That’s really what is happening these days. Treating addiction is treating addiction and we had a program that was second to none. We could handle anything — the sickest patients we would take. And we were good. We did it for 20 years.”
Throughout the journey, model/actress Jennifer Gimenez has been by Dr. Drew’s side and worked as a rehab technician on season 5 of Celebrity Rehab as well as a house manager on Sober House. Of Dr. Drew’s announcement, Gimenez released the following statement to Hollywoodite.com:
“It’s an honor and a privilege to have been part of the franchise. The show has brought great awareness to the disease and throughout the journey, Dr. Drew has remained passionate about the cause. There is no way that I would ever hold him responsible for anyone passing away or relapsing. Dr. Drew loves these people. Dr. Drew and the whole team have always been passionate about this. He had an amazing team and it was an amazing run.”
Prior to joining Dr. Drew’s team, Gimenez had been struggling with her own addiction and knows the severity of the issue.”No matter where you come from or what you do, it wants you dead,” she said, adding that Dr. Drew helped her get clean. “His program has helped me — I’m still sober.”
The losses of Rodney King, Mindy McCready, Jeff Conaway, Rodney King, Mike Starr, and Joey Kovar, were tragic. But Dr. Drew isn’t to blame. Addiction is. This is a disease that can’t just be cured. Patients need to actively work at it or else they could face dire consequences.