Dancing With DemonsHalfway through the first episode of the new MTV reality show “Gone Too Far,” the star, Adam Goldstein, better known as DJ AM, is shown speaking to a heroin addict named Amy, a 23-year-old from Philadelphia he is trying to persuade to enter rehab.
“My dad died when I was 19 of AIDS and he was a full-blown drug addict,” says Mister Goldstein, 36, in a humble, matter-of-fact tone. “And I didn’t deal with it for a long time. I didn’t get sober until my 25th birthday, pretty much.”
Amy, whose last name is not revealed, breaks down. The first part of the show profiled her broken-hearted family and showed her injecting heroin into her hand. “I used to be a good person,” she says, sitting next to Mister Goldstein in her family’s home. “I just don’t think I’m meant to live like this, disappointing my family and disappointing myself and stealing and being a loser.”
“What’s crazy,” replies Mister Goldstein, “is you sound exactly like me.”
By the end of the hourlong show, which had its premiere October 12, Amy is shown having gone through rehab successfully with Mister Goldstein’s support, her hair nicely cut and a healthy glow in her face. It is a happy ending, much like the one Mister Goldstein seemed to be living when he filmed the seven-episode series last spring and summer.
But despite presenting himself as the model of a recovered addict with more than a decade of sobriety, Mister Goldstein, a celebrity disc jockey known for his talent spinning as well as the women he dated — like Nicole Richie and the actress Mandy Moore — did not have a happy ending.
On August 28, he was found face down on his bed in his Lafayette Street apartment in SoHo with a pharmacy’s worth of prescription drugs and a crack pipe nearby. The New York medical examiner concluded that he had died from an accidental overdose of prescription drugs and cocaine. The toxicology report said Mister Goldstein had ingested OxyContin, Hydrocodone or Vicodin, Xanax, Ativan, Klonopin, Benadryl and Levamisole. ...
Read the Whole NY Times Article
Click for this MTV Episode of Gone Too Far
MTV's Help Webite for Alcoholism and Drug Addiction