The physician has no intention to continue 'Celebrity Rehab with Dr. Drew' because he's tired of getting blamed when a former star on the show died of drug addiction.
- May 3, 2013
AceShowbiz - Dr. Drew Pinsky has officially checked out of his show "Celebrity Rehab". The addiction medicine specialist and TV personality confirmed during an interview on Zach Sang & the Gang radio program that he would not film a new season of the reality show.
"I don't have plans to do that again," Pinsky said. Opening up about the reason behind his decision to quit the show, he revealed that he's tired of being blamed when a celebrity he treated on the show ended up dying from drug addiction. "I'm tired of taking all the heat. It's just ridiculous," he shared.
He further explained, "It's very stressful and very intense for me. And 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? Rodney King has a heart attack and I have to take blame for that? That's really what is happening these days."
Insisting that celebrities on the show really had serious issues, Pinsky claimed, "These are really sick people, that's why they die. These are people with life-threatening addiction. Bob [Forrest] and Shelly [Sprague] and I ran a program for 20 years and [for 'Celebrity Rehab'] we do what we always do and just let them run the cameras."
While five former stars on the show, including Mindy McCready, Jeff Conoway, Rodney King, Mike Starr and Joey Kovar, died of their addictions, Pinsky cited Tom Sizemore's journey as an example of the show's success story. "We worked with him 10 years before [he came on the show]," he said. "Bob and I worked with him a lot and couldn't get him sober. And he got sober on 'Celebrity Rehab.' That's awesome."
"Celebrity Rehab with Dr. Drew", which premiered January 2008 on VH1, aired its fifth and last season in 2011. Pinsky later treated non-celebrity patients with addicitions on "Rehab with Dr. Drew" which aired in 2012.
