Highlights
- Rosie O’Donnell banned celebrities for excessive drug use on her show, including Leif Garrett who was allegedly high backstage.
- Leif Garrett disputed Rosie’s claims, stating he was sober during his appearance and didn’t use crack.
- Garrett has openly discussed his history of drug abuse and how his management enabled his bad behavior as a teenage star.
Rosie O’Donnell made a name for herself as a comedian who later appeared in films such as A League of Their Own. O’Donnell would become a household name when she debuted her daytime talk show The Rosie O’Donnell Show in 1996.
O’Donnell’s show took off and her couch was the place to be for celebrities. From singers to actors to Broadway stars, The Rosie O’Donnell Show was where everybody wanted to go to promote their latest project.
However, sometimes O’Donnell had to cut the cord when it came to certain celebrities. When O’Donnell was asked years later who she banned from her show, she said there were a few people. Then, she told a story about a former child star and the alleged backstage antics that got him banned for good.
Rosie O’Donnell Said Leif Garrett Was Banned From Her Show After An Alleged Drug Incident
When O’Donnell was a guest on Watch What Happens Live, host Andy Cohen asked her if there were any celebrities she banned from her show.
O’Donnell told Cohen there were “about five” people on the list and they were “pretty big names.”
When O’Donnell was asked why these celebrities were banned, she said, “Sometimes it was just excessive drug use that was evident. Like cocaine on the side [of the nose] and they weren’t able to focus.”
O’Donnell then claimed that former child star Leif Garrett was one of the people on the list. She went on to describe an alleged encounter she had with him backstage.
“One guy, Leif Garrett, came with a fresh wound from a pipe that he used for crack,” she said. “He sort of gnawed it out. So when I met him in the green room, he had a normal face and he came out a few minutes later and he had a huge red welt of burn from being in the green room those 20 minutes I didn’t see him. People who are that messed up shouldn’t be on TV.”
Garrett appeared on The Rosie O’Donnell Show in 1999 after his Behind The Music episode aired. In the episode, Garrett was honest about his demos with drugs and alcohol. He was confronted by Roland Winkler.
Winkler was a friend of Garrett’s who was left paralyzed after a car accident due to Garrett being drunk and high on quaaludes. The interaction between the two took place twenty years after the crash.
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In 2019, Garrett released his memoir, “Idol Truth.” In the book, Garrett revealed he was “still struggling with my drug use” at the time the Behind The Music episode aired. Garrett was arrested two months after his appearance on Rosie for attempting to purchase heroin and cocaine from undercover police officers in Los Angeles.
Garrett was also arrested on drug charges in 2004, 2006 and 2010.
Leif Garrett Disputed Rosie’s Claim And Publicly Stated That It Wasn’t True
Shortly after O’Donnell’s revelation, Garrett opened up to TooFab about her claim. Garrett told the outlet that he was sober during that appearance and O’Donnell’s claim isn’t true.
“No, that’s not even how it came close,” Garrett said. “I don’t know if she’s got Alzheimer’s or doesn’t remember what happened, but it’s on YouTube. You can watch the clip on YouTube. She said I had a little burn on my face from using crack, which is so not true. First of all, I would never do anything like that.”
Garrett pointed out that in the footage from his appearance, he didn’t have anything on his face. He did, however, admit that he was recovering from a drug-related injury on his hand.
“What I had was on my hand, I had a scarf tied onto my hand because I had an abscess from using dope. Not that day … my body was still detoxing at that time,” Garrett said. “I had a little thing on my hand that I had covered up with a bandanna. Anyway, that’s what she made a comment on. Nobody was smoking crack and there was no burn on my face.”
“The funny thing was she even said that I supposedly used crack in her green room and then was nodding off,” he continued. “First of all, anyone knows if you use crack, you don’t nod off. I was at that time, for that show, I was sober. At least get the story right, you know?”
Garrett did say O’Donnell was “really sweet” to him back then and even wrote him a note after his appearance.
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“She actually wrote me a note and said, hey man, stay well,” Garrett revealed. “You can tell by the clip that I’m not f****** on drugs, sorry my language. She wrote me a note saying anytime, give me a call if you need someone to talk to.”
Garret went on to say there were “no hard feelings” towards O’Donnell.
Leif Garrett Has Been Open About His History Of Drug Abuse
In January 2020, Garrett opened up to Fox News about his memoir and history with drug use. Garrett said that due to his stardom as a teenager, he believed his management was enabling his bad behavior.
“I don’t think I was a very mature 16-year-old,” he said. “I became mature very quickly because I was always surrounded by adults who were drinking and doing coke. I was a child, but being treated as an adult… And all of this was coming out of my pocket.”
Garret also said that he used drugs to escape his frustrations at how his team tried to present him to the public.
“I sang, but it wasn’t me 100 percent,” Garrett said. “And I didn’t feel like I was being heard. No one wanted to hear what I had to say. As long as people were buying my records, it didn’t matter. And the music was changing — it never stayed the same. I wanted to be an adult artist with longevity. And yet I was made to record these oldies. Disco was on its way out. There were so many other things I wanted to do, but they just wanted me to be this California surfer boy, the Tiger Beat cover star.”
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However, Garrett told the outlet that he was finally clean and sober.
“I’m just taking things one day at a time,” he revealed. “I’m not in jail and I’m not in rehab. It took a long time to get to a point where I don’t have to self-medicate myself to escape the pain. That feels good. Hard drugs are a difficult thing, especially if you’ve done it for a while.”
Source: NewsFinale