She watched her parents go through a highly public, contentious divorce. Her brother died
in a horribly tragic way. She dealt with substance abuse and addiction. These are just a few
of the things scream queen Jamie Lee Curtis has been through in her life.
The daughter of Psycho star Janet Leigh and acting dynamo Tony Curtis, one might assume
that Jamie Lee Curtis had a perfect childhood in the Hollywood Hills. But, as Rolling Stone
noted in a 1985 profile, it didn't take long before the power couple's marriage turned
ugly. When Jamie Lee was just three years old, her parents called it quits.
There was intense press intrusion into the celebrity divorce. Tony Curtis told Reuters
that tabloids displayed headlines such as,
"Tony is going with a teenager and his children are crying."
He insisted that he made the right decision in divorcing Leigh, which he said was instrumental
to his future happiness. While he may have been happy with the outcome, his young daughter
certainly wasn't.
In an essay for More magazine, Jamie Lee revealed that her parents had her in an attempt to
save their disintegrating marriage. She wrote,
"By the time I came along... my parents' bond had deteriorated precipitously as their stardom
grew. And, like any other save-the-marriage baby, I failed."
The actor went on to explain that her father left her mom for a 17-year-old girl, for which
Janet Leigh harbored much animosity. And, while Leigh, according to Jamie Lee, eventually
"persevered through it all and survived," she admitted that she, herself, didn't. The
divorce was incredibly difficult on the youngster, who watched Leigh burn out while caring for
her children and financially supporting them, as she discussed in an interview with Good
Housekeeping.
Tony Curtis may have been an accomplished actor, but when it came to parenting, his
daughter has said he was severely lacking. According to Rolling Stone, Jamie Lee Curtis'
relationship with her dad completely fell apart when he left. She confessed to the outlet,
"My father was sort of a stranger, then a real stranger, then an enemy."
The elder Curtis suffered his own personal tragedy as a child. For instance, per The
Guardian, he was badly "ill-treated by his mother" and his parents were so impoverished
that they had to place him into an orphanage. Then, when Tony was 12, his brother was killed
and he was forced to identify the body, all of which the actor tearfully recounted in
an interview with psychologist Pamela Stephenson. As a result, he admitted that he hardly cared
whether he lived or died, which may help to explain his distance from his daughter.
Speaking with People in 1994, the Spartacus star said he barely saw Jamie Lee as a child,
noting that she was, in his words, highly "introverted at one point." Though he went
on to state that he became "friends" with his daughter when "she was 17 or 18," it seems
that this closeness was brief. Subsequently, as Jamie Lee told The Talk following his death
in 2010,
"[He] was not a father. He was not interested in being a father."
Meanwhile, a source confirmed to E! News that the father and daughter duo were never close.
In 1968, when Jamie Lee Curtis was nine, her father married his third wife, 23-year-old
Leslie Allen. Two years later, they welcomed Jamie Lee's half brother, Nicholas Curtis.
A musician, Nicholas tragically died at the age of just 23 in 1994. According to SF Gate,
he overdosed after being given a particularly potent dose of heroin, which led to him suffering
a fatal seizure. Subsequently, two men were arrested in connection with his death after
police found a package, chillingly labeled "ready to die," by his body.
The death of Nicholas devastated his sister. Jamie Lee sadly told Variety,
"I had six siblings. I have five."
Speaking with The Irish Times, she revealed that Nicholas' death, in her words, "brought
the whole family together somewhat," though this reconciliation was all too brief and,
once again, father and daughter parted ways.
In his autobiography, American Prince, Tony Curtis said that he partly blamed himself
for his son's drug overdose due to his own issues with drug use. He pondered,
"Did he inherit from me a tendency for substance abuse?"
When Jamie Lee Curtis was asked to describe her upbringing when chatting to Rolling Stone,
she said,
"I had a very abnormal normal childhood."
And she's not wrong. In that same interview, it's mentioned that Tony Curtis long had an
addiction to cocaine. Unfortunately, this addiction manifested itself in toxic ways
for his daughter. Although father and daughter had a fractured relationship, they eventually
connected, although fleetingly and in a devastating way.
In an interview with Variety, Curtis revealed that she took drugs with her dad as an unconventional
means of bonding. She admitted,
"I did cocaine and freebased once with my dad. But that was the only time I did that,
and I did that with him."
The Irish Times notes that the pair bonding over drugs was reflective of their codependency,
as they both struggled with addiction at the time. Indeed, Curtis admitted to Variety,
"I knew my dad had an issue because I had an issue and he and I shared drugs."
Tony's relationship with his daughter mirrored his relationships with the other women in
his life, starting with his tumultuous connection with his mother, who never loved him, to his
numerous failed romantic pursuits, as he hinted at in an interview with The Guardian. Jamie
Lee's half-sister Allegra Curtis once branded their father a "drug-addicted 'demon,'" according
to the Daily Mail.
In 2004, Janet Leigh died of vasculitis at the age of 77. As RogerEbert.com reported,
Leigh's health had deteriorated rapidly once she was diagnosed with the inflammatory blood
disease. She died after living with the condition for just one year.
Following her mom's death, Jamie Lee Curtis spoke with Black Film about the deep complexities
of their relationship.
"She really lived that fantasy life. [...] I'm jaded and time tested and all the things that
my mother wasn't. [...] I don't think she appreciated that I wasn't going to work as
much. I don't think she agreed with me."
Leigh's intense work ethic was a reflection of her own turbulent upbringing. As noted
in Janet Leigh: A Biography, the Psycho star's parents were extremely poor and saw in their
daughter a "child prodigy," deeming her destined for stardom as a means of helping the family
out of poverty.
Reflecting on her mom, Curtis told Good Housekeeping that Leigh was adept at playing the role of
a supportive and loving parent, but she was often absent emotionally. She stated,
"My mother looked good on the outside as a mother. She showed up to stuff and seemed
to be paying attention."
But in reality, Leigh was all consumed by her demanding work schedule, leaving her daughter
feeling a lack of connection at times. She revealed,
"I don't know that I ever saw my mother sit down, let alone take a nap or read a book."
"I try to honor her every day in just trying to be a good person, cuz she was a good person.
I think more than anything, she was a really beautiful person."
Following a routine cosmetic surgery procedure to correct her self-described "puffy eyes"
in the late '80s, Jamie Lee Curtis became addicted to Vicodin, a powerful painkiller,
and also began drinking. In a 2019 interview with Variety, she spoke candidly about her
addiction and the difficult road to recovery. Curtis explained that she expertly played
the role of doting mother and wife, as well as acclaimed Hollywood actor, while struggling
behind the scenes.
On the surface, Curtis said, she appeared to have it all. But addiction, which is classified
as a disease by the American Medical Association, can affect anyone, regardless of how seemingly
perfect one's life may appear.
For a decade, she managed to keep her disease a secret, which is symptomatic of the widespread
stigma surrounding addiction. When Curtis finally told her husband, Christopher Guest,
he was loving and supportive. She told Variety,
"It is the secret shame that keeps people locked up in their disease."
Subsequently, she attended recovery meetings and got sober in 1999. Without seeking help,
Curtis told AARP, she would be, in her words, "dead for sure." On Today, she emphasized
the importance of opening up about her illness and breaking the associated taboo, declaring,
"You're only as sick as your secrets."
Speaking with Good Housekeeping, she said that recovering from addiction is the greatest
achievement of her entire life, outshining all her acting accomplishments.
At school, Jamie Lee Curtis was targeted due to her unconventional appearance. She attended
the boarding school Choate and was mocked for turning up to the elite institution with
hippie hair and flairs. In an interview with Rolling Stone, she described this period in
her life as "just a f—ing killer." As Curtis elaborated, she changed her clothing and hair
in accordance with the appearances of the other girls at school in order to fit in.
She admitted,
"It was a nightmare. I've never been so depressed. [...] [I had] very low self-confidence growing
up."
Once she reached the heights of Hollywood, Curtis found that her body was being judged
in a different way. Like many actors — as has been apparent from the MeToo movement
— Curtis was exploited sexually. She told The Guardian,
"My biggest roles were to do with my physicality, my body, my sexuality."
As Curtis previously explained to Rolling Stone, finding fame at a young age came with
a price: despite being an immensely talented actor, she was still reduced to her physical
attributes.
In a blog for HuffPost, Curtis revealed that was sexually harassed in Hollywood. She wrote,
"I, too, have been subjected to my own private, personal versions of sexual harassment on
the job. Did I ask for it? No. What I simply asked for was a job, and what came with it
was sexual harassment."
Accordingly, she expressed her hope that the MeToo movement would lead to more abusers
being exposed.
"I have tried to protect you and prepare you."
When she became a mom, Jamie Lee Curtis found herself repeating many of the mistakes she
learnt from her parents during her unhappy childhood. Sadly, she has many regrets about
how she raised her two adopted daughters, Ruby Guest and Annie Guest, even going so
far as to tell Good Housekeeping that she often feels like, in her words, "a failure
as a mother." She explained,
"Despite my best efforts, I have replicated parts of how I was parented [that I didn't
want to]. Even though I vowed not to [...] in many ways I repeated some of the same problems."
In an interview with USA Today, Curtis revealed that, while making A Fish Called Wanda, she
"cried every day to and from work" because she couldn't bear having to leave her baby
daughter at home. She explained that her life consisted solely of working for 12 hours at
a time, seeing her sleeping baby for an hour, then returning to a 12 hour shift, thereby
mirroring the behavior of her overworked mother.
Thankfully, Curtis did find a way of being able to break the habits she learnt from her
parents. Yogurt commercials provided a means for her to be with her daughters while still
earning money. She joked on Today, saying,
"It's the reason that I sold yogurt that makes you s*** for seven years. [...] It allowed
me to earn money and stay home."
Jamie Lee and Tony Curtis may have attempted to reconcile towards the end of the latter's
life, but his final gesture as a father was a devastating blow to his kids. Per Inside
Edition, the elder Curtis omitted his offspring from his will, leaving a majority of his estate
to his sixth and final wife, Jill Vandenberg, who is 12 years younger than Jamie Lee.
In 2010, Tony Curtis died at the age of 85 after suffering a cardiac arrest.
Speaking to Inside Edition, Vandenberg maintained that her late husband left a substantial amount
of money to fund his grandchildren's education. But this came as little solace to Jamie Lee
and her siblings, all of whom were reportedly angered by their father's last will and testament,
which stipulated,
"I acknowledge the existence of my children, and have intentionally and with full knowledge
chosen not to provide for them."
What's more, when Tony's belongings went up for auction, Vandenberg was, as Allegra Curtis
told The Hollywood Reporter, "the only beneficiary."
Years after her father's death, Jamie Lee still struggles with the idea that she was
the product of a toxic relationship. On Instagram, she shared a throwback snap of her parents
and devastatingly wrote,
"There are only a couple reminders to me that I was born from love and not resentment, competition,
jealousy and rancor which are the cornerstones of any unpleasant divorce."
If you or anyone you know is struggling with addiction issues, help is available. Visit
the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration website or contact SAMHSA's
National Helpline at 1-800-662-HELP (4357).