Maia Campbell broke her silence about turning down help from her former In The House co-star LL Cool J during her public struggles with addiction.
During a sitdown with The 85 South Comedy Show, the actress addressed the 2017 incident where she declined LL’s offer of assistance after disturbing videos surfaced showing her asking for drugs at an Atlanta gas station.
“LL Cool J was calling, trying to get me in rehab. He was trying to pay $60,000 a month to get me in a rehab back in LA. And family members and people around me, they just was like, ‘no, leave her, we got her, we’ll take care of it.’ They wanted to act like they really knew what I needed and knew the love that some people have for me. They wanted to match energy, compete. Like, ‘no, we love her.’ We’ll take care of it. No, you won’t,” explaining why she turned down LL’s offer.
The former sitcom star had appeared alongside LL Cool J in the hit ’90s show In The House, where they played family members. Their on-screen chemistry made LL’s concern seem natural to fans watching her public struggles.
The Poetic Justice actress revealed she was dealing with bipolar disorder and substance abuse issues at the time.
“I was smoking more than weed. I was doing too much. I was doing something I shouldn’t have been doing. Something that was given to me that I never should have f##### with. It wasn’t a gift. It was something that misled me and left me in a delusional state,” Campbell revealed.
Campbell has since worked on her sobriety and mental health treatment. She’s been open about her bipolar disorder diagnosis and the challenges of managing both mental illness and addiction recovery.
“I’m six years clean. Thank you. I was doing the most. I was getting lit,” Campbell explained.
The actress emphasized that she never doubted LL’s good intentions. She simply preferred a different approach to getting help during one of the most vulnerable periods of her life.
“I’m back in church now. I just leave it up to God. My mental state, my position, and my career had to take a back seat to what was gonna work for me emotionally on a regular basis, just to be a human being,” said Campbell.
Maia Campbell is now focusing on mental health advocacy, sharing her recovery journey with others and working on a book to help people facing similar struggles.
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