The “Cheers” actress had a lively discussion about psychiatric medication on Twitter over the weekend.
Actress Kirstie Alley’s Twitter feed has been the topic of debate over her controversial tweets on psychiatric drugs.
Before her Sunday hot take on psychiatry, Alley shared a heartfelt revelation on the popular app. The Cheers actress opened up about what she does with the money she used to spend on cocaine back when she was battling an addiction to the drug.
“For u who don’t know much about me, I used to be a coke head,” Alley who is now 40 years drug-free tweeted on Thursday. “I quit drugs in 1979 & vowed to spend the same $ weekly on flowers that I’d spent on drugs.”
The 66-year-old added, “I buy & arrange my own flowers as a gift to MYSELF. I buy them in the grocery store.”
Alley’s fans congratulated the actress for her four decades of being drug-free and shared their own sober tales. A couple days later, Alley upset some Twitter users when she called into question the prevalence of psychiatric drugs.
Hot Takes
“Does anyone else worry about how unconscious we are being rendered by pharmaceutical drugs? Is anyone else concerned that we are the most psych drugged country on the planet? I tell you what, if I was an evil dictator & wanted to control a society, I would drug them into apathy,” Alley tweeted on Sunday.
Her tweet received mixed reviews from her followers, with some lauding Alley, a long-time Scientologist, for speaking out against what she perceives as an overall overprescription of psychiatric drugs. Alley’s views echo those of Tom Cruise, inarguably the world’s most famous living Scientologist.
Cruise caught a wave of backlash from mental health experts and patients after proclaiming his disdain for psych meds in a now-infamous 2005 interview with Matt Lauer.
“I’ve never agreed with psychiatry, ever,” Cruise said. “Before I was a Scientologist I never agreed with psychiatry, and when I started studying the history of psychiatry, I understood more and more why I didn’t believe in psychology.”
Prior to the Lauer interview, Cruise had taken Brooke Shields to task with accusations that she was “promoting” antidepressants by saying that the medication Paxil helped her deal with postpartum depression.
“As far as the Brooke Shields thing, look, you have to understand, I really care about Brooke Shields – she’s a wonderful and talented woman, and I want her to do well, and I know psychiatry is a pseudoscience,” Cruise stated. “The thing that I’m saying about Brooke is that there’s misinformation, okay. And she doesn’t understand the history of psychiatry. She doesn’t understand in the same way that you don’t understand it, Matt.”
“There’s No Such Thing As A Chemical Balance”
Cruise went on to denounce the prescription of Ritalin to children and suggested that “vitamins and exercise” could resolve personal issues.
“Drugs are not the answer,” said Cruise. “I think there’s a better quality of life.”
Shields responded to Cruise’s comments in an interview with People.
“I agree with him about his feeling on prescribing drugs to kids. We are in accord,” she said. “I don’t think Ritalin should be prescribed to kids. Postpartum depression is a different matter. I think I’m more qualified to talk about that (than he is).”
According to Shields, Cruise offered her a “heartfelt apology” in 2006 for bringing her into his psychiatric debate.
