Jamie Lee Curtis credits Anything But Love co-star for sobriety

Jamie Lee Curtis credits her late Anything But Love co-star Richard Lewis with helping her get and stay sober. After a decade-long addiction to opioids and alcohol that began in 1989, she reached out to Lewis around her first recovery meeting in February 1999—and has now marked 27 years sober. That friendship bridges her late-'80s sitcom years and the open recovery advocate fans know today, a true then-and-now arc in Hollywood.

Key Takeaways

• Jamie Lee Curtis has credited Richard Lewis, her former Anything But Love co-star, as central to her sobriety since February 1999.
• Her addiction to opioids and alcohol began after she was prescribed painkillers following plastic surgery in 1989 and lasted about a decade.
• She kept the struggle secret from her husband, Christopher Guest, until she decided to attend her first recovery meeting.
• In a February 2026 Instagram post marking 27 years sober, Curtis said Lewis took her hand and later introduced her to others in recovery.
• After Lewis died in February 2024, she publicly called him "the reason I am sober."

Who Did Jamie Lee Curtis Credit for Helping Her Stay Sober?

The short answer is Richard Lewis—the comic actor best known later for Curb Your Enthusiasm, and earlier as Curtis's on-screen partner on the late-1980s sitcom Anything but Love. Curtis has said openly that he helped her through the leap into recovery.

In February 2026, celebrating 27 years sober, she posted a photo with Lewis and wrote that she had "pain and sorrow," reached out her hand, and that her "old colleague and friend, Richard Lewis, reached out and took my hand." She added that the miracle of sobriety is that it can take just one other person who relates to how you feel to change everything.

That tribute was not a one-off. After Lewis's death in February 2024, Curtis captioned photos of him promoting Anything but Love by saying he was "the reason I am sober" and that she was forever grateful for that "act of grace." For readers tracing her career through nostalgia then-and-now stories, the sitcom partnership and the recovery bond are inseparable chapters.

How Did Jamie Lee Curtis's Addiction and Recovery Begin?

According to reporting that cites her past comments to Variety, Curtis has said her addiction started in 1989, when she was prescribed opioids after plastic surgery. What followed was roughly a decade of dependence on opiates and alcohol—kept largely hidden, including from Guest, until she chose to go to her first recovery meeting in February 1999.

Fear of public scrutiny slowed that decision. As a famous person, she worried about the stigma of being known as an addict. So she called a friend and asked that another famous person she had never met attend her first recovery meeting with her. Lewis, a fellow recovering addict and former co-star, is the colleague she has repeatedly credited with helping her stay sober from that point forward.

Curtis has also noted a family history of addiction, which makes her sustained recovery especially meaningful. She has said she has been sober ever since that first meeting—and her 2026 anniversary post put the milestone at 27 years.

Why Does the Anything But Love Era Still Matter in Her Story?

Before the Oscar wins and modern prestige roles, Jamie Lee Curtis was already a familiar face from horror classics like Halloween and from network television. Anything but Love ran for four seasons; she even collected a People's Choice Award for the show in March 1990, with her mother, Old Hollywood star Janet Leigh, there in support.

Those years place Lewis not as a distant celebrity acquaintance but as a working peer from a formative stretch of her career. When she later described him as the colleague who took her hand, she was pointing back to that shared set and the trust built there. The nostalgia hook is clear: the sitcom co-star from her TV heyday became the person she says helped unlock decades of sobriety.

Curtis's own family lore deepens the then-and-now frame. The daughter of Janet Leigh and Tony Curtis, she grew up in the public eye, spent years defining herself apart from her famous mother, and later spoke with swelling admiration for Leigh. Leigh died in 2004; the mother-daughter red carpets of the '90s—including Walk of Fame and awards nights—now read as a pre-recovery chapter beside the candid recovery advocate she became.

How Has Jamie Lee Curtis Honored Richard Lewis Since His Death?

Curtis has framed Lewis's help as ongoing, not a single favor. In the 2026 sobriety post, she said he introduced her to many others and that for 27 years she has met people who share "our common link of addiction and recovery from that daily prison." She said she intends to honor him by helping others when they need it most—following the example he set when she needed him.

That promise turns a private rescue into a public legacy. It also explains why her tributes mix sitcom memories with recovery language: the man who once played her on-screen love interest became, in her words, the reason she is sober.

If you or someone you know is struggling with addiction, help is available through the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) National Helpline at 1-800-662-HELP (4357).

What Does Her 27-Year Milestone Say About Then Versus Now?

Then: a scream-queen-turned-sitcom star carrying a secret addiction through the 1990s, afraid of the headline that might follow honesty. Now: an Academy Award winner who marks 27 years sober in public posts, names the co-star who helped her, and pledges to pay that grace forward.

Jamie Lee Curtis's story is not only about surviving Hollywood pressure. It is about how one trusted peer from an earlier era—Richard Lewis of Anything but Love—helped her rewrite the rest of her life. That is why the credit still resonates: the past co-star became the present reason she can keep telling the truth.