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Kaitlyn is the latest WWE Superstar to open up about battling addiction

By Sean Rueter

Mike and Maria Kanellis have been quite candid lately talking about his addiction to opiod painkillers and their experiences as he goes through the early stages of recovery. Before that, Diamond Dallas Page’s work with Scott Hall and Jake Roberts exposed a lot of wrestling fans to how some of their favorite performers have suffered from and struggled with beating addiction. WWE Hall of Famer and Raw General Manager Kurt Angle has been pretty much an open-book on his alcohol and drug dependency issues, and even lent his name to a line of recovery tools.

Wherever the trend of sports entertainers being honest and forthright about their addiction issues started, it’s a very good thing - for them, the business, its fans and anyone who is personally or via a loved one dealing with the problem.

Former Divas champion Kaitlyn (real name Celeste Bonin) is the latest to open up and reveal that she too is a recovering addict. She did so with an Instagram post yesterday (Oct. 24):

It's been one year since I checked myself into the hospital for a medical drug detox. (I took this picture in the airport bathroom after flying into LAX.I felt so awful and disgusted with myself but I remember posting it on Instagram with some stupid caption about being happy. I was actually on the last days of the medicine to help me detox and was in a super fucked up place mentally and physically). Over the past few years I was in a terrible marriage, an addict and not true to myself. It took me so long to admit I had a problem... and then to admit how serious the problem was. I used to pretend to be and to live a certain way for social media. It's everyone's hi-light reel. I remember getting out of the hospital feeling like death, with a medical taper plan of meds and thinking "what have I done to myself?". I celebrated my 30th birthday 5 days later and I remember wanting to die. If you've ever gone through serious drug detox, you know that you basically go through two detoxes. One from the initial drug(s) and then another one from the medicine used to help you detox. A lot of people get hooked on the medicine and remain addicts. For me, I started abusing alcohol to deal with the chemical imbalances, panic attacks and sadness/depression I was experiencing. If you know me, you know I had never done a drug in my life leading up to this (besides smoking weed once or twice and freaking the fuck out.) It's so crazy. You can have the world at your fingertips but end up destroying yourself if you're not careful. I'm fortunate enough to have pulled myself out of it all and was able rebuild my life ...but I can seriously empathize with anyone who is, has been, or has a tendency to be an addict (we're all addicted to something). But it's about self awareness and humility. Never be too proud to ask for help. Be able to wake up and look at yourself in the mirror. Tag someone who needs to read this. #addiction

A post shared by Celeste (@celestebonin) on

Our thoughts are with Celeste as she continues her one day at a time journey. Seems she’s off to a good start, and sharing her experience, strength and hope with others who might still be struggling is a great way to keep it going.

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