Christopher Lloyd, the legendary Doc from "Back to the Future," confesses his addiction to cocaine: “A couple of lines were all it took”
The actor, who has just turned 88, looks back in his memoirs on the years when he used cocaine, alcohol, and marijuana
C hristopher Lloyd, world-renowned for playing the eccentric Dr. Emmett Brown in the "Back to the Future" trilogy, has decided to share some of the most difficult episodes of his life in his new memoir, ‘In My Own Time: A Memoir’ . At 88 years old, the American actor looks back on his career in Hollywood, but also opens up about a personal period marked by drug and alcohol use that he had until now kept in the background.
In the book, Lloyd recalls how his relationship with cocaine began during the seventies, when he was living in Los Angeles. What initially was a one-time experience ended up turning into an addiction that lasted for years. “A couple of lines were all it took” , the actor admits as he describes the moment when he tried the substance for the first time.
Christopher Lloyd, on the episode that changed his life: “I got hooked almost immediately”
The actor recounts that his first contact with cocaine occurred after leaving a comedy club and approaching the car of a woman he had just met . That night marked the beginning of a habit that progressively increased and to which alcohol and marijuana were added.
“I loved it, and that’s where my cocaine abuse began” , Lloyd writes in his memoirs. The actor admits that, during that period, he did not stop to think about the consequences of his actions. “I didn’t ask myself what it meant or what it gave me. I simply knew that I liked it and, before long, it already had me hooked” , he recalls.
Despite his personal problems, Lloyd assures that he always kept his professional life separate from his addictions and that he never went on stage or stood in front of a camera under the influence of drugs.
One of the most serious episodes took place in May 1984. After returning home and discovering that his partner had locked him out , the actor tried to get in through a window and ended up suffering serious injuries. “The next thing I remember is lying on my kitchen floor, bleeding out, while the paramedics treated me” , he recounts. The blood loss was so severe that he needed a plasma transfusion, as well as surgery and a rehabilitation process to regain mobility in his fingers.
It was not until 1993 that he decided to enter a rehabilitation center, after beginning to work with a psychologist who helped him recognize the harm the substances were causing him. He remained in treatment for five weeks, although the road to recovery was not immediate . “That was the beginning, but not the end” , he admits in the book, in which he also acknowledges having suffered relapses before finally achieving sobriety.
Lloyd's memoir also traces his childhood, his early years in the theater, and the success he achieved with productions such as "Taxi," "The Addams Family," and, especially, "Back to the Future," a saga that made him one of the most recognizable faces in cinema. Now, the actor uses his own story to reveal a much lesser-known side of his life, far removed from the image of the scientist who won over several generations.
