Tragic Details About Jamie Lee Curtis' Life

This article mentions sexual misconduct and addiction. 

Over the course of her decade-spanning career, Jamie Lee Curtis became a horror movie legend in "Halloween," a rebellious teenage girl in an adult body with "Freaky Friday," and a contemptuous IRS inspector in "Everything Everywhere All at Once." Her incredible filmography has been marked by triumphant moments, like her Oscar win in 2023, just as it's unfortunately been marred by tragedy. 

Curtis certainly didn't have to claw and scrape her way to the top from nothing; her parents, Janet Leigh and Tony Curtis, were both successful actors, as are some of her siblings. Speaking with The New Yorker in December 2019, the "True Lies" star reflected on her Hollywood upbringing. "It's important for me, given that I'm this bougie princess from Los Angeles — even if I claim I worked hard, I've never really worked hard a day in my life," she said. But despite her perhaps privileged life, Curtis has endured setbacks at every turn in her from very early on. From difficult familial issues to insecurities, health issues, and the deaths of those closest to her, the actor has overcome a lot in her life.

Before Jamie Lee Curtis was born, her mother and father's relationship was on its last leg. As she outlined in an interview with More in May 2011 (via HuffPost), "By the time I came along ... my parents' bond had deteriorated precipitously as their stardom grew. And like any other save-the-marriage baby, I failed." Contrary to what some may assume, growing up in a famous family wasn't always easy for Jamie Lee Curtis.

Tony Curtis and Janet Leigh had been married for 12 years when he ultimately left her for 17-year-old actor Christine Kaufmann. The "Psycho" star was humiliated, though she too eventually remarried. Tony would go on to divorce and remarry several more times. 

After having a front row seat to so many divorces within her own family, Jamie had a lot of her own feelings to work through. "I have often struggled with the idea of love, what happens to it?" she wrote in a January 2022 Instagram post. "There are only a couple reminders to me that I was born from love and not resentment, competition, jealousy and rancor which are the cornerstones of any unpleasant divorce." The caption accompanied a photo of her parents. 

Over the years, Jamie Lee Curtis has opened up about the complex relationship she had with her father. The "Knives Out" actor's mother stayed married to her second husband, Robert Brandt, whereas Tony Curtis went on to marry five more times. 

Evidently, her father wasn't as present as other people in her life during her formative years. While chatting with Rolling Stone back in 1985, Jamie explained evolution of her dynamic with Tony. "My father was sort of a stranger, then a real stranger, then an enemy. Now he's a friend," she said. "My stepfather, who raised me since I was a little girl, is Daddy, the one I go to with dad problems. He has always been around and supportive — a complete papa."

Another issue that arose in Jamie's relationship with her dad was his substance misuse. As she told Variety in November 2019, "I did cocaine and freebased once with my dad. But that was the only time I did that, and I did that with him. He did end up getting sober for a short period of time and was very active in recovery for about three years. It didn't last that long." Jamie also noted that his relationships with her siblings had their ups and downs, too.

In Hollywood, there's without a doubt a lot of pressure on women to look a certain way, and it's not uncommon for stars to go under the knife. Jamie Lee Curtis certainly has strong opinions about plastic surgery and aging, but that's not to say she hasn't dabbled in modifying her appearance. In a November 2019 interview with Variety, Curtis revealed that she got a cosmetic procedure done in 1992.

"I naturally had puffy eyes. If you see photographs of me as a child, I look like I haven't slept. ... [The cameraman] said, 'I'm not shooting her today. Her eyes are too puffy.' I was so mortified and so embarrassed and had just so much shame about it that after that movie, I went and had routine plastic surgery to remove the puffiness," the actor remarked.

Curtis later divulged more details about her experience with plastic surgery while on the talk show "Lorraine" in October 2021. "I have been an advocate for natural beauty for a long time, mostly because I've had the trial and error of the other part. I did plastic surgery — it didn't work. I hated it. It made me feel worse," Curtis said. The star said she's gotten Botox and liposuction before, but has since decided that she isn't interested in "anti-aging." She continued, "Why do you want to look 17 when you're 70? I want to look 70 when I'm 70."

Jamie Lee Curtis is one of six children. She is the younger sister to actor Kelly Curtis, and she has four younger half-siblings: Alexandra Curtis, Allegra Curtis, Nicholas Curtis, and Benjamin Curtis. Sadly, Nicholas, who was a musician, died from a heroin overdose in 1994 when he was 21 years old. 

On a July 2023 episode of MSNBC's "Morning Joe," Jamie opened up about her younger brother's death and ongoing struggle with addiction. "I've seen it in my own family. My brother at 21 is dead from a heroin overdose," she stated. "Once he was clean and sober, and he went out and used one time, and died from an overdose. And, he is one of millions and millions of people whose lives have been extinguished because of addiction."

Jamie's relationship with her father, Tony Curtis, was fraught for years, but they were able to put their differences aside to some degree after Nicholas' death. "The loss of my brother brought the whole family together somewhat, but I still don't have a tight relationship with [Tony]," she told The Irish Times in 2003. 

According to the American Cancer Society, there is roughly a one in eight chance a woman will develop breast cancer at some point in their lives. This statistic is especially daunting when you're waiting to hear back about exam results, like Jamie Lee Curtis was in the late '90s.

The "Scream Queens" star spoke about this unsettling time in her life at the 18th annual Celebrating Women breast cancer luncheon in November 2017 (via Baylor Scott & White Health). "My memory of it was the waiting in that room for the diagnosis. [What] I remember about it and the reason why I've tried to stay active is that moment of feeling so alone. It is a moment of truth. I'm incredibly lucky but I'll never forget that moment," Curtis remarked.

Thankfully, the actor's tests came back negative, but she didn't leave the doctor's office unchanged. Curtis felt inspired to help those who have been less fortunate, as it's a devastating illness that so many people have been impacted by in one way or another. She continued, "With breast cancer, it's the concentric circle in our lives. There is not any place I could go in the world and not make contact immediately with either someone recovering from breast cancer, or undergoing treatment, or they have a sister or mother connected to breast cancer."

Jamie Lee Curtis celebrated a major milestone in February 2024. "25 years clean and sober," she wrote on Instagram. "One day at a time. 9,125 of them. ... For all those struggling with addiction and shame, there are others out here who care. My hand in yours. Our hands in yours."

Curtis spoke candidly about her addiction to painkillers and alcohol in a November 2019 conversation with Variety. She was first prescribed Vicodin for a cosmetic procedure back in 1992, despite the fact that Curtis wasn't even in any pain. This eventually spiraled into a decade of drug misuse. "I was the wildly controlled drug addict and alcoholic," Curtis recalled. "I never did it when I worked. I never took drugs before 5 p.m. ... I like to refer to it as the warm-bath feeling of an opiate. ... I chased that feeling for a long time." She kept her addiction a secret from her nearest and dearest for years. She ultimately got help after a friend walked in on her while she was taking pills.

In a 2022 chat with Colin Farrell for Variety, Curtis stated that she believes her legacy will be breaking the cycle of addiction in her family. "I'm stopping what has been a generational issue in my biological family. It'll be the single greatest thing I do, if I can stay sober," she said.

Janet Leigh was a film icon who got her big break on the tail end of the Hollywood Golden Age, and she undoubtedly served as a huge inspiration for Jamie Lee Curtis. The mother daughter duo even starred in two horror movies together: 1980's "The Fog" and 1998's "Halloween H20." On October 3, 2004, about a year after she attended the 2003 "Freaky Friday" premiere to support her daughter, Leigh died at the age of 77. She died from vasculitis, a condition that's caused by swollen blood vessels.

In December 2022, "Psycho," which of course starred Leigh, earned the top spot on Variety's list of the 100 greatest movies of all time. After the list dropped, Curtis shared the special issue's various covers on Instagram, including one that featured her mom's iconic screaming face. "I woke up this morning missing my mother and wishing she could see the beautiful family that I have and that her two daughters are well and thriving and for her to enjoy this magical, creative year I'm having, after such a long time in the same industry she loved. The miracle of the movies is that they last forever, in perpetuity," she wrote.

It goes without saying, but Janet Leigh's daughter is a big fan of her work in "Psycho." When "Halloween Kills" premiered the year prior, Jamie Lee Curtis paid tribute to her mother by dressing up like Marion Crane. 

Jamie Lee Curtis' father, screen legend Tony Curtis, died in September 2010 from a heart attack. He was 85 years old. As Jamie told People in a statement at the time, "My father leaves behind a legacy of great performances in movies and in his paintings and assemblages. He leaves behind children and their families who loved him and respected him and a wife and in-laws who were devoted to him. He also leaves behind fans all over the world."

Jamie has continued to honor her father's memory of their years. The "Halloween" star shared a loving tribute to her father on the ninth anniversary of his death in an Instagram post. "Gone but never forgotten. This day. 'The cat's in the bag and the bag's in the river.'" she wrote alongside an old photo of Tony, quoting her father's 1957 movie "The Smell of Sweet Success."

A few years later, she posted about both of her parents and the work they did behind the scenes. In 2023, Jamie shared a snap of her mom and dad on Instagram and noted that they would undoubtedly support the ongoing actors strike. "Missing them both now for a long time and know from their activism that they would stand with @sagaftra and this righteous fight to protect their and our identities!" she wrote. 

Unfortunately, Tony Curtis' death was followed by a great deal of drama for Jamie Lee Curtis' family. Her siblings feuded publicly with Tony's widow over the estate, and the whole ordeal was messy. When he died, the late actor, who was worth an estimated $60 million, left nothing to his children, though he did leave each of his grandchildren $30,000. He left the majority of his estate to his final wife, Jill Curtis. 

Jamie's sister Allegra Curtis suggested to The Hollywood Reporter that something shady was going on. "[Jill] did not consult us. This is not what my dad would have wanted," she claimed. Jill, on the other hand, maintained that this was in fact what the "Some Like It Hot" actor wanted. "Tony was very specific in his wishes," she told Inside Edition. "Tony could have a difficult relationship with his kids, but that really was between them and their dad, it had nothing to do with me."

While Jamie apparently stayed out of the fray, some of her siblings took legal action against Jill. The suit was eventually dropped.

Jamie Lee Curtis and her husband, screenwriter Christopher Guest, first became parents when they adopted their daughter Annie Guest in 1986 after struggling with fertility issues. Nine years later, the Hollywood couple went through the adoption process again and brought home their second daughter, Ruby Guest.

In a September 2012 interview with Good Housekeeping, the Oscar winner expressed that she believes she's made some missteps as a mom. "I feel like a failure as a mother a lot, because despite my best efforts, I have replicated parts of how I was parented [that I didn't want to]. Even though I vowed not to and felt like I was doing it so differently, in many ways I repeated some of the same problems," she explained.

The "Borderlands" star went on too say that her own mom would play the role of mom, but things weren't always as they seemed behind the scenes. "I think I fell prey to that in my early parenting. I looked like I was a parent, but I didn't have the follow-through that a parent needs to have," she said. "I think I used my work as a way to be there, then be gone." Despite Curtis' many regrets, she has received a lot of praise for being so supportive of her daughter Ruby, who came out as transgender in 2021, and for advocating for gender inclusivity.

In October 2017, when the #MeToo movement surged in popularity in light of the Harvey Weinstein allegations, Jamie Lee Curtis penned an article for HuffPost. In the piece, Curtis addressed fashion designer Donna Karan's insinuation that Weinstein's victims were in some way "asking for it."

"I, too, have been subjected to my own private, personal versions of sexual harassment on the job. Did I ask for it? No. What I simply asked for was a job, and what came with it was sexual harassment," Curtis wrote.  

Curtis again mentioned the #MeToo movement during a conversation with Melanie Griffith for Interview magazine in October 2021. When  reflecting on both of their mothers' experiences in the film industry, Curtis suggested her own mom wouldn't have spoken out against Alfred Hitchcock. (In her 2016 memoir, Tippi Hedren claimed she was sexually assaulted by the director.) "I don't think Janet [Leigh] would have ever acknowledged if there was any bad behavior. She was, it's a bad term, but kind of Pollyannaish about the industry. I think the #MeToo movement would have really upset her," Curtis shared.

Way back in the late '80s, Jamie Lee Curtis signed on to star in a sitcom with comedian Richard Lewis. "Anything But Love" ran for four seasons, with the stars playing co-workers who were fighting their obvious romantic attraction. Following the run of the show, Curtis and Lewis never worked together again professionally, but they became dear friends. Lewis struggled with addiction for many years before getting sober, and he was a source of support for Curtis during her own sobriety journey.

Lewis died from a heart attack at the age of 76 in February 2024. After the news broke, Curtis shared a few thoughts on Instagram. Alongside a few throwback shots from their days on "Anything But Love," she wrote, "I've just read that my friend Richard Lewis has died. ... He also is the reason I am sober. He helped me. I am forever grateful for him for that act of grace alone. He found love with Joyce and that, of course, besides his sobriety, is what mattered most to him. I'm weeping as I write this. Strange way of saying thank you to a sweet and funny man. Rest in laughter, Richard." A bittersweet tribute to a real-deal Hollywood friend.

If you or anyone you know needs help with addiction issues, or has been a victim of sexual assault, contact the relevant resources below:

•  Visit the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration website or contact SAMHSA's National Helpline at 1-800-662-HELP (4357).
• Visit the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network website or contact RAINN's National Helpline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673).