Heavy/ABC Shawn Johnson opened up about her past Adderall addiction.
During a Q&A on her Instagram Stories, “Dancing With the Stars” champ Shawn Johnson responded to a fan who asked about welcoming her third child.
“Feeling great,” she replied. “I also refuse all pain meds haha (they make me SO sick and frankly after being addicted to Adderall it just scares me so I don’t even mess with it),” she added.
Johnson evidently a bunch of messages following her response and took to her Instagram Stories to clarify.
“Ok… long story short during my comeback in 2010 I was prescribed Adderall to ‘curb my appetite and give me more energy’ by a not good doctor,” Johnson explained in a separate post.
“Fast forward 7 years of being heavily addicted to it and having it control me, when I finally freed myself of it I swore anything even remotely addictive I’d stay away from. It affected every part of my life and changed who I was. I never want to feel out of control like that again. So…. Tylenol and Motrin for me,” she said.
Here’s what you need to know:
Shawn Johnson Welcomed Her Son, Bear, on December 12
Johnson gave birth to her third child — a son named Bear — on December 12, 2023. She and her husband, Andrew East, are also parents to Drew, 4, and Jett, 2.
Johnson had a C-section with all three of her children, due to the size of each baby and her small frame.
“I’m 4-foot-11, my torso is like, four inches tall, my husband is almost 6-foot-3, and my kids are almost 10 pounds when I have them,” Johnson explained on the July 12, 2023, episode of the “Couple Things” podcast. “I carry big babies,” she added.
Fans reacted to Johnson saying that she forwent pain meds after giving birth.
“Holy s*** at having to get through c section recovery with just Tylenol. Just. Damn,” one person commented on a Reddit thread.
“I’ve never had a c-section, but I’m currently recovering from knee surgery. The thought of not having painkillers even for that makes me nauseous,” someone else added.
Shawn Johnson Previously Opened Up About Her Drug Addiction
Back in 2020, Johnson opened up about her Adderall addiction.
“As soon as the Olympics were over, and I didn’t have gymnastics, and I didn’t have the Olympics to work for, I quickly realized I had a self-confidence and self-image issues of, if I couldn’t maintain perfection, I would go to any and all cost to achieve it,” she said in a video posted to her YouTube channel at the time.
“I had the spotlight put on me because of ‘Dancing with the Stars,'” she continued, adding, “And during this time, I had to deal with not being an elite athlete, not training 50 hours a week, eating more than 700 calories a day, which naturally would let my body adjust and gain weight, which was healthy at the time, but I didn’t know how to handle it.”
Johnson recalled taking “heavy doses of Adderall” that she believes caused her to go into a deep depression. Then, one day, she just said to herself, “I can’t do this anymore.”
Now, Johnson is very careful with what she puts into her body as to ensure that she doesn’t fall into any kind of hole again.
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