American Beauty star Mena Suvari 'snorted meth' on set to 'numb pain of sexual abuse'

To the outside world, Mena Suvari was an American sweetheart and the picture of success.

She became a star after her roles in raunchy teen comedy American Pie and the Oscar-winning American Beauty, which both came out in 1999, propelling her career to new heights.

But behind the scenes, things were a lot less glamorous as she struggled with meth addiction to numb the pain of years of sexual abuse.

READ MORE: American Pie’s Jennifer Coolidge says she got the ‘best d***’ after Stifler’s Mom role

In her memoir, The Great Peace, the 43-year-old recalled how she used drugs to deal with the trauma she suffered in her younger years.

Mena, who turns 44 today (February 13), said: “I took drugs to numb myself from the pain. Alcohol. Pot. Coke. Crystal meth. Acid. Ecstasy. Mushrooms. Mescaline.

“It was my way of detaching from the hell of my existence – and surviving.”

Mena said in the book that she was first sexually abused at the age of just 12 by a family friend who expressed a strong interest in her.

“No one stopped him from being alone with me in my bedroom. No one cautioned me”, she wrote.

The boy, who was three school years above, convinced Mena to follow him up to the secluded guest room where he made multiple sexual advances.

The actress said: “I saw him put on the condom and felt my heart sink into a dark abyss.”

He ignored her desperate pleas to stop.

She added: “I shut my eyes, and when I opened them again, he was climbing off me and walking into the bathroom to take off the condom.”

He dumped her following the rape and told his schoolmates that she was a “wh**e”.

Mena got drunk for the first time after the incident, which soon after led her down a path of drugs to cope with the shame she felt.

The American Beauty star was still a teen when she moved to Hollywood, but was often told she looked “much older” onset and in modelling shoots.

Kevin Spacey’s character in American Beauty develops an obsession with Mena’s character Angela, an insecure but sexually precocious young woman.

“I identified with Angela,” Suvari told The Guardian.

The experiences of sexual abuse led her down a path of drug addiction where she spent her days getting high.

While a student in Burbank, California, she was addicted to meth.

She said: “The hours I was at school were spent thinking about getting out of school and doing some lines.”

Before long, she said she was pulling out a “compact mirror and snorting a line in the school bathroom”.

Despite her addiction, Mena said she managed to keep her grades up and pursue her acting career without anyone the wiser.

She said: “’I still did everything asked of me. Schoolwork. Auditions. Sex. Only I had to know how f***ed up I was getting every day.”

Mena started dating a lighting engineer, which she said marked the beginning of another abusive relationship.

He would call her names and tell her how stupid she was.

As well as the mental torment came physical abuse, forcing her to use uncomfortable sex toys, and even leaving her requiring hospital treatment her after sex.

“I was not being loved. I was just a body, a receptacle for his desires,” she wrote.

This sent her into a downward spiral of taking more drugs.

Writing her book was a painful yet cathartic experience she said, claiming she hoped to inspire others who have experienced the horrors of sexual abuse to speak out.

If you or somebody you know has been affected by this story, contact Victim Support for free, confidential advice on 08 08 16 89 111 or visit their website, www.victimsupport.org.uk.

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Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk