How Prateik Babbar battled drug addiction that started at the age of 13

Prateik Babbar

Actor Prateik Babbar's battle with addiction is a known tale. The actor has time and again shared his story of addiction and how he battled it and overcame it. He first got the taste of drugs even before he turned 12 owing to his complex situation at home. The son of legendary Smita Patel, he lost his mother days after his birth. On his birthday today, we revisit the actor's journey of getting rid of drugs for good and getting back on the path of acting and spending wholesome moments with his loved ones.

How Prateik Babbar got into drugs

In an interview with Bollywood Bubble, Prateik Babbar shared, "I just want to say that people think, ‘Oh, he entered films, got fame and money, and then started taking drugs.' No, that's not true. My drug use began when I was thirteen years old, even before I turned twelve. Yes, I was terrified. So, it wasn't because of the film industry. Unfortunately, I had a different kind of upbringing, and my family situation was a bit complicated. That's why I started using drugs. It's not that fame and money in films led me to it - I had already started using drugs then."

In another interview he had recalled how drug usage made him feel. "Getting out of bed was almost impossible; nausea greeted me each morning, my body ached and I oscillated between hot and cold every few minutes. At that point, I didn't even have a drug of choice, I took whatever I could lay my hands on," he said.

When the actor decided to take help

"I realised I hadn't looked myself in the eye ever since I started getting high. Following multiple episodes that made me feel like a miserable prisoner of drugs, I decided to finally seek professional help. My family refused to see their loved one attempt to slowly kill himself, and encouraged me to sign up for rehab," he said in a tell-all column to mid-day in 2017, after a year of sobreity.

"A drug overdose made me sit up and take note of the monster I had become. I'm not religious, but at that moment, I encountered my first experience of spirituality. A heady cocktail rendered me unconscious with my face down on the bedroom floor. I was surrounded in vomit and regained consciousness only 24 hours later. It's a miracle I survived," he added.

"Following multiple episodes that made me feel like a miserable prisoner of drugs, I decided to finally seek professional help. My family refused to see their loved one attempt to slowly kill himself, and encouraged me to sign up for rehab. I am certain that I will wrestle my need for drugs even on my best days, but the only way to keep cynicism at bay is by sharing the emotions that fueled my addiction in the first place," he added.

Prateik Babbar credits fiancee Priya Banerjee for his improvement

Prateik and Priya Banerjee's relationship surfaced in 2022. He was previously married to Sanya Sagar. They parted ways reportedly during the lockdown after tying the knot on January 23, 2019.

Prateik added, "Drugs are associated with trauma, you understand. As long as that trauma isn't released, it will continue to impact relationships and other areas of life. But there comes a time when you have to work to make things better, which I've been doing for many years. My fiancée (actor Priya Banerjee) has been helping me improve in many ways. We're helping each other grow, though she doesn't need any improvement - she's perfect! That's life, you know; you have to move on."