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Corey Haim’s Sad Lifelong Struggle to Stay Sober

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Before he died Wednesday at age 38 of an apparent overdose, Corey Haim spent most of his life trying to kick myriad substance-abuse problems.

At age 15, he began to drink beer on the set of the 1986's Lucas. A year later, while shooting The Lost Boys, "I smoked my first joint," he admitted in a 2004 interview with British tabloid The Sun.

"I lived in Los Angeles in the '80s, which was not the best place to be," Haim told the paper. "I did cocaine for about a year-and-a-half, then it led to crack."

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After several stints in rehab, he was put on prescription drugs.

"I started on the downers which were a hell of a lot better than the uppers because I was a nervous wreck," he told The Sun. "But one led to two, two led to four, four led to eight, until at the end it was about 85 a day.

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"And that was just the Valium," said Haim, also who filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in 1997. "I'm not talking about the other pills I went through."

In 2001, he reportedly suffered a drug-induced stroke.

In a 2007 interview on CNN's Larry King Live, Haim claimed he kicked drugs while promoting his A&E reality TV show The Two Coreys, costarring his childhood friend Corey Feldman.

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Asked why he finally stopped abusing drugs, he said: "I didn't like looking in the mirror anymore. I couldn't do it."

Haim told King he had an addiction "to pretty much everything.

"I mean, I have to be very careful with myself as far as that goes, which is why I have a support group around me consistently," said Haim, who referred to himself as "a chronic relapser for the rest of my life."

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In 2008 — after his A&E show was canceled after two seasons — Feldman said he was no longer speaking to Haim until he got sober. (One clip of their 2007 reality show has Feldman and his wife, along with two other former teen stars, urging Haim to admit he needs help.)

Haim died at 2:15 a.m. Wednesday at Providence St. Joseph Medical Center in Burbank, Los Angeles County coroner's Lt. Cheryl MacWillie tells UsMagazine.com.

Four prescription bottles were found by Haim's body, Los Angeles Coroner Assistant Chief Ed Winter tells Us. No illegal drugs were found at Haim's Burbank, Calif.-area apartment. Winter described the drugs as "normal prescriptions."

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