Jamie Lee Curtis Had A Messy Relationship With Her Father

Trigger warning: The following article contains mentions of drug abuse.

While much has been said about Hollywood's vast array of nepo babies in recent years, the phenomenon of inherited fame is nothing new. Just ask Jamie Lee Curtis, the daughter of fellow actors Tony Curtis and Janet Leigh. Over the years, Jamie has spoken candidly about what it was like growing up in a famous family, and from the sound of things, it wasn't always easy. What's more, the "Freaky Friday" star's relationship with her father Tony was especially messy and complicated.

Jamie clearly has much respect for both Tony and Janet, telling the Hollywood Foreign Press Association in 1981, "My parents were really wonderful people." However, the actress' home life growing up was far from a happy one. "My parents hated each other my whole life. I was raised in a house of hatred," she said on "The View" in 2016. Following their eventual divorce, Tony and Janet each re-married several times each, resulting in a massive blended family for Jamie.

As she found Hollywood success in her own right, Jamie remained rather close to her mother, even sharing the screen with her in 1998's "Hollywood H20." Jamie's relationship with her father, on the other hand, was virtually non-existent for long stretches of time. And one of their rare moments of bonding came in the most tragic way possible, at one of the lowest points in Jamie's life. "I knew my dad had an issue because I had an issue and he and I shared drugs," Jamie told Variety in 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," she elaborated. At the time of that interview, Jamie was 20 years sober.

If you or anyone you know is struggling with addiction issues, help is available. Visit the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration website or contact SAMHSA's National Helpline at 1-800-662-HELP (4357).

Jamie Lee Curtis mentioned during her 2019 interview with Variety that, at the time of her experience sharing drugs with dad Tony Curtis, she was the only one of his children who was actually on speaking terms with him. "He did end up getting sober for a short period of time and was very active in recovery for about three years," she went on to share, adding, "It didn't last that long. But he found recovery for a minute."

As we previously mentioned, however, Jamie herself went long stretches in which she and Tony were virtually absent from each other's lives. Shortly before Tony died in 2010 at the age of 85, he even went as far as to cut all five of his living children out of his will, leaving Jamie and her siblings with no inheritance from him (per Forbes). However, despite this, Jamie says she and her father were able to reconcile their difficult relationship shortly before he passed away.

"His personal failings and public successes have been well documented, and my relationship with him, although nonexistent for much of my life, in the end was good and based on mutual respect rather than any father and daughter model. He adored his wife, and she [adored him]," Jamie said in a public statement published by People on Oct. 1, 2010, two days after Tony's death. The statement came nearly six years to the day after Jamie's mother Janet Leigh died on Oct. 3, 2004 at the age of 77.