These 17 celebrities have all been vocal about their use and support of psychedelic therapies — from A$AP Rocky’s LSD trip to Aaron Rodgers’ ayahuasca ceremonies and Kristen Bell’s psilocybin use.
Psychedelics and the celebrities who use them aren’t a new combo. But the days of using them just for fun have been replaced by interest in deep healing and spiritual work. Whether processing loss, trauma, or issues like anxiety and depression, celebrities are speaking out about their use of psychedelics to find healing.
Research suggests that psychedelics may have various therapeutic benefits, including reducing symptoms of anxiety, depression, and addiction, and promoting feelings of empathy and connectedness. Psilocybin, the active ingredient in magic mushrooms, has reduced symptoms of depression and anxiety in some clinical trials. Ayahuasca, a traditional Amazonian brew containing the psychedelic compound DMT, has shown the ability to reduce symptoms of depression, among other issues.
Research also suggests that psychedelics may have a positive impact on creativity and cognitive flexibility. A study published in the Journal of Psychopharmacology found that psilocybin increased creativity in participants, leading to improved problem-solving abilities and increased divergent thinking. Another study found that psilocybin increased the connectivity between brain regions associated with creativity and imagination.
Despite these potential benefits, psychedelics remain illegal in many countries and are can be dangerous and harmful. New concerns are now cropping up over ketamine and its role in the death of actor Matthew Perry earlier this year. Ketamine has been used as an off-label treatment for depression, but it poses serious, and even fatal, risks as was the case with Perry.
However, recent research and deregulation efforts could help safeguard psychedelics. The legalization of therapeutic psilocybin in Oregon and Australia would require controlled conditions and licensed practitioners to administer the drugs; and with proper supervision, fatalities are much less likely to occur.
Celebrities who’ve tried psychedelics
Psychedelics have long had a devoted following. Aldous Huxley, Cary Grant, Steve Jobs, and Carrie Fisher all famously spoke about their life-changing experience with hallucinogens. Today, a number of celebrities have come forward to share information about their psychedelic use. From musicians and actors to comedians and athletes, these are some notable celebrities who’ve tried psychedelics.
1. Aaron Rodgers
Super Bowl champion and four-time NFL MVP, the former Green Bay Packers quarterback recently spoke about using ayahuasca. Rodgers, who now plays for the New York Jets, says he turned to the South American psychedelic brew to help heal family trauma and work on himself. He also said it’s something he’ll likely do again as he continues his journey of self-healing.
2. Kristen Bell
The Frozen and The Good Place star has opened up about her use of psilocybin. Bell has long been open about her struggles with depression and anxiety. She was inspired to try mushrooms after reading Michael Pollan’s 2018 book on psychedelics, How to Change Your Mind. Bell said the experience helped her see herself in a new light. “In my head, I had separated this body that had done so much good in my life, that has taken me through happiness and pain and workouts and laziness, and I just couldn’t stop touching my legs, going, ‘You’re so strong. You’re so elegant,’” she said.
3. A$AP Rocky
The rapper is known for singing about ‘L$D’, but that’s not his only relationship with the psychedelic substance. He has spoken publicly about his use of LSD, saying that it “helps me cope with life”. In 2015, he told Billboard, “I’ve been doing this stuff since I got into the industry. People are scared to talk about it.”
4. Bill Burr
The comedian and actor has spoken publicly about his use of psilocybin saying that mushrooms have helped him to overcome anxiety and address fears around parenting. “Fatherhood made me have to figure myself out because I didn’t want my kids to go through some of the stuff I went through [as a child],” he told former late-night host Conan O’Brien. Burr detailed his psychedelic journeys in his recent Red Rocks, Colo., Netflix special, sharing that he faced a lot of demons during the experience.
5. Sting
The musician and activist has spoken publicly about using ayahuasca as part of his spiritual journey. The Police frontman described his experience with ayahuasca as “one of the most powerful things I’ve ever done.”
6. Chelsea Handler
The comedian and TV personality has spoken publicly about her use of ayahuasca — the experience in Peru was filmed for her Netflix show in 2016. She described it as a “transformational” experience that helped her to overcome anxiety and connect with her spirituality.
7. Prince Harry
In his recent memoir, Spare, the Duke of Sussex revealed that he used psychedelics including the South American shamanic brew ayahuasca and psilocybin mushrooms, saying that it helped him to process trauma related to his mother’s death. “I would never recommend people to do this recreationally,” Harry told Anderson Cooper during a 60 Minutes interview in January. “But doing it with the right people, if you are suffering from a huge amount of loss, grief or trauma, then these things have a way of working as a medicine.”
8. Harry Styles
The singer and actor has been candid about his use of mushrooms, saying it helped him not only creatively, but to deal with anxiety. “There’s an after flow of some of that stuff where sometimes you take something, and then for 10 days after you’re like, ‘Don’t worry about it, everything’s going to be fine.’ It’s stress-relieving in a sense. I think that that’s been a big part of this whole thing for me is I’m just trying to go through life being a little less worried about stuff.” he said.
9. Joe Rogan
The comedian, podcast host, and MMA commentator is known for his advocacy of psychedelic drugs. Rogan has spoken at length about his use of DMT, ayahuasca, and other substances, describing them as transformative experiences that have helped him to connect with his spirituality and explore his consciousness.
10. Seth Rogen
The actor, writer, producer, and now purveyor of cannabis products as co-founder of Houseplant, is also well-known for his use of marijuana and psychedelics. Rogen says he tried psilocybin at age 13. “It’s a real consciousness-expanding drug, so maybe it’s had pretty deep effects [at that age],” he said. Rogen says he still takes mushrooms on occasion, and that he finds them very insightful and “very introspective.” Rogen says it’s not just recreationally that he uses psilocybin. “I did shrooms recently and then quit a job the next day,” he told Esquire in 2018. “So yeah, I’ve made some real-life decisions as a result.”
11. Mike Tyson
The former heavyweight boxing champion, Mike Tyson, has spoken publicly about his use of psilocybin and 5-MeO, saying that it helped him to overcome addiction and deal with his emotions and self-destructive behavior. “Everyone thought I was crazy, I bit [Evander Holyfield’s] ear off. I did all this stuff, and once I got introduced to the ‘shrooms … my whole life changed.”
12. Susan Sarandon
The “Thelma and Louise” star says marijuana, LSD, and mushrooms, particularly the latter, have helped her to overcome anxiety and become more creative. “I’m not new to the idea of mushrooms,” she said in 2014 after attending the Burning Man festival in Nevada. “I don’t really like chemical things, really. Timothy Leary was a friend of mine, so that acid was nice and pure, but I’m not really looking for chemicals, and I don’t like to feel speedy. But I’ve done ayahuasca and I’ve done mushrooms and things like that. But I like those drugs in the outdoors — I’m not a city-tripper.”
13. Jaden Smith
A performer, MSFTS fashion label founder, and philanthropist, Smith, like other members of his famous family, has experimented with psychedelics. He said trying psilocybin helped him to understand what ego was “for the first time,” the rapper said. “It was always in my head talking, telling me what I was and what I wasn’t, and for the first time I had ego dissolution, where I was like, “that was the moment that really changed me.”
14. Daniel Carcillo
The former NHL player — a two-time Stanley Cup champion — not only found healing from his traumatic brain injury and resulting depression with psilocybin, but he’s now behind Wesana Health, a company working to help others, particularly athletes, also find healing with psychedelics.
15. Machine Gun Kelly
Singer Machine Gun Kelly (Colson Baker) drank ayahuasca with fiancé Megan Fox in Costa Rica, calling it “one of the most important things that happened to me in my life.” He says the medicine was “exercising some things out of us that we needed to get rid of,” he said. “The plant was a medicine that really went inside, you could feel it working inside your body. Even after you left it stayed there. It was interesting.”
16. Lamar Odom
The former American basketball player has spoken publicly about his struggles with addiction and his use of psychedelic drugs as part of his recovery. He has talked about using ketamine, a dissociative anesthetic, as well as iboga to help him deal with depression and anxiety, and has also discussed his experience with ayahuasca. Odom has credited psychedelics with helping him to overcome his addiction and find a sense of inner peace.
17. Kacey Musgraves
The singer/songwriter opened up about her guided psilocybin journey, telling Rolling Stone in 2021 that the experience was “not recreational” at all. “It was like mental and spiritual labor. Like ten years of therapy in one sitting.”
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