Southern Charm's Craig Conover Opens Up About Adderall Addiction

The 33-year-old TV personality details his pill-abuse in new book, "Pillow Talk: What's Wrong With My Sewing?", where he shared that in 2018 his addiction to Adderall became so bad he couldn’t film his show "Southern Charm" without it.

Conover said that he felt pressure to always "be on" and began his drug abuse during early seasons of the show.

"In those early seasons, I often blamed my internal demons on the outside pressures I was facing," he noted that the pressures of work drove him to excessive partying.

Craig noted, "The need to finish my work caused me to take Adderall. The anxiety of needing to 'be on' when I went out to the bars caused me to take more Adderall. And so on."

He wrote that the "endless nights" of booze and his constant "struggle to keep up" and his dependency on Adderall had "kicked [his] a--. The consequences of living like a celebrity had finally arrived and beat the hell out of me."

Conover confessed that by the end of season three, his daily intake of the drug had increased dramatically with his dosage being three 15 mg pills "morning, noon and night."

At the time the reality star had been dating his co-star Naomie Olindo and when the couple split ahead of Season five, Conover wrote that it had caused him to take "more Adderall than ever" with "zero reason to be taking it other than to numb my own sadness."

Craig noted a specific experience that he described as a sort of wakeup call that alerted him of how bad his dependency on Adderall had gotten.

While vacationing in the Bahamas, the "Sewing Down South" founder wrote how he and a friend had gone spearfishing. When a shark came into close quarters with his friend, Conover had swam towards him to warn him but found that he "couldn't hold [his] breath for more than a few seconds" due to the pill he had taken earlier that morning.

Craig was able to alert his friend and the events led him to briefly quit the drug. He also noted in his book that he made a "conscious decision to quit the stuff for good" after filming season six of "Southern Charm."

He credited his sewing company for instilling a sense of purpose within him, admitting that it gave him "something to live for."

"That kind of sounds dark, but it gave me purpose, and Sewing Down South has just turned into this incredible part of my life," he explained. "Finding that business finally just allowed me to have that purpose and something to work for instead of getting validation from going out or other unhealthy means that I may have done."

If you or someone you know is struggling with substance abuse, get help. The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) National Helpline (1-800-662-4357) provides 24/7, free, confidential support for people in distress.