Demi Moore, the friend she lost and the breakdown that left her in hospital

Demi Moore’s despair over the death of the friend who supported her at Alcoholics Anonymous may have led to her collapse this week, it was claimed yesterday.
The troubled actress was overcome with grief when she attended the funeral of Patsy Rugg, 70, in December, weeks after announcing the end of her marriage.
According to reports in the U.S., the loss of the AA sponsor she used to introduce as ‘my Mum’ may have been a factor in her meltdown on Monday night.

Grief: A fragile Demi Moore after her much-publicised break-up with Ashton Kutcher

Miss Moore, 49, was taken to hospital after suffering a seizure said to have been caused by inhaling nitrous oxide, better known as laughing gas.
Her alleged use of the prescription drug Adderall, an appetite suppressant, is also said to have played a part.
Celebrity website TMZ claimed Miss Moore, had inhaled the nitrous oxide after hosting a dinner party at her home.

Yesterday the Los Angeles City Attorney shed new light on the drama when it released the 911 tape of an emergency call made by a friend when Miss Moore collapsed.
The unidentified woman on the tape said Miss Moore was semi conscious and ‘burning up’ after she had ‘smoked something’.

Changing shape: Demi was looking frail in October in the wake of news her husband had cheated on her, seen looking healthier in 2009

With cries of alarm in the background and appeals for an ambulance to hurry, she said her friends were holding the actress down.
She told the emergency operator that Miss Moore had ‘smoked something – it’s not marijuana, it’s similar to incense.’

Passing: Drugs counsellor Rugg died last November

‘She seems to be suffering convulsions,’ she said, adding that ‘Demi’ was ‘barely breathing’.
Asked if Miss Moore was taking anything else, she added: ‘I don’t know. There has been some stuff recently that we are just finding out about.’
Concerns for Miss Moore’s health have grown since her marriage to Ashton Kutcher, 16 years her junior, ended in November last year.
Her weight has plummeted to six and a half stone and she has appeared increasingly frail and troubled.
The actress, who has three daughters with ex-husband Bruce Willis, left hospital in Los Angeles on Thursday morning. Her publicist said she was seeking treatment to ‘improve her overall health’ and blamed her collapse on stress and exhaustion.
Miss Moore hasn’t made any public comment about her condition.
However those who saw her at Beacher’s Madhouse on Hollywood Boulevard two weeks ago made their own conclusions when she was spotted table dancing for three handsome strangers on a night out with her 23-year-old daughter Rumer.
Miss Moore was excitable, uninhibited and not at all the broken-hearted wreck that she has been painted in recent reports. That night follows an equally uninhibited getaway to Bruce Willis’ home on the Turks and Caicos Islands over Christmas.
Again she was with Rumer and again she was spotted dancing flirtatiously with young men in a bar.
On the night she collapsed she was also socialising with a crowd half her age. She was hosting a dinner party at home for ‘girlfriends’ including the Hollywood socialite Heather Perry and Jennifer Meyer, the wife of Spider-Man actor Tobey Maguire.

In happier and healthier times: Demi and her estranged husband Ashton Kutcher in February last year before they split

Reports in the U.S. said she was ‘hyper’ and ‘acting crazy’ during the dinner, before collapsing after all but one of her friends had left.
So what is going on? The emergency on Monday night is said to have been caused by Miss Moore inhaling nitrous oxide, a potentially lethal drug commonly known as laughing gas.
Reports that she has also been using Adderall, an amphetamine-based drug commonly used as an appetite suppressant, have not been denied. She is also reported to have been using a sedative to help her sleep and drinking copious amounts of energy drink.
The result is that Miss Moore, once universally desirable and at the pinnacle of the Hollywood A list, is now not working and a shadow of the woman she once was.
Her management have suggested she should check into the Cirque Lodge in Utah to deal with an eating disorder and substance abuse problem.

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The two issues are reported to have been plaguing Miss Moore for the past year or more, in the lead-up and aftermath of her marriage break-up.
Since then, daughter Rumer has been keeping her company constantly in an unhappy echo of Miss Moore’s own years caring for her alcoholic mother, Virginia.
Miss Moore herself went through rehab for alcohol abuse early in her career, when filming St Elmo’s Fire in 1985, and several biographies have alleged that she used cocaine too.
Now, having been hospitalised after suffering a seizure while abusing nitrious oxide, she has descended to rock bottom.
Why would she even try such a cheap thrill? Los Angeles addiction expert Dr Reef Karim said nitrous oxide is ‘a kids’ drug’.
‘If I see someone in their 40s or 50s doing it, there is something else going on,’ the doctor said. ‘It is like they are devolving in their drug use back to their teenage years.’

Seeking help: Demi, seen here earlier this month with her daughter Rumer was admitted to hospital on Monday night

The suggestions doing the rounds in Los Angeles yesterday were that Miss Moore was taking the drug with a friend of her daughters, for the first time. She fell into semi-consciousness and had an apparent epileptic seizure that ended up with her in hospital.
One friend told the Mail that Miss Moore’s behaviour actually started to unravel after her dream of having a baby with Kutcher faded.
‘About a year ago, she realised it wasn’t going to happen. With her own daughters pretty much grown up, there was this hole in her life and she filled it with chasing her youth.
'She was trying to keep up with Ashton and as great as she looked, she was still at a different point in her life than he was.
‘Despite all that, she’s been a fantastic mum to her girls and has always put them first. The problem is that Demi’s still in love with Ashton and really wants him back. That’s why she hasn’t filed divorce papers yet. She still hopes he’ll come back to her.’

Trigger? New claims have suggested the death of Demi Moore's AA sponsor led to her meltdown. Here, the troubled actress is seen at Pattsy Rugg's funeral last December

There seems little chance of that. Since the split two months ago, Kutcher has bought a bachelor pad in Los Angeles complete with a Jacuzzi grotto and screening room.
Friends of Miss Moore say that he has caused her anguish by continuing to phone her from time to time – but whenever she has needed him, it seems he is simply unreachable.
He was in Brazil filming a commercial when he heard she was ill but did not shorten his trip. Instead he attended a series of parties before flying back to the U.S. on Thursday.
‘Ashton is deeply concerned about Demi,’ a source told People magazine. ‘He still cares about her and wants the best for her. But their marriage is ending and they are both moving on.’
So was this just a cry for help – was she trying to get his attention? If it was, Kutcher seems not to have heard.

Additional reporting: David Gardner