Renee Graziano revealed her struggles as an addict almost killed her last year.
The "Mob Wives" star, who recently celebrated four months of sobriety, admitted she "died in a restaurant in Florida" after taking what she believed to be cocaine. The drug turned out to be fentanyl, and she overdosed.
While chatting on Bunnie XO's "Dumb Blonde" podcast, Graziano said she had a tough year and "just couldn't come up for air. Everything just started piling up."
Graziano's history with drugs began at a young age. The daughter of Anthony Graziano, a former consigliere with the Bonanno crime family, Renee had already used cocaine by the time she was 14 and was dating one of the biggest drug dealers in Staten Island when she was 16.
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She spent her life on and off drugs, but in May 2023, she decided to give sobriety one more chance.
"I lost my s--- man," she said. "I was sober June, July, August, September 18. … Someone gave me a bag of fentanyl when it was supposed to be cocaine.
"I died in a restaurant in Florida. I was dead.
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"I was intubated for three days. No one in my family came to the hospital, and I spent nine days there learning how to walk again. And that was it for me. I said OK. I was always afraid of heroin. I never touched it, never did anything like that."
Graziano remembered her father’s sister was an addict who died of HIV. "But she was sober for many years before she died, and for me, it was always that one thought and that was it for me," she said. "And I was like, 'OK, I'm gonna die for real.'"
Graziano admitted she doesn't have any recollection of the overdose or the days she was intubated in the hospital.
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"Three days are wiped from my brain," she told Jelly Roll's wife. "I don’t remember anything. They said I wasn’t going to make it."
When asked why no one visited her in the hospital, Graziano said she didn't harbor any ill will toward her family.
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"I don’t blame them. I’ve put them through hell. When my father died … they told me if I had shock treatment, I would not be sad anymore, so I did," Graziano said. "I did six sessions, and it destroyed my brain. It made my addiction terribly worse. It’s the first time I’m saying that.
"I would’ve done anything in the world to remove that pain. When you’re older, it’s hard to figure out who you are, and it’s sad and lonely."
Bunnie mentioned that Graziano's story could help someone struggling with addiction.
Graziano mentioned that ketamine treatments have been "phenomenal" for helping with her anxiety and said she’s no longer taking any anti-anxiety medications.
Her "dear friend" Lamar Odom offered her help at his Vanity Wellness treatment center in California. Graziano has been dedicated to her mental health and sobriety and now works at the center with Odom.
