Mindy McCready becomes latest "Celebrity Rehab" death

Singer Mindy McCready participates in the Ladies No-Limit Hold 'em poker tournament at the World Series of Poker at the Rio Hotel & Casino on June 8, 2008, in Las Vegas. / Angela Weiss/Getty Images

Mindy McCready's death Sunday, of an apparent suicide, makes her the fifth participant from "Celebrity Rehab with Dr. Drew" to die in the past two years.

McCready appeared on the third season of Dr. Drew Pinsky's VH1 series, which followed stars as they were treated for drug and alcohol addiction. She suffered a seizure on camera in one of the show's scarier moments.

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Mindy McCready: 1975-2013

The 37-year-old McCready is the third cast member from that season's cast of nine people to die -- Alice in Chains bassist Mike Starr died in 2011 and former "Real World" star Joey Kovar died last August, both of overdoses.

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Mindy McCready, dead from apparent suicide

Jeff Conaway and Rodney King, who appeared on other "Celebrity Rehab" seasons, have also died.

In an interview with CBSNews.com in 2010, McCready denied that the show exploits people's problems for entertainment.

"I know that their hearts are definitely all in the right place," she said at the time. "It saved my life; there's no doubt about it. I was meant to be on that show."

The last season of "Celebrity Rehab" aired in 2011. A sixth season of the show, titled "Rehab with Dr. Drew" and featuring a cast of non-celebrities, aired last year.

In a statement issued by his publicist (and obtained by BuzzFeed) following McCready's death, Pinsky said:

"I am deeply saddened by this awful news. My heart goes out to Mindy's family and children. She is a lovely woman who will be missed by many. Although I have not treated her for few years, I had reached out to her recently upon hearing about the apparent suicide of her boyfriend and father of her younger children. She was devastated. Although she was fearful of stigma and ridicule she agreed with me that she needed to make her health and safety a priority. Unfortunately it seems that Mindy did not sustain her treatment.

Mental health issues can be life threatening and need to be treated with the same intensity and resources as any other dangerous potentially life threatening medical condition. Treatment is effective. If someone you know is suffering please be sure he or she gets help and maintains treatment."

[mesalo]

First of all, all the reports that I have read are reporting that there were five celebrities who died after appearing on the show, "Celebrity Rehab w/Dr. Drew." This is false!!! There were six celebrities who died after appearing on this show. It seems everyone has sadly forgotten Jani Lane, the singer for the 80s hair band Warrant. So in random order and with respect, the list is as follows: 1) Mindy McCready; 2) Rodney King; 3) Jeff Conaway; 4) Mike Starr; 5) Joey Kovar; and 6) Jani Lane.

[nursedeb49]

I of course agree that those in rehab should have privacy and putting it on TV as entertainment is wrong, however, you people must know that many he had on were VERY sick individuals and at VERY high risk of death. The rate of recidivism with addiction is extremely high, ask anyone who has stopped smoking how many attempts it took. I still say Dr. drew is not the problem, the problem is the money to be made on current treatment and the fact it so often fails. I think the research needs to be done, but it is very hard to study the brain in the living, however they are getting better at it, and the study on brain injury with football players shows it can be done, then we go from there as far as what will actually work to reset the problem in the brain that sends these folks back to the drug or drink everytime. We are losing an astronomical amount of folks to drug deaths, in our area it has surpassed all other causes of unexpected deaths including car accidents, sad really. I just can't imagine what goes thru the mind of a parent to take their life with children to think about, and then kill her dog with herself, must be a terrible place to be.

[Weallhaveone]

Well Dr. Drew, it must be you. Quite the fail rate.

[Choons]

Dr Drew is a ghoul getting rich off of airing people's train wrecks. The drug rehab business is also a huge racket that rips off govt & insurance companies but hardly ever succeeds getting people straight.

[snake-iz]

well it seems drew's failures are high.if i got cash and am shopping for some rehab i'm not so sure he'd top my list.

[VA_Jill]

"Celebrity Rehab" is a joke. If you really want and need rehab, you need to go somewhere you are out of the spotlight and are NOT a "celebrity". Learning that you're not somehow "special" is the first step toward breaking your addiction.

[erasmus111]

Yes, as long as they are in the spotlight, there is no hope.

Just being in the "spotlight" is an addiction.

[bundye]

Get help, but not with Drew.