They hit bottom but got back up

LAST week, Lindsay Lohan’s substance abuse troubles began to look intractable. But Hollywood’s full of back-from-the-brink stories. Cases in point:

Drew Barrymore: When most kids are getting braces, “E.T.’s” tow-headed star was drinking, smoking pot and snorting cocaine. But Barrymore, 32, has grown into a super-producer with her production company Flower Films, and last year she earned one of the highest salaries per movie.

Robert Downey Jr.: This critically praised actor couldn’t walk a straight line for most of the ‘90s. Jail time, rehab, wandering into a neighbor’s house and passing out in a bedroom ... who could keep up? But now he’s earning notices in “Zodiac” and the upcoming “Charlie Bartlett.”

Ozzy Osbourne: There are few drug habits as storied as Osbourne’s. He was arrested for urinating on the Alamo. He bit off the head of a live dove in a meeting with record execs. He tried to strangle his wife and manager, Sharon. For his latest album, “Black Rain,” he got clean. “Instead of picking up the bottle,” he told Billboard, “I just got honest and said, ‘I don’t want life to go [to pieces].’ ”

-- Margaret Wappler

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