When it comes to screwed up reasons to use GoFundMe, rehab is probably one of the lesser evils — certainly preferable to plastic surgery, designer dogs, and/or extravagant wedding receptions you can’t afford. For those who don’t know, anything more than 12 step meetings in a musty church basement is going to cost you a pretty penny.
Still, when a public figure does it, it’s bound to reverberate across the internet.
Rachel Oberlin — better known as adult film star Bree Olson — has turned to GoFundMe to get off benzos and get her life together. Her verified Twitter account shared the link to the page, so we can pretty safely assume it’s actually her fundraiser. However, just like with just about any GoFundMe page, we have no way to verify where the funds will actually go. That said, she says any funds raised will go directly toward treatment and “not to my mortgage, bills, flights, etc while I am away.”
I have been through so much as you can imagine, from childhood trauma to what I’ve put myself through as an adult. Throughout my entire life, I have battled severe depression and anxiety which I have been able to hide until now. When I entered into the adult industry at age 18 as an escape from my childhood and to find myself, I never imagined how much worse things could become. I have spent the last decade masking my pain and losing myself even more so as doctors prescribed me mountains of benzodiazapines to make me feel better. I don’t feel better. I’ve never felt worse.
I have been in outpatient therpay since the age of 18 as I’ve tried to fight this dibilatating depression and anxiety. The benzodiazapines are highly addictive and even though I take them as prescribed, my mind and body are physically dependent on them.
As many of you know, drug dependecy is far more than getting off the drug itself. It is about getting out from under the weight of that drug and all the damage it does and finding out who you really are. It is about acquiring the tools to figure out how to cope and really just learning how to live again.
She does have health insurance but unfortunately, she says, her HMO won’t cover the in-patient facility she wants to go to.
The saddest part is her plea for the internet to both save and spare her. She is asking the internet for financial help, but pleading with the internet not to troll her over it at the same time. Unfortunately, that’s not how the internet works.
As if finally admitting I need help wasn’t enough, I had to humble myself to ask for finacial help too. The internet can sometimes be the worst burden to me in terms of pain and how people treat me. I hope today is the day that I am able to start over with a new sense of hope and optimism and get to somewhere soon thanks to people like you.
Thank you for saving me.
The Richest estimates her net worth at $5 million. We wish her luck in her journey.
