>>>
with new details on
demi moore
's health scare. her publicist is claiming she sought treatment for exhaustion. but this morning there are indications that may not be the whole story. nbc's
mike taibbi
is outside
sherman oaks hospital
in california with more. hey, mike, good morning.
>> reporter:
good morning, ann. well it's certainly been a rough patch for the 49-year-old actress. and that number, her age, 49, appears to be a key element in this phase of her story. if she was celebrated by many for her marriage to
ashton kutcher
, an unlikely marriage, an actor 16 years her junior, this appears to be the
flip side
. what can happen when it all goes wrong. in october, after the break-up,
demi moore
looked beyond thin. emaciated, unhealthy, some friends said. of her hospitalization, her publicist said because of the stresses in her life right now, demi has chosen to seek professional assistance to treatment her exhaustion and improve her overall health. she looks forward to getting well. but "people" magazine is saying it's more than exhaustion.
>>
there are reports that she had a seizure and she was shaking. one thing that is clear is that
prescription drugs
seem to have played a role in her being brought here.
>> reporter:
moore
had sought treatment for
substance abuse
in the early '80s and in the '90s her career soared with starring roles in films like "ghost" and "a few good men." and her marriage to megastar,
bruce willis
and their eventual divorce provided fodder for the tabloids. on tuesday, their daughter,
rumor willis
, spent time at
sherman oaks hospital
where her mother was rushed for treatment. the ending of
moore
's marriage to kutcher, supposed by a breaking point.
>>
her life seemed to be spiraling a bit and it wasn't something she could take control of herself.
>> reporter:
and she couldn't control the march of time, either. the woman who relied on her physical talents to work a dancer's pole in "striptease" to outmacho the men in "
g.i. jane
" a and to not them dead in her mid 40s. recently told harper's "bazaar" i have a love-hate relationship with my body.
>>
we've seen
ashton kutcher
at a concert. he's certainly not rushing back to be in
los angeles
.
>> reporter:
not rushing back to a woman now struggling, a famous woman, soon to be 50, who said in that same recent interview, that what scares her is she might find out that i'm really not lovable. that i'm not worthy of being loved. that there's something fundamentally wrong with me.
moore
's publicist also says the actress is pulling out of a planned biopic of the porn star,
linda lovelace
, she was to have played the feminist, gloria steinham.
>>>
alisha
quarrels, is the global editor for and the author of "weekends at bellevue." dr. holland, walk us through what exactly getting professional assistance to treat exhaustion and improve overall health would entail?
>>
well the first thing is a
physical exam
, how much do you weigh, how much are you eating, what is your
blood sugar
, kidneys working, and just a
psychiatric examination
, to see if somebody is psychotic or depressed or suicidal. a global examination for starters.
>>
how long would that take in the hospital?
>>
i could do it in
15 minutes
. but -- it can take days.
>>
so the tests, for the tests to come back, it could take hours, if not days.
>>
would the patient necessarily stay in the hospital for days?
>>
psychiatric, it's going to take days to figure out what's going on. bellevue, you have
72 hours
to make an assessment of what's going on.
>>
alisha
, how defensible is the reporting that the problem here may also be
prescription drugs
?
>>
you know, those are unsubstantiated reports and we're not inside of her life, we don't know that we've seen it happen with hollywood actresses time and time again. so when people hear exhaustion, the
red flags
go up. when you think about it, she's going through this very public divorce. they have three children, she's a director, actress. and can you imagine going through all that and being a famous actress, i'm exhausted.
>>
so that's defensible, the idea of exhaustion.
>>
but doctor, you're saying the idea that one out of every four women take some form of
prescription drugs
. when used correctly, that's probably not an issue. how can they be used incorrectly?
>>
one of the problems is mixing medicines with alcohol. you know, certainly sedatives like
sleeping pills
or anti-anxiety medicines, if you're mixing them with alcohol, you're getting them in trouble. taking them not as prescribed, taking too much, mixing pills.
>>
are they have these drugs in this category, drugs that can use to sort of limit your appetite, to cause you to -- or have the effect of causing you to lose a lot of weight?
>>
on some of the antidepressants, wellbutrin can cause you to lose your appetite. and cocaine cuts your appetite. heroin doesn't cut your appetite, but it can make you not feel
hunger pains
.
>>
is it abused in that way? do some women abuse his drugs for that purpose?
>>
definitely, i think you can do stimulants that will also cut your appetite. women abuse pills to
lose weight
, no question.
>>
we don't know what the situation is in this particular case. we do know that demi has now had to back out of a movie in which she was going to play gloria steinham. how much of an impact might this have on her career, given the circumstances?
>>
i don't think it will have a major impact. i've been interviewing her for years, i was there in
2003
when she did the big comeback in haie's angels." she left hollywood to raise her children and was brought back after all of those years. i think people understand she was going through a
hard time
. a public break-up. she said in an interview she feels betrayed by her body. we're forgiving people, understanding people. everyone has been affected by divorce in one way or another. i think people wish her well.
>>
i think a lot of women empathize with some of these issues. thank you so much,
alisha
and doctor, thank you so much.
