Sam Lansky led a tumultuous life before he became the culture editor for Time magazine, the harrowing details of which are chronicled in his recent memoir of teenage drug addiction, The Gilded Razor.
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Lansky’s privileged life as an upper-class New York City youth with hands-off, divorced parents gave him access to all the money – and drugs – he could want. This led to a lifestyle fuelled by alcohol, cocaine, crack and prescription drugs, and a rapid downward spiral into addiction. Soon Lansky’s antics included hooking up with older men he met online, in bars or in clubs who would supply his coke habit.
Eventually Lansky’s father intervened, and sent Lansky to a wilderness-based rehab in Utah, from which emerged clean and with a newfound goal of staying that way. But without access to a aftercare programme to support him in recovery, he soon relapsed.
Ultimately Sam Lansky was able to break free from the cycle of substance abuse, and his position at just 27 as an editor and pop culture pundit for one of the best-known magazines in the world is a testament to what can be achieved in recovery.
