14 DAY TRIAL // While America’s Next Top Model winner CariDee English criticizes Tyra Banks and the producers of the show for not helping former finalist Jael Strauss, who’s dying from a severe meth addiction, Dr. Phil is actually taking concrete action to save her life.
Jael was on Cycle 8 of the show, back in 2007 but, in the years that passed since then, she’s become a mere ruin of her former self.
Her face is scarred and her teeth are rotting out of her head because she’s addicted to meth, leaving her concerned parents with no other alternative for saving her life than going to Dr. Phil for an intervention.
The videos below will show you how said intervention went.
The first one shows Jael’s family trying to reach out to her through an intervention, to get her to see that she has a serious problem and that, if she doesn’t get help, she will die.
As expected, things don’t go smoothly, with intervention specialist Brandon saying she flew into a “meth psychosis rage,” her biggest fit since she started on the drug.
Eventually, they get Jael to agree to fly out to meet with Dr. Phil but that too doesn’t go smoothly. Afraid to face the world and the cameras, Jael has panic attacks and runs away twice.
Dr. Phil gets to meet and talk to her off the set, behind a garbage bin where she tried to hide.
Though reluctant, Jael listens to him and, in the end, agrees to his terms: he offers to pay all her rehab expenses at what he calls the best facility of the kind in the country, including medication to make withdrawal symptoms less severe.
Because he truly believes she deserves a second chance, Dr. Phil also offers to pay for her education and to support her until she gets a good job, after she completes the rehabilitation program.
Truly a happy ending for this drug-ravaged former model.
