14 DAY TRIAL // Gerard Butler quietly sought help for an addiction to prescription pills, having walked out of rehab just two days before the Oscars 2012. It would seem that good friend Jennifer Aniston had a hand in the decision.
The latest print issue of the National Enquirer (story via here) claims that Gerard would have probably not gone to rehab had it not been for Aniston, with whom he remains good friends after a brief fling a while ago.
The two worked together on “The Bounty Hunter” and even dated for a while, rumor has it. They're still good friends, the latest tabloid report would have us believe.
According to the Enquirer, Aniston saw that Gerard was in trouble and staged an intervention to make him get help.
She already knew that was the best course of action to take, having heard the story many times from her current boyfriend, Justin Theroux, who is no stranger to substance abuse himself.
“Worried about her ex-beau, Jennifer Aniston convinced Gerard Butler to go into rehab for substance abuse, sources tell The Enquirer. Aniston told Butler to seek help, citing her beau Justin Theroux as a shining example of how to beat drug addiction,” the tab says.
An unnamed but admittedly reliable source says that Aniston pleaded with Gerard to get help before it was too late, telling him that, if Justin could kick his addiction to heroin, so could he.
“Jennifer saw that Gerard was in need of help and told him to pack his bags and head to rehab. She said it’s not too late for him to get his life back on track, and it takes a bigger man to admit his problems,” the insider explains.
“Justin went through a strict rehabilitation program and Jennifer told Gerard how he pulled himself together. Jennifer said he can do it too, before his problem turns into something worse,” adds the spy.
As we also reported at the time, Gerard Butler was an in-patient at the Betty Ford Clinic for 3 weeks, where he was treated for addiction to painkillers, which he started taking for injuries sustained during training for “300.”