FOR a fleeting moment in the late 1990s, Tara Reid had the world at her feet.
With starring roles in American Pie, Urban Legend, and Josie and the Pussycats, and a red carpet-ready romance with MTV presenter Carson Daly, she had all the makings of Hollywood’s next big thing.
But sadly, fate had other intentions.
Like so many other female celebrities of the time, she quickly became more known for falling out of nightclubs than for her iconic film credits.
Add bouts of botched surgery, cringey reality appearances and well-documented struggles with alcohol to the mix, and it’s no surprise that she was never able to recapture the glory of those early days.
But while many of Tara’s contemporaries, like Paris Hilton and Lindsay Lohan, have since been able to rise from the ashes of their former party girl reputations, Tara’s always been tarred by the label.
And now, things have gone from bad to worse for the 50 year old, who’s insistently sworn over the years that she swapped boozing and nights out for a healthier, wholesome lifestyle.
Last month, the actress hit the headlines after shocking pictures went viral – showing her slumped in a wheelchair at the bar of the DoubleTree hotel in Rosemont, Illinois in Chicago.
She was reportedly heard yelling, “You don’t know who I am. I am famous. I’m an actress” – before being rushed to hospital on a stretcher.
The next day, Tara filed a police report, insisting that she’d only had one drink and alleging that it must have been spiked while she briefly left it unattended.
Granted, some corners of the internet were skeptical – but those doubts have now reached fever pitch, after surveillance footage of the night in question showed no signs of her drink being tampered with.
Instead, the police said that “a bartender covered her drink when she left the bar which is standard practice for bartenders to do” but added that “at no time did video show anyone tapering with or adding something to her drink”.
Unsurprisingly, the actress quickly clapped back – outraged over their findings.
She said in a statement: “Bottom line is no one ends up in the hospital for over eight hours after a drink.
“Last thing I remember is having one drink and waking up in the hospital the next day without remembering anything. That was the scariest feeling I have ever felt. I felt so helpless.
“This has been a horrifying experience for me that is severely affecting my mental health.”
She added: “I cannot sleep over this. It’s a very scary feeling not knowing what happened to me. I believe I was drugged. Something happened to me.”
Today, an audio recording of the 911 call, from a panicked hotel worker, has been released.
The staff describes Tara as “really inebriated” referring to her as a “guest” and a “celebrity” – as the actress is heard mumbled incoherently in the background.
The 911 dispatch log shows first responders calling her “the intoxicated female”, and says that Reid was “laying on the floor of the hallway”.
Now, as the actress still awaits hospital test results, which will show what chemicals were in her system, fans are concerned that she’s on yet another downward spiral.
It’s a sad turn for the former golden girl, who melted teen hearts across the globe as Vicky in the 1999 teen flick American Pie.
Golden girl gone bad
Born in New Jersey in 1975, she got started at the age of six on kids’ TV shows. Her big break came in the 1998 cult classic The Big Lebowski, before finding further fame in Urban Legend, Cruel Intentions, American Pie and its sequels, and Van Wilder.
But anyone who remembers the early noughties will remember it wasn’t the most forgiving place for young female celebrities.
Tara – who started dating MTV host Carson Daly in 2000 and got engaged to him months later – started earning herself a party girl reputation, thanks to pictures of her looking dishevelled after nights out.
After she and Carson ended their engagement in 2001, the whispers got louder, with insiders suggesting she had alcohol and substance abuse issues.
She later reflected on that unforgiving time period, stating: “It went from everyone loving you, being the ‘It’ girl.
“It was tough, because you went from, ‘OK, this is great, this is fun!’ to ‘Oh my gosh, what are they saying?!’ It started hurting my feelings.”
She added that the she’d become akin to a “cartoon character” in the public eye.
Messy antics
At the same time, the star’s girl-next-door image started dramatically altering, as she put herself under the knife – with mixed results.
In 2004, Tara infamously underwent botched liposculpting and breast surgery that led to some uneven results.
Pictures of her surgically altered body quickly spread, devastating her confidence and adding to the general narrative that she was a “mess” on a downward spiral, even after she had corrective surgery.
The pile-on continued that same year, when Tara was accidentally pictured suffering a red-carpet wardrobe malfunction on the red carpet, after her dress slipped down and exposed her chest.
Again, the assumption was that she was dishevelled and out of control.
In 2005, and with film offers drying up, the actress had no choice but to lean into her party girl persona. So, she fronted the E! Series Taradise – a travel show that took her wild night antics on the road.
The show was quickly panned, with Tara later saying it was “probably the stupidest thing I ever did”.
She added: “I didn’t know it was going to ruin my career” as it doubled down on her reputation as being difficult to work with.
Things came to a head in 2008, when the actress checked herself into rehab. She subsequently said that the 60-day treatment “saved my life”.
But her sobriety didn’t seem to last long, as she was soon pictured out partying, looking drunk again.
Years of Hollywood hibernation followed – interrupted only by concerns that were raised over her increasingly worrying appearance and frail frame.
Career highs and lows
Though she’d clearly lost weight over the years, Tara refuted fears that she was unwell or suffering from an eating disorder, claiming she’d “always been thin”.
She also slammed those who commented on her appearance as “bullies”.
In 2011, the Hollywood starlet made the humiliating journey to Elstree to appear on Celebrity Big Brother – alongside the likes of Paddy Doherty (who won the season), Kerry Katona and Amy Childs.
It may have been a fall from grace, but she actually found comfort inside the famous house in the form of The X Factor duo John and Edward Grimes aka Jedward.
The trio became instantly close friends, often cosying up together in front of the cameras.
Years later, in another surprising twist, they even hunkered down all together during lockdown in 2020, in Tara’s LA home.
She said at the time: “Right now to have them in my life here… they truly have made this experience so much better than it would have been for me…”
In the intervening years, Tara’s career trajectory showed promising signs of recovery.
In 2013, she starred in the comedy horror film Sharknado – which, thanks to its ludicrous and campy premise, instantly became a cult hit.
Six suitably trashy sequels followed, giving Tara a platform she hadn’t had since those late 1990s days.
Yet, she still made several missteps along the way – especially when it came to her love life.
Faking it
In 2011, she tweeted that she’d gotten engaged to financier Zachary Kehayov while holidaying in Greece, and then followed that tweet up hours later by saying they’d immediately got married.
However, once back on US soil, she confessed they were “never really married” and the pair quickly parted ways.
Then, in 2016, she joined the reality TV series Marriage Boot Camp with her then “boyfriend”, club promoter Dean May.
The tempestuous couple made it to the final, before it was shockingly exposed that they weren’t actually dating. In fact, they’d faked the whole thing to appear on camera.
After being rumbled on camera, Tara explained: “[Dean] owes money in taxes, and he could use the money, and he wouldn’t mind the fame. So I wound up doing the show for him, so he could get out of trouble.”
But the damage to her credibility was done – made all the worse when producers later revealed that she’d gone on a “rampage” on set while the cameras were down.
According to eyewitnesses, Tara “lost it”, barging into the producers’ control room and “accusing producers of plots and plans and conspiracies”.
Producer Natalie Gecht added: “She wasn’t completing sentences”.
She later refused to talk about her time on the show, but the fiasco lives on in reality TV infamy.
Still, since then, Tara’s done her best to plaster on a smile and move on. As mentioned, she’s run the gamut of Sharknado sequels, and she also found actual, real love for six years with music producer Nathan Montpetit-Howar.
Sadly, the pair split last month amid reports that their relationship had “run its course”.
Whether that heartbreak contributed to Tara’s recent incident remains to be seen – but all signs point to a seemingly dark time for the former golden girl.
She’s still insisting she only had one drink – and is doubling down on her allegations that her drink was spiked.
Speaking via her representative after the incident, she said: “She is cooperating fully with the investigation. Tara is recovering and asks for privacy during this traumatic time.
“She also urges everyone to be careful, watch your drinks and never leave them unattended, as this can happen to anyone. She will not be making further comments at this stage.”
But with the police debunking her claims, and the internet looking at her pattern of reckless behaviour with cynical eyes, it seems she’s fighting a losing battle to prove her case.
Either way, let’s hope she’s getting all the help and support that she needs.
