Andy Warhol’s Valium dependence

Andy Warhol’s Valium dependence is recorded not as a passing concern but as an addiction he names, tests himself against, and resumes after withdrawal symptoms. The diary traces that dependence through nightly quarter-tablet doses, an unsuccessful effort to stop, and episodes of heavy use during illness and travel, when Valium did not reliably bring sleep.

Admission and the nightly dose

One night, after taking a quarter of a Valium, Warhol confided to the diary that he was addicted. He said he recognized the symptoms from reading about them in the newspaper. With a change to prescription-signature requirements due to begin in December, he anticipated difficulty obtaining the drug and planned to stock up beforehand. The entry links his private admission to a practical concern: continued access to a medication he believed he could not easily do without.

An attempted break and withdrawal

On December 29, Warhol again described himself as addicted, while emphasizing that his usual nighttime dose was only a quarter of a tablet. He had tried for more than a month not to take any. During that period, he felt lightheaded, which he identified as a withdrawal symptom, and started taking Valium again. His effort to stop therefore ended not with a recorded recovery but with a return to the drug.

That entry also places his Valium use amid persistent sleep and physical complaints. He wondered whether the vitamins prescribed by Dr. Li were contributing to his trouble sleeping; after two holiday nights of sleep, including one when he slept until 10:45, he felt rested, but he usually woke with aches and pains. The diary records these concerns alongside his account of dependence without establishing that the vitamins caused the insomnia or that better sleep changed his reliance on Valium.

Illness and continued use in Milan

In Milan in January 1987, Warhol became exhausted and developed a fever. Medicines brought back for him turned out to be antihistamines; he reported that they kept him awake rather than helping him sleep. While feverish, he continued taking Valiums and still could not sleep. The episode shows the limits of the drug as a remedy in the circumstances recorded: repeated use did not provide the rest he was seeking.

The next day, after a sleepless night, Warhol again complained that the medicines had not helped and said he had taken Valium excessively without effect. By morning his fever had subsided, and he thought the illness had been a twenty-four-hour flu. He left Milan feeling unwell. Across these entries, Valium dependence appears alongside insomnia, withdrawal, bodily discomfort, and illness; the diary documents his recognition of the problem and his continued use, but does not record a lasting resolution.