Former Disney Channel star Christy Carlson Romano, 42, writes about trying cocaine for the first time and struggling with bulimia during a period living in Los Angeles, according to an excerpt from her upcoming memoir obtained by People.
The book, titled “Once Upon a Trainwreck: The Rise and Fall of a Child Star,” is set for release on Oct. 6. Romano, best known for playing the title role in Disney’s “Kim Possible” and starring in “Even Stevens,” writes that she first tried cocaine at a Halloween party at Paris Hilton’s home, given to her by a guest she identifies as Edie, described as a well-connected marketing assistant.
“Even though I’ve been to a million clubs, I’ve never seen cocaine before, never done it, but I know what the white lines on the table are. I’ve always sworn I’d never try it,” Romano writes, according to the excerpt.
She recalls that after she inhaled the drug, Edie and other partygoers laughed about “getting the Disney girl to do blow for the first time.”
Romano also writes that she became bulimic “just to feel something” during that period, saying she dropped to a size 00 in pants. She describes spending six months in Los Angeles sleeping through the day and partying through the night, using cocaine again after that first encounter, before deciding she needed to leave the city.
“I can’t take the shallowness of Hollywood and clubs anymore,” she writes. “It’s going to kill me.”
Past Relationship Resurfaces
Romano has been promoting the memoir in recent days, and on Wednesday she posted publicly about her former “Cadet Kelly” co-star Shawn Ashmore, saying he ended their relationship because she “wasn’t famous enough.”
“Shawn and I dated for the summer we filmed ‘Cadet Kelly’ and for a few months after. I was eventually ghosted and had heard ‘his team’ thought I wasn’t famous enough for us to keep dating. Hollywood is brutal for a young girl.”
Romano, who was 18 at the time of the relationship, shared the post alongside a photo of herself and Ashmore on set. She said she wrote the memoir to “expose everything that actually happens in this business.”
A Pattern of Honesty About Her Health
Romano has spoken publicly about her eating disorder before. In an October 2021 video on her YouTube channel, the 5-foot-7 actress said she once dropped to 105 pounds.
“I remember drinking a lot and I remember smoking lots of cigarettes and I remember just not eating and waking up at, like, later parts of the day and not prioritizing my health in general,” she said at the time. “I look at pictures from that time and I just know how unhappy the lifestyle was for me.”
Readers struggling with an eating disorder can find support through the National Eating Disorder Association at its website or by calling (800) 931-2237.
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