Special Treatment.

Just before dawn one morning in June, Howard Samuels, the executive director of the Wonderland Center--a private alcohol-and-drug rehab facility in West Hollywood, California--was standing in the spacious foyer of his Craftsman-style house, greeting his publicist, Cathy Griffin. They were about to head over to Fox Studios, where Samuels, who frequently turns up on the punditry circuit when an actor overdoses, relapses, or checks herself in, was scheduled to discuss the recent drug bust of Tatum O'Neal and the apparent bisexuality of Lindsay Lohan, on "The Morning Show with Mike and Juliet." "Do you want any coffee?" Samuels asked Griffin, adding, "I've had two cups already." Samuels is a recovering cocaine and heroin addict who in August, at the age of fifty-six, celebrated twenty-four years of sobriety. Caffeine is the only addictive substance permitted in the Samuels household. (His thirty-eight-year-old wife, Gabrielle, has also conquered several addictions--alcohol, crystal meth, and compulsive eating.) Samuels is a tall, solidly built man with close-set green eyes, a prominent nose, and lips that cover his teeth when he talks, occasionally giving the impression of missing dentures. He was wearing a gray linen Armani jacket with cuffed jeans and Converse Chuck Taylor sneakers.

"Did you see the New York Post?" Griffin asked, wrestling a manila folder from her slouchy pink-leather purse. She began to brief Samuels on the celebrity stumbles that he'd be discussing. The day before, Tatum O'Neal had been caught attempting to buy crack on the Lower East Side of Manhattan. "Originally, Tatum's story was that she was researching a role," Griffin explained. "Now she's saying her dog's death prompted the drug buy."

Griffin, who spent thirty years covering celebrities as a journalist for, among other outlets, "Hard Copy" and "A Current Affair," is also Liz Smith's "West Coast legwoman"--she provides items about the Hollywood set. When she was hired by Wonderland, the Daily News reported on the possible conflict of interest. Samuels told the paper, "We have a confidential facility. Anybody that leaks anything about anyone is automatically fired."

"Lindsay has been photographed kissing Samantha Ronson," Griffin continued, tapping a glossy nail on the kitchen counter. "Now she's supposedly selling an exclusive story to a magazine for one million dollars."

"That's the addiction to fame," Samuels said, looking pleased to have drawn the connection. "I mean, I have nothing against being with a woman, but it's the selling of the magazine cover. It's just another thing to fill the void."

Lindsay Lohan, who spent a month at Wonderland beginning in January of last year, is perhaps the center's most well-known patient. (Mike Tyson arrived shortly after Lohan and stayed for close to a year.) Lohan was later dismissive of her time there, saying that the staff had never treated anyone as "hard-core" as she was. Three months after leaving Wonderland, she was arrested for driving under the influence. She then entered Promises, the Malibu-based rehab center. When I asked Griffin whether it was appropriate for Samuels to comment publicly on a former patient, she replied, "He was able to go on TV and not ever cross the line when Lindsay checked into Promises. There was a total media blitz for two weeks, and you don't get a lot of opportunities like that. He wasn't her therapist, anyway; he's the executive director."

Samuels also maintains a private therapy practice, focussed mainly on issues of addiction, in the guest cottage behind his house. Griffin is a former patient. Samuels counselled her, in person and by phone, through her early days of recidivism. (One of her relapses occurred during a trip to Hawaii: "I said, 'Howard, I'm drinking a mai tai, what's the point?' ") Her faith in his talents is absolute. "Howard can help addiction to be understood by the public. He can simplify it and destigmatize it. The celebrities have brought it to the forefront--he's just the right person in the right place at the right time." Samuels puts it much the same way. "You know, celebrities mirror what is happening in the rest of the country," he said, referring to the estimated 24.9 million Americans addicted to alcohol or drugs. "It's so important to get that message out. . . . That's the struggle, O.K.? Is to try to educate people who think the only reason I'm going to Fox today is Tatum O'Neal!"