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The Loss Of My Son Harris Wittels To Heroin
I’m writing this so other families will hopefully know what we didn’t.
11/02/2016 12:09 pm ET
16k
Maureen WittelsRetired elementary school teacher and founder of the Houston, TX chapter of GRASP
ETHAN MILLER VIA GETTY IMAGES
‘The Sarah Silverman Program’ writer Harris Wittels and comedian Sarah Silverman arrive at Comedy Central’s Emmy Awards party at the STK restaurant September 21, 2008 in Los Angeles, California
Harris Lee Wittels died on February 19, 2015 of a heroin overdose alone in his Los Angeles home. He was 30 years young.
He was my son. He was the world’s comedian. My son grew up in an affluent, white suburban neighborhood. He was a “nice Jewish boy.” His dad is a physician and I am a retired teacher. My son would never, ever take that drug called heroin! These kinds of kids don’t do such a thing! I am sharing this story because I want other families to hopefully know what we did not know.
Harris accomplished more in his 30 years than most can accomplish in a lifetime. At his Bar Mitzvah speech, the Rabbi stood up and said to watch out for this kid. He would be at the Laff Stop one day. At just 18, he won third place in Houston’s funniest comedian contest at the Laff Stop! He attended the Houston High School for the Performing and Visual Arts and graduated from Emerson College with a degree in TV/ Video production.
At 22, he was discovered by Sarah Silverman in a club, doing standup. She asked for him to submit some of his writing to her for her upcoming TV series on Comedy Central. The rest is history. He climbed the ladder of success quickly.
He wrote many Hollywood scripts. He invented the word “humblebrag” that now resides in the Oxford Dictionary and authored a book about it, Humblebrag, the Art of False Modesty. On the book jacket he wrote: “Humblebrag, the Art of False Modesty, by Harris Wittels, who would love some free time but has been too busy writing for ‘Parks and Recreation,’ ‘Eastbound & Down,’ and a bunch of other stuff!”
He performed standup with Louis C.K., Aziz Ansari and Sarah Silverman. He died as co-executive producer of the acclaimed television series, “Parks and Recreation” and was seen on the show occasionally as the animal control guy.
All Harris ever longed to do was make people laugh. However, on the inside, he was not laughing.
He was the go-to joke guy. Aziz said that Harris was the comedian’s comedian. He even wrote a joke for President Obama.
He loved leftovers and McDonald’s as much as he loved gourmet restaurants. He worshiped the jam band Phish. He began attending their concerts at age 15 and saw well over 300 concerts. When Sarah Silverman hired him, he informed her that part of his contract would have to include time off for these concerts. He told her it was his religion! Who does that?!
He did many hilarious podcasts with Scott Aukerman of “Comedy Bang Bang” fame and he did one very serious podcast with Pete Holmes in 2014 about his heroin addiction. It is well worth a listen about the reality of chasing heroin. He was also a drummer in the band, “Don’t Stop or We’ll Die.” His last project was writing for and co-producing the Netflix series “Master of None” and he was going to star in it as Aziz Ansari’s best friend but he died instead. The show was up for four Emmys and it won in one category.
All Harris ever longed to do was make people laugh. However, on the inside, he was not laughing. He admitted to doing recreational drugs since 12 years of age. How could we not know?! We did not bury our heads and we were not stupid people. We were great parents. He would tell you that himself as he told therapist after therapist. We were very involved in his life. He made straight As, had tons of friends, and was very driven and straightforward about what he wanted to do with his life. He was a total self-starter. We never had to beg him to do his homework. He got a scholarship to college.
Once he tried cocaine in high school and stayed home from school for three days because it made him so sick. He swore from that time on that he was never going to be a drug user. During the last few years of his life, we would visit him in Los Angeles and he always acted like we were intruding. We finally decided not to visit and we attributed this to his hectic life he lived in Hollywood land. He came home for fewer and fewer holidays and special occasions and, if truth be told, I saw the light literally go out of his eyes and suspected nothing. Why? Because he was busy being so successful! Harris had become a very successful high-functioning drug addict.
I knew he was seeing a therapist and was happy about it. He finally told his sister three days before her wedding and two years before his death that he was hooked on OxyContin but his therapist was going to help him get off. He forbid her to tell us about it. He was her best friend and she was his biggest confidante. The drug was stealing his brain. The old Harris (free of opioids) who adored his sister would never have chosen to place sadness on one of the happiest days of her life. When her daughter was born a year later, Harris decided to enter rehab and he had to tell us what was going on. He entered a very cushy rehab for a month in Malibu and began to have some very meaningful interactions with us again.
Once he got out, we were thinking that was the end of that nonsense. Six months later, I was with his sister who received a text from Harris, which said, “I am headed to Oregon to Hazelden because I am addicted to heroin.” I saw her face turn ashen and she showed me the text. I fell on the floor in a fetal position and wailed. When I finally stopped, I called him and he said, “Mom, I caught this in time. I am nipping it in the bud. Stop worrying so much.”
I saw the light literally go out of his eyes and suspected nothing. Why? Because ... Harris had become a very successful high-functioning drug addict.
I decided to visit him for family week. He was there for a month. I was so annoyed at the end of my week there because I was only allowed to see him for one hour a day, and the very last day, I was allowed a 10-minute session with him and his therapist. I felt like I had so much more to say to him and so much more to learn about how his treatment should progress after his release.
He entered one more rehab two months after leaving Hazelden and then their sober living home. It would have been nice to know that he had checked himself out a week early. He died during that week. Perhaps I could have stayed more in touch with him, given that information, and his outcome might have been different. There is a serious disconnect that exists between the families and the rehabs.
I received an email from Harris the night before he died. He was speaking about the finale of “Parks and Recreation” and his future life in Manhattan. It said:
harris wittels Feb 19
There’s only one more episode left and its the big farewell episode that will make you cry. i found a cool place to live in Manhattan. I feel good!! I am feeling very fortunate. Love you
I was flying high from that connection with him. He worked so hard to land the part in “Master of None” and I hadn’t heard that kind of excitement in his voice for a very long time. I was totally convinced that he was finally getting his life on track.
My world fell apart the next day as TMZ got hold of the story of his death and leaked it to the world. I found out in a text from a friend after the world found out! I was in total shock. As his mom, I really believed this time was different. We never lose hope. It will never make sense to me. I adored my son and wish I could have found some way to make that love heal him. I did all I could with the tools that I had at the time. He would never have chosen to leave this devastation behind. I lost half of my future: my daughter-in-law, my grandchildren, and the carrying on of the Wittels name for many generations to come.
The Loss Of My Son Harris Wittels To Heroin
I’m writing this so other families will hopefully know what we didn’t.
11/02/2016 12:09 pm ET
16k
Maureen WittelsRetired elementary school teacher and founder of the Houston, TX chapter of GRASP
![581a019c150000d8045313eb.jpeg](http://img.huffingtonpost.com/asset/crop_254_278_1121_846,scalefit_630_noupscale/581a019c150000d8045313eb.jpeg?cache=29bgadx5cr)
ETHAN MILLER VIA GETTY IMAGES
‘The Sarah Silverman Program’ writer Harris Wittels and comedian Sarah Silverman arrive at Comedy Central’s Emmy Awards party at the STK restaurant September 21, 2008 in Los Angeles, California
Harris Lee Wittels died on February 19, 2015 of a heroin overdose alone in his Los Angeles home. He was 30 years young.
He was my son. He was the world’s comedian. My son grew up in an affluent, white suburban neighborhood. He was a “nice Jewish boy.” His dad is a physician and I am a retired teacher. My son would never, ever take that drug called heroin! These kinds of kids don’t do such a thing! I am sharing this story because I want other families to hopefully know what we did not know.
Harris accomplished more in his 30 years than most can accomplish in a lifetime. At his Bar Mitzvah speech, the Rabbi stood up and said to watch out for this kid. He would be at the Laff Stop one day. At just 18, he won third place in Houston’s funniest comedian contest at the Laff Stop! He attended the Houston High School for the Performing and Visual Arts and graduated from Emerson College with a degree in TV/ Video production.
At 22, he was discovered by Sarah Silverman in a club, doing standup. She asked for him to submit some of his writing to her for her upcoming TV series on Comedy Central. The rest is history. He climbed the ladder of success quickly.
He wrote many Hollywood scripts. He invented the word “humblebrag” that now resides in the Oxford Dictionary and authored a book about it, Humblebrag, the Art of False Modesty. On the book jacket he wrote: “Humblebrag, the Art of False Modesty, by Harris Wittels, who would love some free time but has been too busy writing for ‘Parks and Recreation,’ ‘Eastbound & Down,’ and a bunch of other stuff!”
He performed standup with Louis C.K., Aziz Ansari and Sarah Silverman. He died as co-executive producer of the acclaimed television series, “Parks and Recreation” and was seen on the show occasionally as the animal control guy.
All Harris ever longed to do was make people laugh. However, on the inside, he was not laughing.
He was the go-to joke guy. Aziz said that Harris was the comedian’s comedian. He even wrote a joke for President Obama.
He loved leftovers and McDonald’s as much as he loved gourmet restaurants. He worshiped the jam band Phish. He began attending their concerts at age 15 and saw well over 300 concerts. When Sarah Silverman hired him, he informed her that part of his contract would have to include time off for these concerts. He told her it was his religion! Who does that?!
He did many hilarious podcasts with Scott Aukerman of “Comedy Bang Bang” fame and he did one very serious podcast with Pete Holmes in 2014 about his heroin addiction. It is well worth a listen about the reality of chasing heroin. He was also a drummer in the band, “Don’t Stop or We’ll Die.” His last project was writing for and co-producing the Netflix series “Master of None” and he was going to star in it as Aziz Ansari’s best friend but he died instead. The show was up for four Emmys and it won in one category.
All Harris ever longed to do was make people laugh. However, on the inside, he was not laughing. He admitted to doing recreational drugs since 12 years of age. How could we not know?! We did not bury our heads and we were not stupid people. We were great parents. He would tell you that himself as he told therapist after therapist. We were very involved in his life. He made straight As, had tons of friends, and was very driven and straightforward about what he wanted to do with his life. He was a total self-starter. We never had to beg him to do his homework. He got a scholarship to college.
Once he tried cocaine in high school and stayed home from school for three days because it made him so sick. He swore from that time on that he was never going to be a drug user. During the last few years of his life, we would visit him in Los Angeles and he always acted like we were intruding. We finally decided not to visit and we attributed this to his hectic life he lived in Hollywood land. He came home for fewer and fewer holidays and special occasions and, if truth be told, I saw the light literally go out of his eyes and suspected nothing. Why? Because he was busy being so successful! Harris had become a very successful high-functioning drug addict.
I knew he was seeing a therapist and was happy about it. He finally told his sister three days before her wedding and two years before his death that he was hooked on OxyContin but his therapist was going to help him get off. He forbid her to tell us about it. He was her best friend and she was his biggest confidante. The drug was stealing his brain. The old Harris (free of opioids) who adored his sister would never have chosen to place sadness on one of the happiest days of her life. When her daughter was born a year later, Harris decided to enter rehab and he had to tell us what was going on. He entered a very cushy rehab for a month in Malibu and began to have some very meaningful interactions with us again.
Once he got out, we were thinking that was the end of that nonsense. Six months later, I was with his sister who received a text from Harris, which said, “I am headed to Oregon to Hazelden because I am addicted to heroin.” I saw her face turn ashen and she showed me the text. I fell on the floor in a fetal position and wailed. When I finally stopped, I called him and he said, “Mom, I caught this in time. I am nipping it in the bud. Stop worrying so much.”
I saw the light literally go out of his eyes and suspected nothing. Why? Because ... Harris had become a very successful high-functioning drug addict.
I decided to visit him for family week. He was there for a month. I was so annoyed at the end of my week there because I was only allowed to see him for one hour a day, and the very last day, I was allowed a 10-minute session with him and his therapist. I felt like I had so much more to say to him and so much more to learn about how his treatment should progress after his release.
He entered one more rehab two months after leaving Hazelden and then their sober living home. It would have been nice to know that he had checked himself out a week early. He died during that week. Perhaps I could have stayed more in touch with him, given that information, and his outcome might have been different. There is a serious disconnect that exists between the families and the rehabs.
I received an email from Harris the night before he died. He was speaking about the finale of “Parks and Recreation” and his future life in Manhattan. It said:
harris wittels Feb 19
There’s only one more episode left and its the big farewell episode that will make you cry. i found a cool place to live in Manhattan. I feel good!! I am feeling very fortunate. Love you
I was flying high from that connection with him. He worked so hard to land the part in “Master of None” and I hadn’t heard that kind of excitement in his voice for a very long time. I was totally convinced that he was finally getting his life on track.
My world fell apart the next day as TMZ got hold of the story of his death and leaked it to the world. I found out in a text from a friend after the world found out! I was in total shock. As his mom, I really believed this time was different. We never lose hope. It will never make sense to me. I adored my son and wish I could have found some way to make that love heal him. I did all I could with the tools that I had at the time. He would never have chosen to leave this devastation behind. I lost half of my future: my daughter-in-law, my grandchildren, and the carrying on of the Wittels name for many generations to come.