Spokesman: Burt Reynolds checks himself into Fla. rehab because of painkiller addiction

Burt Reynolds enters Fla. rehab for pill addiction

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — Actor Burt Reynolds has checked himself into a rehab facility in West Palm Beach to be treated for an addiction to painkillers. Reynolds’ manager Erik Kritzer said in a statement Wednesday that the “Smokey and the Bandit” star was struggling after a recent back surgery and “realized that he was in the prison of prescription pain pills.”

Kritzer says Reynolds hopes his story will help others in similar situations and that they will not try to solve the problem by themselves.

Reynolds, 73, starred in such critically acclaimed pictures as 1972’s “Deliverance” and 1997’s “Boogie Nights.” He also had a hit TV show in the 1990s with “Evening Shade.”