Celebrities and ayahuasca: what Aaron Rodgers, Will Smith and others have said

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Ayahuasca is an Amazonian brew that contains the psychedelic DMT, and famous people talking about it have helped make it a household word. This page lists who has said what, in their own words, and where. Each account links to the original interview or to a major news report of it. For what the brew is, start with what is ayahuasca.

Ayahuasca celebrities: which famous people have done it?

The table lists public figures whose own statements about taking ayahuasca we traced to the original source or to a major outlet, checked on 21 October 2026. Each is covered, with its source, in the sections below. Evidence: established that these statements were made; what each person experienced is a personal report.

What did Aaron Rodgers say about ayahuasca?

Aaron Rodgers is the best-known case. In August 2022, on the Aubrey Marcus Podcast, the then Green Bay Packers quarterback said he had drunk ayahuasca before he won the NFL’s Most Valuable Player award in 2020 and 2021, and that he did not see the timing as chance. He said it taught him to love himself unconditionally, and that this helped him love his teammates. He became emotional describing it (Fox News via FOX6, 2022). Evidence: established that he said this; the link to his MVP seasons is his own belief, not something any study has tested.

He returned to it in Enigma, a 2024 Netflix docuseries about him. CNN reports that he said he had taken ayahuasca nine times and described the ceremonies as deep work on himself, his ego and past trauma (CNN, 2024). ESPN reports that he called it the hardest medicine he had tried (ESPN, 2024). The CNN reviewer added that the series could almost pass for an advert for ayahuasca’s supposed benefits, a reminder that this is his own documentary. Evidence: established that he said this; the content is a personal report.

What did Will Smith say about ayahuasca?

Will Smith wrote about ayahuasca in his 2021 memoir Will, written with Mark Manson. An Associated Press report on the book says that, during a period of searching, he had been meditating, taking part in ayahuasca ceremonies and asking himself a lot of questions (AP via 1News, 2021). The AP report does not say how often he took it or describe the experience itself. Evidence: established that he wrote about it; the meaning he drew is a personal report.

What did Megan Fox and Chelsea Handler describe?

Not every celebrity story is positive. In July 2021, on Jimmy Kimmel Live! with guest host Arsenio Hall, Megan Fox said she had taken ayahuasca with her then partner, the musician Machine Gun Kelly. She said that on the second night she “went to Hell for eternity”, which she called her own version of hell (PA via BreakingNews.ie, 2021). Evidence: established that she said this; the experience is a personal report.

Chelsea Handler filmed herself taking ayahuasca for her 2016 Netflix series Chelsea Does. Fox News reported that she said she felt nothing the first night, took it again the second night with a ceremony leader, and that there was a lot of chanting and vomiting on camera (Fox News, 2016). Evidence: established that she filmed and described it; the experience is a personal report.

Which other public figures have described it?

The same 2016 Fox News piece reported that Sting had said in an interview that ayahuasca gave him the only genuine religious experience he had ever had (Fox News, 2016). In a 2020 Rolling Stone cover story about staying sober, Miley Cyrus said she had taken ayahuasca and really liked it, called it one of her favourite drugs, but said she did not think she would do it again (Rolling Stone, 2020). Evidence: established that these statements were made or reported; each is a personal report.

In 2024, Melissa Etheridge told Us Weekly’s “25 Things You Don’t Know About Me” feature that she had “journeyed on ayahuasca more than once” (Us Weekly, 2024). In January 2025, Sterling K. Brown talked on Jimmy Kimmel Live! about taking ayahuasca together with his wife, according to the show’s own description of the clip (Jimmy Kimmel Live, 2025). Evidence: established that they said this; each is a personal report.

In an October 2025 GQ interview, the actor Charlie Hunnam described an ayahuasca experience about six months earlier as a “big death experience”. He said it began with panic and a sense of unfinished business, and that he came away resolved to live purely, love and help people in need (GQ, 2025). Evidence: established that he said this; the experience is a personal report.

We left names out. Celebrity round-ups list more people, but for several we could not open the original interview, book or podcast, or a major outlet’s report of it. Under our real-people rule, a name stays off this page until it can be traced to the person’s own public words.

What do these celebrity ayahuasca stories have in common?

• Most describe the experience as personal or spiritual, not as a treatment: self-acceptance, religious feeling, a sense of facing death (personal reports).
• Several describe frightening moments: hell, death and panic (personal reports).
• Physical effects come up too: Chelsea Handler vomited on camera, which matches what studies find is common (established; see below).
• Some accounts were given years later, and some in the person’s own documentary or while promoting other work, so they are recollections shaped by context (our observation, not a finding).

Why are celebrity accounts not evidence that ayahuasca works?

A celebrity story tells you what one person felt and chose to share. It cannot tell you what the brew does in general, for the reasons below. Evidence: established for the reasoning.

• Selection: we only hear from people who decide to talk. A famous person who had a bad time, or felt nothing, may simply stay quiet.
• Survivorship: anyone who was harmed, or who stopped, is missing from the story.
• No comparison: without a control group there is no way to separate the brew from expectation, setting, life changes or the passing of time.
• Expectation: people who expect a life-changing experience are more likely to report one. That is why trials use placebos and blinding.
• Motive and memory: stories told on a promotional tour or in a personal documentary are shaped by that setting, and memories shift with each telling.

The research itself is small and early. The only randomized, placebo-controlled trial in depression enrolled 29 people and followed them for seven days (Palhano-Fontes et al., 2019). A 2026 systematic review of 18 prospective studies, mostly of unselected retreat volunteers, found group-level improvements but also subsets of participants with lasting psychiatric complications, and listed small samples, no control groups and non-randomized designs as major limits (Haupt et al., 2026). Our guide to what ayahuasca research shows sets out each study. Evidence: preliminary.

Large surveys share a version of the same problem. In the Global Ayahuasca Survey of 10,836 people, 69.9% reported acute physical adverse effects, mainly vomiting, 2.3% needed medical attention afterwards, and 55.9% reported adverse mental health effects in the following weeks or months (Bouso et al., 2022). Respondents chose to take part, so even thousands of accounts are self-selected; a handful of famous ones are far less representative. Evidence: preliminary.

What risks do celebrity stories leave out?

Ayahuasca contains alkaloids that block monoamine oxidase (MAO), the enzyme that normally breaks down DMT and serotonin in the body; our MAO explainer covers how this works. Researchers warn that combining the brew with SSRI antidepressants may cause serotonin syndrome, a build-up of serotonin that can be life-threatening (Callaway and Grob, 1998). For the differences between the brew and DMT alone, see ayahuasca vs DMT. Evidence: established for the mechanism.

Why do celebrity stories matter at all?

They shape public interest. Famous voices are part of how the brew moved from Amazonian and church settings into mainstream conversation, a shift traced for DMT in how DMT went mainstream. They are worth reading as culture: what people hope for, and what they fear. They are not a guide to what is safe, legal or effective. DMT is a controlled substance in Canada; see is DMT legal in Canada. Evidence: the cultural point is our interpretation; the legal status is sourced in that article.

Shroomverse sells mushroom products. This article is general information about celebrities’ public statements on ayahuasca. It is not medical, legal or purchasing advice, and it does not recommend any product.