Mia Tyler details teen drug use & self-harming in new memoir

Steven Tyler is famous for being a rock legend with the band Aerosmith. His daughter Liv Tyler is famous for being one of the most beautiful actresses in Hollywood.

Steven’s other daughter, Mia Tyler, 29, is famous for being, well, Steven Tyler’s other daughter. And for being a “plus-sized” model.

A cliche rock and rock childhood
In her new memoir, Mia talks about an admittedly cliche rock-n-roll upbringing of drugs and rehab, all before the age of 21. She also details her climb from that darkness in the book Creating Myself, released in August. The subtitle is How I Learned that Beauty Comes in All Shapes, Sizes and Packages, Including Me. The former English teacher in me would red-pen the heck out of that subtitle. Does “me” refer to “shapes,” “packages,” “beauty,” or that she learned it comes in all shapes?

Troubled teen years full of drugs, booze, and self-harming
Now drug-free at age 29, Mia says she was the “black sheep” of her family during her teen years, indulging in heavy drinking, drugs and self-mutilation. She told People, “I was a high school dropout, my relationship with my mom was bad — every cliche you could think of.”

Mia divorced Papa Roach drummer Dave Buckner in 2005 and recently separated from fiance Brian Harrah, also a musician. She calls the relationship with Harrah “dramatic,” but adds that “He’s an amazing guy, but I’m just not in any position right now to be a wife.”

She now lives in LA, enjoying single life with her cat Duders and Chihuahuas Teddy and Diva.

Dad Steven, still fierce at age 60, says he couldn’t be more proud of Mia. Steven had his own experiences with drug over-indulgence at the height of Aerosmith’s fame in the 1970s.

Mia’s past troubles are also providing her with the voice of experience, helping half-sister Liv, age 31, through her separation and divorce from musician Royston Langdon. Mia says she and Liv “are very silly” together.

Why did Mia’s downward spiral start so young? Her parents divorced when she was eight, and her mother, former model Cyrinda Foxe, reportedly left vials of cocaine around their New Hampshire home and left Mia alone while she went out partying. Foxe died in 2002 from brain cancer.

Calls dad Steven Tyler a stabilizing force
Her childhood must have been crazy, since Mia lists Steven Tyler as her one stabilizing force, making regular visits to take her for walks in the woods. “I wanted to soak up every second,” she says. “When he was around, I would just light up.”

Her drug use started with marijuana then moved to ecstasy and acid. By age 16, People says Mia carried cocaine around with her in juiceboxes and took hits through the straw. She also began cutting herself, first with a makeup compact, then with knives and razors.

It’s about finding a friend. I could always rely on cocaine and the same thing goes for cutting….You want to find that first initial high. You’re in love with your addictions, and they can’t say no to you. So you have to find out how to say no to them.

[From People, print edition, September 8, 2008]

Rehab helped her clean up for good; mother’s death helped her let go
It was dad Steven who sent Mia to Promises in Malibu in 1998, after Mia called him in a drug-fueled haze. She credits her father for helping her get clean. Steven was known as one of the “Toxic Twins” in the 1970s and recently went to rehab again to recuperate from “foot injuries.”

After rehab, Mia began working as a plus-sized model for companies like Lane Bryant and H&M. She also reconciled with her mother. When Cyrinda Foxe died at the age of 50 in 2002, Mia let her childhood pain go too.

I used to say, “When I grow up, I’m gonna sit my dad down and say all these things that I always questioned….But I put that stuff to rest when we put her to rest. You get older and realize those things that don’t matter anymore.

[From People, print edition, September 8, 2008]

Being a proud plus-sized model has been her claim to fame, but she recently lost 30 lbs from her 5’7”, 224-pound frame by going vegan and working with a trainer.

Her MySpace page has 45,000 friends who talk about serious issues like body image and depression.

The book itself isn’t garnering good reviews. Publishers Weekly says, “Tyler, constantly falling in and out of love, finally realized that the point wasn’t to find herself, but to create herself, a questionable insight. Not only that, she comes across as spoiled and shallow.”

My only view of Mia comes from her stint on the first season of Celebrity Fit Club, which originally aired in 2005. They show reruns constantly on the TV Guide Channel. She seemed very defiant, brash, and full of excuses, which was a serious contrast to my view of her sister Liv, who seems very sweet and down-to-earth.

Mia Tyler is shown on 4/27/07 in Las Vegas with her dad, Steven Tyler. Credit: WENN