The 27-year-old Australian daughter of the famed Grease star told the Daily Mail on Sunday that she often felt inadequate in the face of her mother's celebrity. That strain led her down a path toward drug abuse, eating disorders and even a semi-psychotic meltdown.
"Fame totally messes you up," Lattanzi said. "I don’t blame my mother for my problems, but I would never want to be famous or raise a child of my own around the cult of celebrity. It ruins lives."
Lattanzi said she got her first record deal at 15, around the same time that she started struggling with an eating disorder.
"I had anxiety attacks and needed to find a way of feeling in control of something," she said. "Food was the one thing I could be in control of."
After her mother sent her to rehab at age 18, Lattanzi said she replaced her eating disorder with substance abuse until she had a breakdown.
"I was at a hotel in Santa Monica with my mum and some friends and, out of nowhere, I had a complete meltdown. I’d been mixing alcohol and Xanax and was in a semi-psychotic state," Lattanzi said.
It was her mother who finally helped her through rehab.
"Despite how painful the circumstances were, I felt so lucky to have someone like my mum with me to lean on and cry with," she said of Newton-John, 65.
"If there’s one thing I’ve learned, it is that you can’t be fragile in this business, or else you end up like Lindsay Lohan," she added. "That’s not meant as an insult: I know she -- and a lot of celebrities and celebrities’ kids -- are struggling with demons and addictions, just like me, and not all of them are brave enough to address them. It’s disturbing that everyone wants to be famous these days. Our culture is sick."
