Philip Seymour Hoffman’s partner on his relapse, overdose

The longtime partner of late actor Philip Seymour Hoffman is breaking her silence about his fatal overdose and relapse in a heartbreaking essay for Vogue.

Mimi O’Donnell details her 15-year relationship with the Oscar-winning actor, which began when she applied for a job as a costume designer at his theater company and ended in February 2014 when he was found dead in his New York City apartment.

In the months before that overdose, O’Donnell says that she became increasingly concerned about Hoffman’s relapse following 20 years of sobriety, but thought things were improving as Hoffman planned to enter rehab following completion of his work in the final installment of The Hunger Games trilogy. 

‘As soon as Phil started using heroin again, I sensed it, terrified. I told him, “You’re going to die. That’s what happens with heroin,'” says O’Donnell. 

‘Every day was filled with worry. Every night, when he went out, I wondered: Will I see him again?’

Love and loss: Mimi O’Donnell (above at the 2006 Academy Awards) is speaking out for the first time about the death of her longtime partner Philip Seymour Hoffman in an essay for Vogue

Mimi O'Donnell and her children

Mimi at Hoffman's funeral

Family: O’Donnell and Hoffman have a son Cooper, now 14, and daughters Tallulah, now 11, and Willa, now 9 (Family above at funeral in February 2014) 

The way they were: 'As soon as Phil started using heroin again, I sensed it, terrified. I told him, “You’re going to die. That’s what happens with heroin,'" says O'Donnell (above in 2006 with Hoffman and Heath Ledger)

The way they were: ‘As soon as Phil started using heroin again, I sensed it, terrified. I told him, “You’re going to die. That’s what happens with heroin,'” says O’Donnell (above in 2006 with Hoffman and Heath Ledger)

Shortly before that overdose O’Donnell and Hoffman had ‘tearfully decided’ he should move out of the apartment they shared with their three children due to his erratic behavior, but he did not go far.

‘It helped us maintain a little distance but allowed us all to be together as much as possible—he still walked the kids to school, and we still had family dinners,’ says O’Donnell.

She also notes that the actor seemed to know his life would be cut short.

‘When I look back at how close we all were, I wonder whether Phil somehow knew that he was going to die young,’ notes O’Donnell. 

‘He never said those words, but he lived his life as if time was precious.’

She later states: ‘In some ways, our short time together was almost like an entire lifetime.’ 

O’Donnell explains that Hoffman said to her one day that he wanted to start drinking again, something she immediately scoffed at but he went ahead and did despite her misgivings. 



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