Musician Deryck Whibley has blogged about his problems with alcohol. The Sum 41 group member and former husband of Avril Lavigne said he had been off the scene for awhile because he had been hospitalized after "drinking hard every day." Here are some other stars who have struggled with substance abuse issues: 
Zac Efron completed a rehab program in 2013 without the media being any wiser about his problems, but the actor's now speaking out about his difficulties with drugs and alcohol. "It's a never-ending struggle," the 26-year-old told The Hollywood Reporter in its May 9 issue. 
"Growing Pains" star Jeremy Miller recently revealed to "Entertainment Tonight" that he's struggled with alcohol abuse. Looking back, Miller says, he's grateful he didn't own a gun at the time: "I hated myself so thoroughly that I would have done something very stupid." 
Former "Partridge Family" star David Cassidy was ordered to three months of rehab on March 24 after pleading no contest to a DUI charge from January. It was his second DUI arrest in six months and third since 2011. 
The death of Philip Seymour Hoffman and his problems with substance abuse are a reminder that such struggles are not unusual in the movie business. 
"Desperate Housewives" actor Shawn Pyfrom wrote about his own struggle with drugs after Hoffman's death. The young actor says in an online letter that he "wasted the time of valuable people, who worked so hard to pull my career to a higher place, by allowing my addictions to tug me out of their grip." 
Justin Bieber was booked into a Miami jail after failing a sobriety test January 23. According to Miami Beach Police Chief Raymond Martinez, during his arrest, Bieber "made some statements that he had consumed some alcohol, and that he had been smoking marijuana and consumed some prescription medication" before getting behind the wheel of a yellow Lamborghini. 
Country singer Trace Adkins suffered "a setback in his battle with alcoholism" and has entered a rehab facility for help, his representative said January 16. 
In a December interview with "Access Hollywood," Demi Lovato went into detail about her dependence on drugs and alcohol. There was a time when Lovato "couldn't go 30 minutes to an hour without cocaine, and I would bring it on airplanes," she said. "I would smuggle it, basically, and just wait until everyone in first class would go to sleep, and I would do it right there." According to Lovato, her rock bottom came at 19, when she filled a soda bottle with vodka to drink at 9 a.m. "I had a moment where I was like, 'Oh, my God ... that is alcoholic behavior," she said. 
Lady Gaga revealed on the Elvis Duran radio show in November 2013 that she's been quietly dealing with an addiction to marijuana. "I had to stop (smoking pot)," the Mother Monster said. "I was addicted to it. ... Although I think it's the best drug to choose from when you're playing around and experimenting, I just want young kids to know that you actually can become addicted to it, and it's ultimately ... a form of self-medication. I was smoking 15 to 20 marijuana cigarettes a day with no tobacco." 
Elizabeth Vargas admitted having a problem with alcohol and entered a treatment program. 
Jada Pinkett-Smith reflected on her Facebook page in September 2013 that addictions plagued her in her younger years. "I had many addictions, of several kinds, to deal with my life issues," she said. 
Country star Tim McGraw said in an interview in 2013 that he replaced drinking whiskey with working out to clean his life up. 
"Glee" star Cory Monteith was found dead at a hotel in Vancouver on July 13, 2013. Officials gave the cause as "mixed drug toxicity, involving intravenous heroin use combined with the ingestion of alcohol." Monteith had been public about his struggle with addiction and checked into a rehab facility in late March. He told Parade magazine that he started using drugs at 13 and had entered rehab by 19. 
Matthew Perry has struggled with an addiction to prescription drugs and alcohol and landed on the cover of People magazine to discuss his road to sobriety. While he was on "Friends," he said, "it would seem like I had it all. It was actually a very lonely time for me, because I was suffering from alcoholism." 
"Sex and the City" actress Kristin Davis told Health magazine in 2008 that unlike her cocktail-loving character Charlotte York, she is a recovering alcoholic. The 48-year-old admitted that she was drinking so much, she didn't think she'd live past 30. 
Ben Affleck surprised friends when he checked into rehab for alcohol abuse in 2001, People magazine reported. 
Jamie Lee Curtis has reportedly said she was once so addicted to prescription pain medicine that she stole some from a relative to help feed the addiction. 
Jodie Sweetin, who played innocent Stephanie Tanner on "Full House," documented her drug problems in her memoir "unSweetined." A low point, she said, was using cocaine, meth and ecstasy while on tour to discuss her sobriety. 
There have been questions as to whether Bob Dylan was telling the truth when he reportedly told a journalist in 1966 that he had kicked a $25-a-day heroin habit, but, according to Rolling Stone, he had a period during his 1966 tour where he used "huge amounts" of amphetamines. 
In 2012, Black Eyed Peas singer Fergie told Oprah that her drug use proceeded from ecstasy to crystal meth. She became so paranoid she thought the FBI and SWAT teams were following her before she sought treatment. 
She was known for her wholesome role as Laura Ingalls on the television series "Little House on the Prairie," but at her worst Melissa Gilbert was covering up feelings of sadness by drinking up to more than two bottles of wine a night, the actress told More magazine. 
"Harry Potter" star Daniel Radcliffe told GQ magazine that he had his last drink in 2010. "There were a few years there when I was just so enamored with the idea of living some sort of famous person's lifestyle that really isn't suited to me." 
Kristen Johnston talked about her addiction to drugs and alcohol in her 2012 memoir "Guts" and admitted she was depressed during her time on "3rd Rock From the Sun." "And you're not supposed to be," she said. "You can't tell anybody, 'I'm so bummed you gave me an Emmy.' You can't be sad when you're being celebrated. So it was a big conflict and there's no shrink that can understand it." 
Samuel L. Jackson was reportedly able to portray crack addict Gator in "Jungle Fever" so authentically because of his own struggles with drugs and alcohol. He landed the breakout role two weeks after leaving rehab. 
Actress Kelly Preston, right, has said she gave up drugs and alcohol to be a better mother to her kids and better wife to John Travolta. "I don't drink anymore. I don't smoke anymore. I don't do drugs anymore. All of those come with an 'anymore.' I used to do everything and a lot of everything," she said. 
Jane Lynch wrote about her addictions to alcohol and cough syrup in her memoir "Happy Accidents." She told Access Hollywood in 2013 that she has been sober for 21 years. 
Sir Elton John told USA Today that he swore off drugs and alcohol in 1990. He said, "If I ever find myself in a situation where there are drugs, I can smell the cocaine. I can feel it in the back of my throat, that horrible feeling of taking the first hit of cocaine. And I leave." 
For those who may not remember because she has so completely turned herself around, Drew Barrymore entered rehab at the tender age of 13. Most fans were unaware that the then beloved child star partied so hard. She chronicled her early struggles in her memoir "Little Girl Lost." 
It was years after Meredith Baxter portrayed one of America's favorite moms, Elyse Keaton on "Family Ties," that she revealed that she is a recovering alcoholic. 
Backstreet Boys member A.J. McLean last checked into rehab in 2011. He had previously been treated for depression, anxiety and excessive alcohol consumption. 
Country star and "American Idol" judge Keith Urban told Oprah in 2010 that his wife Nicole Kidman and several close friends staged an intervention to help him overcome his addiction to cocaine and alcohol. 
In 2004, a then 19-year-old Kelly Osbourne reportedly entered rehab for an addiction to painkillers. "The amount of pills that was found in her bag was astounding," her father, Ozzy, said.
- Definition of heavy drinking varies slightly and is different for men and women
- Heavy drinking is defined as more than 8 drinks a week for women, more than 14 for men
- Heavy drinking is the third leading cause of preventable death
(CNN) -- Sheldon Shiraki sits at the bar in the trendy Fritti restaurant in Atlanta, happily sipping an ice cold cocktail.
Asked how many drinks it would take for the government to consider him a "heavy drinker," he laughs.
"I don't know -- maybe 25 to 30 drinks," Shiraki says.
"A month?" I ask.
"A week," Shiraki says with a smile.
"Let me do the math," his friend Pamela Gjerde says from the next bar stool over. A local, she calls the bartender by name and says she will sip a glass of white wine a couple days a week. For a woman to be considered a "heavy drinker" she thinks she'd have to have 15 to 20 drinks weekly.
They both looked shocked to learn they seriously overestimated the number.
World Cup survival glass tells you when to stop drinking
One in 10 deaths among adults between the ages of 20 and 64 are due to excessive alcohol consumption, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says in a report released Wednesday. That means some 88,000 people die a year as a result of drinking too much. The majority of those are men -- about 70%.
Do you consider yourself a light, moderate or heavy drinker? Health agencies have these definitions to help you understand when your drinking may become a health problem.
Women are considered "heavy drinkers" if they have eight or more drinks a week, according to the CDC. Men can have 14. At 15, you, my friend, are a "heavy drinker" in the eyes of the CDC.
The definition different for women because women's bodies are typically smaller than men's. They also metabolize less alcohol in the stomach, meaning more ends up in their blood stream.
Size matters1 serving of liquor = 1.5 ounces
1 serving of beer = 12 ounces
1 serving of wine = 5 ounces
A standard "drink," by the way, is not that big frosty mug or that giant Hurricane glass you kept from Mardi Gras. The CDC says a drink is 12 ounces of beer (5% alcohol content), 8 ounces of malt liquor (7% alcohol content), 5 ounces of wine (12% alcohol content), or 1.5 ounces of 80-proof (40% alcohol content) distilled spirits or liquor -- the fancy term for gin, rum, vodka, whiskey etc.
"That seems awfully low," Shiraki says. "I would think someone is a heavy drinker if they get drunk all the time. Two or three a night wouldn't do that."
"That definition is crazy."
Drinking heavily
"The definition of 'heavy drinker' has evolved over the last 20 years and it is based on scientific evidence about the harmful consequences of drinking too much," says George F. Koob, director of the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, who has sat on the committees that create those definitions.
The definition on NIAAA's website of "heavy" or "at-risk" drinking is the same as the CDC's.
But the National Survey on Drug Use and Health has another. They say "heavy use" is "five or more drinks on the same occasion, on each of five or more days in the past 30 days."
So which one is it?
"It's imprecise and not quantitative. I try to avoid using terms like 'heavy,' 'light' and 'moderate' for that reason in my publications," says Dr. Arthur Klatsky who has been studying alcohol and its impact on humans for decades. "The problem is everyone always wants to know if they fit into one of those categories."
Koob says the definitions vary because they're "not handed down to Moses from God on Mount Olympus." They are based on epidemiological studies that show the long-term negative consequences of heavy drinking.
The 2012 National Survey on Drug Use and Health found that heavy drinking was reported by 6.5% of the population over 12. That's about 17 million people. The rate was the same in 2011.
Those number are probably undercounting the real number, both Koob and Klatsky say.
How to cut backKeep your drinking at a moderate level with these suggestions:
1) Think about what it does to your waistline. On a typical night out, women in one study consumed 1,000 calories in alcohol alone.
2) Don't rely on willpower -- control your environment to limit your exposure to alcohol.
3) Replace drinking with another activity, like playing tennis or watching a movie with friends.
Heaving drinking can lead to chronic diseases, including problems with your liver, throat, larynx and esophagus. It can lead to high blood pressure, psychological problems, and pancreatitis. It even puts you at an increased risk for becoming a victim of violence.
And of course you ultimately risk becoming an alcoholic.
Too much -- or not enough?
One in 4 people who fall into the "heavy drinking" category already have an alcohol abuse problem, according to the NIAAA. Binge drinkers -- women who drink more than four drinks in an outing and men who drink more than five -- are a growing concern.
"The real worry these days is the number of young people who binge drink in college," Koob says. "We were all 21 once, we all drank, but what this generation considers intoxicated has doubled over the last 20 years.
"Binge drinking has become a disturbing norm."
Not only does this put students at risk for violence, sexual assault, and all the above mentioned diseases, it can damage their brains. The frontal cortex -- the part of the brain that helps you make decisions and control impulsivity -- doesn't develop fully until you are 25. Binge drinking, studies show, can delay development of executive function.
Klatsky says the pattern of when you drink is just as important to your health as the total number. Abstaining much of the week and then having all seven drinks on Saturday is also bad for your health.
In addition to knowing what defines "heavy drinking," people should also know what "light" and "moderate" drinking is, Koob says.
Studies show the mortality rate for people who drink moderately on a daily basis is actually lower than those who don't indulge.
"There are health benefits to a lower level of drinking."
Klatsky says it is more important to focus on the broader issue of alcohol problems than getting caught up in semantics.
"There is an old joke all of us went to medical school used to hear," Klatsky says. "The definition of something like what is a 'heavy drinker' is one more than the upper limit of what the person making the definition drinks."
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