Melissa Joan Hart had a secret druggie past, memoir reveals

The child star who grows into a drug-using train wreck is a cliche that some might have thought Melissa Joan Hart escaped. The sweet star of “Clarissa Explains It All” and “Sabrina the Teenage Witch” always appeared to be one of the more grounded actresses in Hollywood.

But appearances can be deceiving.

In a memoir to be released next month, Hart reveals a period of drug experimentation that included ecstacy, pot, mushrooms and mescaline. She partied at the Playboy mansion and kissed a girl -- all in one night.

“I was kind of running with a bad crowd,” she tells Life and Style in an exclusive preview of her memoir, “Melissa Explains It All: Tales from My Abnormally Normal Life,” coming from St. Martin’s Press on Oct. 29.

As you might have guessed from the book’s title, the drugs didn’t stick. “I just didn’t enjoy taking drugs. I don’t like the loss of control,” she says.

Now Hart is a married mother of three who costars in the ABC Family show, “Melissa and Joey.”

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