Fawcett's son ordered to rehab in heroin case (AP)

LOS ANGELES – The son of Ryan O'Neal and the late Farrah Fawcett pleaded no contest Wednesday to heroin possession and was ordered to spend the next year in an intense inpatient rehab program.

Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Keith Schwartz also told Redmond O'Neal to serve five years on probation and gave him a three-year suspended prison sentence, which would only be imposed if the younger O'Neal gets into trouble again.

O'Neal, 26, also pleaded no contest to being a felon in possession of a firearm when he was arrested Aug. 2 after a traffic stop.

He entered the pleas without an agreement with prosecutors, district attorney's spokeswoman Jane Robison said.

"The defense team appreciates that Judge Schwartz gave Redmond the help that he needs to turn his life around," attorneys Richard Pintal and Michael Brewer said in a statement. "The court recognized that drug rehabilitation is the best thing for Redmond and society as a whole."

Pintal said his client will be required to remain in a lockdown rehab facility and is facing a tough fight to beat his heroin addiction.

"It's especially insidious in that it's intensely physically addictive and coming off of, or ceasing in any respect; causes incredible physical pain," Pintal said.

Ryan O'Neal attended his son's sentencing, which was first reported by celebrity website RadarOnline.com.

Redmond O'Neal has had a string of drug-related arrests over the years. He had to be released from jail briefly to attend his mother's funeral when she died in June 2009.

Yahoo! News

Dylan admits past heroin addiction in 1966 interview (AFP)

LONDON (AFP) – Music legend Bob Dylan has revealed that he was once addicted to heroin, in an interview taped in 1966 and only released for the first time on Monday.

"I kicked a heroin habit in New York City," the singer-songwriter confessed to his friend Robert Shelton in a March 1966 interview.

"I got very, very strung out for a while, I mean really, very strung out. And I kicked the habit. I had about a $25-a-day habit and I kicked it."

It is thought to be the only time that Dylan, dubbed the "voice of a generation" for anthems like "The Times They Are a-Changin'" and the poet laureate of folk for "Hey Mr. Tambourine Man" and others, admitted the habit.

The two-hour interview, broadcast by BBC radio, was conducted on Dylan's private plane while he was touring the United States. He and Shelton, the critic who helped launch his career, were flying from Lincoln, Nebraska to Denver.

Elsewhere in the interview tapes, Dylan, then aged 24, reveals that he thought about killing himself.

"Death to me is nothing... death to me means nothing as long as I can die fast. Many times I've known I could have been able to die fast, and I could have easily gone over and done it," he said.

"I'll admit to having this suicidal thing... but I came through this time."

Asked about his writing, Dylan said he took his work "less seriously than anybody" and said "it's not going to make me happy. You can't be happy by doing something groovy".

Returning to the theme of suicide, he says: "I'm not the kind of cat (guy) that's going to cut off an ear if I can't do something. I'm the kind of cat that would just commit suicide.

"I'd shoot myself in the brain if things got bad. I'd jump from a window... man, I would shoot myself. You know I can think about death, man, openly."

The tapes were uncovered during research for a revised edition of Shelton's biography, "No Direction Home", which first came out in 1986. The new edition coincides with Dylan's 70th birthday on Tuesday.

Yahoo! News

This post was made using the Auto Blogging Software from WebMagnates.org This line will not appear when posts are made after activating the software to full version.