‘Buffy’ Star Eliza Dushku Shifts from Acting to Psychedelic-Assisted Therapy

Eliza Dushku has found her “real calling.”

The Buffy the Vampire Slayer alum, 43, revealed in an interview with Boston magazine published on Friday, Sept. 27, that she is now certified in psychedelic-assisted therapy and is about to complete her master’s degree in counseling and clinical mental health.

The Columbia University Department of Psychiatry describes psychedelic-assisted therapy as a “breakthrough treatment” for mental health conditions like anxiety, depression, addiction, and post-traumatic stress disorder.

Per its website, the therapy includes the “medically supervised use of psychedelic medicines such as MDMA, psilocybin, LSD, and ketamine, in conjunction with psychotherapy, specifically designed to optimize the mental health benefits of these medicines.”

Dushku, along with her husband, Intercontinental Real Estate Corp. CEO and former professional tennis player Peter Palandjian, told Boston magazine that they are also funding research and clinical trials into the potential uses of psychedelics.

“I had the means to shift directions and choose a course in my life that focused on healing myself so that I could help heal others. I would be remiss if I didn’t now share the transformation and the peace and the passion that I have,” said Dushku.

“This is just absolutely so clearly my real calling, my real purpose,” the mom of two added.

As for her reason for using psychedelics, she told the outlet that it came as a result of “feeling so wholly unwell” from past traumas, including her alleged sexual molestation by Joel Kramer, one of Hollywood’s leading stunt coordinators, when she was just 12 years old.

Dushku’s claims, voiced in a January 2018 Facebook post, were later denied by Kramer in a statement to Variety in which he called them “absolutely not true.”

Later that same year, Dushku accused her Bull costar, Michael Weatherly, of sexual harassment that she said allegedly occurred after she joined the CBS show’s cast in March 2017, which ended after six seasons in 2022.

Weatherly issued an apology to Dushku in a statement to The New York Times, and CBS paid Dushku $9.5 million in a secret settlement.

If you or someone you know has been sexually assaulted, please contact the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673) or go to rainn.org.