Kristen Johnston’s sister Julie Herschede passed away after addiction battle

Actress Kristen Johnston, well known for her roles in Sex and the City and 3rd Rock from the Sun, is mourning the loss of her sister Julie Herschede to drug addiction.

“Yesterday my beautiful younger sister Julie lost her battle with addiction,” Johnston tweeted on Tuesday, “I know she’s finally at peace. She had the best belly laugh in the world.”

The 52-year-old also shared a picture of herself and her sister adding, “Thank you everyone for your outpouring of love & support. It means a lot to me.”

In 2019 Kristen Johnston confessed that she had a difficult time trying to get her sister to stay sober. Herschede was 51 and lived in Whitefish Bay, Wisconsin.

Johnston too has been open about her own struggles with addiction in the past. Moreover, she started a charity called SLAM (Sobriety, Learning, and Motivation) which fights to help keep New York City high schools alcohol-free.

In a 2012 interview with Entertainment Weekly, she revealed, “When I was at rehab I said to the counselor, ‘I don’t know if I want to act anymore. ‘Maybe you just shouldn’t.’ And that’s what awakened in me [the idea that] I need to also do other things like teach and write and do SLAM and all these other things I never would have done.” 

She continued, “It’s a search for finding what makes you vital. You know, ‘Why wake up every day?’ And it can’t be because of Vicodin. That’s why I do all this other stuff. It gives me so much joy. I’m not smarter. I’m still an a—hole. But it makes me vital, it makes me feel like I’m not just chattel.”