By this time, an experimental use of drugs had developed into full-blown addiction. Her life hit rock bottom in 1977 and 1978 when, in the space of four months, she was busted three times – on charges ranging from drug possession to car theft. At the end of March 1978 she was rushed to hospital after collapsing with “vertigo and nausea”, owing to a possible drug overdose. In June that year, while celebrating her acquittal on charges of heroin possession, she and Bergmann (who was driving) were involved in a near-fatal car accident which left her with a broken neck.