An extremely unsettling video of a young, drug addicted Angelina Jolie has taken the world by storm. The footage, originally leaked by The National Enquirer, was taken by convicted drug dealer Franklin Meyer in 1999.

“Angie was a client of mine for several years. I sold her heroin and cocaine. One day she called me up and wanted me to drop by her place. That was her way of telling me she wanted me to bring her drugs,” he said. “At the time, I had just bought a video camera and decided to bring it along. When I arrived, I just gave her the drugs and then she gave me the money.”

Anyone with half a brain will realise there’s something “off” about this. Why would a known drug dealer film his client taking drugs? He claims she gave him permission to do so after he rocked up at her Manhattan apartment with heroin and cocaine.

The 16-minute video shows a withered Jolie pacing around the room like a frantic animal while picking at her skin with dirty fingernails. As luck would have it – or as a cash-in would have it – Meyers “kept filming her as her father, Hollywood star Jon Voight, rang and they discussed her brother, James, and late mother, Marcheline Bertrand.”

What a deal! Three for the price of cocaine and heroin – coupons excluded.

The anonymous conversation – it’s uncertain who she is speaking with – is erratic, bizarre and downright disturbing:

“You know but it’s, you know it’s, whatever that house… I said once, well, what if I stop working? She’s like, telling me to relax, you know. But to, you know, I said what if I don’t work for you, what if I don’t make that much money? And you stay in an apartment until I make more money so that you can get a bigger house. What if something happens to me? You know, I don’t want this to ruin our relationship. And I don’t want it to be this thing where, you know, we go out to do something or to dinner or go shopping and you know, or her coming out to visit, and not buying something for herself.”

Jolie has always been very vocal about her dark past. In 2011 the actress told 60 Minutes, “‘I went through heavier, darker times and I survived them. I didn’t die young, so I’m very lucky. There are other artists and people who didn’t survive certain things.”

“I think people can imagine that I did the most dangerous and I did the worst. For many reasons I shouldn’t be here. You think of those too many times where you came close to too many dangerous things, too many chances taken too far.”

The internationally acclaimed actress, humanitarian and film director is an inspiring example of perseverance. There is always light – and Brad Pitt – at the end of that very dark tunnel.

She survived. And so can you.

Editor’s note – we are not showing the infamous video – if you want to see it you can find it on the web.