Did Donatella Versace have a cocaine problem?

In the new trailer for Lifetime’s House of Versace, Gina Gershon portrays Donatella Versase as having a penchant for nose candy. It turns out that’s just not dramatic speculation: Donatella has been very open about her cocaine habit, which spanned about 18 years.

In 2005 she explained to Vogue that her partying was a blast a first, but really got out of control. “I had so much fun,” she said. “I had the best time of my life. You just feel more awake, more aware. Unfortunately, it doesn’t continue like that. So I just kept doing it, every time I was in New York, in Los Angeles, mostly at parties.”

After her brother Gianna was murdered in 1997 Donatella gave up drugs, but she eventually started using again. She got into a such a state that Elton John staged an intervention for her after she had a meltdown during her daughter Allegra’s 18th birthday party June 30, 2004. According to the book House of Versace that the Lifetime film is based on, Elton told her assistant “You people are doing nothing but enabling Donatella by protecting her! She’s going to die if we don’t do something!” Allegra joined forces with Elton and they were able to convince Donatella to get help. “I’m very determined that I don’t want to feel that way again,” the now 58-year-old designer said in 2005.

At the height of her addiction, she reportedly snorted cocaine in front of employees while at fashion shows and at after parties, often with security guarding the bathroom door. At one point she gave an incoherent press conference while completely high. She remembers one incident in 2004 when she her addiction has interfered with her ability to do her work, causing a breakdown at a fashion show. “I was crying, laughing, crying, sleeping — I couldn’t understand when I was talking; people couldn’t understand me,” she said. “I think if I didn’t go (to rehab) I would have died.”

Donatella says she adopted whole new, healthy habits to replace the old ones after rehab.

The best line from the new trailer? “I was always crazy, even before the drugs.”

House of Versace premieres Oct. 5 on Lifetime. It will probably be amazing.