Drug addiction is a life long struggle. Due to DJ AM's untimely death we may never know if 'Gone Too Far', his upcoming MTV show, would have made a difference for young people whose lives had been turned upside down by drugs

Here we go again; another tragic untimely celebrity death. Late Friday afternoon DJ AM (Adam Goldstein) was found dead in his New York City apartment. He was 36. The circumstances surrounding his death are unclear however a crack pipe and prescription pills were found along side his partially clothed body. As of today, the autopsy has been completed but more tests, including toxicology, are needed to determine the actual cause of death.

DJ AM was known around the world as a 'master of the turntable' and worked with artists such as Madonna, Papa Roach, and Will Smith. He was the club DJ of choice at every celebrity hot-spot from Los Angeles to London. An appearance by DJ AM commanded as much as $25,000 a night. He was also known for his high profile romances with Nicole Richie, to whom he was once engaged, as well as actress Mandy Moore. Last September he was one of two survivors in a plane crash with Blink 182 drummer Travis Barker. That plane crash killed 4 others including one of his best friends.

DJ AM, a former drug addict with 10 years of sobriety, talked to Glamour Magazine about his struggle with drug addiction, as well as a childhood filled with abuse. He says, “I was probably destined to be a drug addict. I grew up in Philadelphia with a father who seemed to hate me. The verbal abuse he subjected me to was unbelievably cruel".

AM also talks about an earlier suicide attempt, “I thought about how I promised myself every night I was going to quit [drugs], and never did. At 24 I felt like my life was over. So I went into my living room, reached into a cabinet above my TV and grabbed my gun, a loaded 22. I sat back on my heels, cocked it and put it into my mouth. Then I squinted my eyes and...I pulled the trigger", he admitted. “The gun didn’t go off. I thought, Are you kidding me? I dropped the gun and broke down…That was the turning point in my life".

That turning point led him on a path to help others. "I have another chance. I have to do something better with my life this time” he said in an interview for his new intervention-style reality show, Gone Too Far. Ironically, he finished filming just three days before his death.

The MTV show was designed to help young people whose lives had been turned upside down due to drug addiction. In an interview for Gone Too Far, AM talked about holding a crack pipe on the show for the first time in years and said he felt as though he had an angel on his shoulder after having survived so much turmoil. Gone Too Far was scheduled to premiere in October but as of now MTV has no plans to air the show.

So what went wrong? It appeared as if he’d conquered his demons; surviving two brushes with death should have convinced him that he had a reason to be here. Maybe he had survivor’s guilt. There are reports he was suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder after the plane crash last year. Or, could the pain medication he took after two skin grafting operations have renewed his addictive personality? Maybe he was trying to push the limits; see how far he could go before death finally got him. Perhaps he was suicidal? He was said to be "devastated" after his recent break-up with girlfriend Hayley Wood, which apparently happened within the last week. Maybe we’ll never know what happened.

I guess the moral of the story is you can never take sobriety for granted. It is clearly a lifelong struggle for those involved.

Stacy Matson is a health enthusiast from Southern California and regularly blogs on Celebrity Health for A Healthier World, as well as contributing to the Best of the Best