\n\tHad it not been for McCollough\u2019s all-consuming relationship with the popular musician and comedian, nine of her close friends and sister tell Rolling Stone, they believe she would still be alive. They say that McCollough, to quote one friend, wouldn\u2019t have \u201cfried\u201d her brain without Watts\u2019 encouragement to take a heavy array of psychedelics and designer drugs in the name of intimacy and enlightenment. And that following McCollough\u2019s drug-induced manic episode, which prompted Watts to break up with her, a despondent McCollough wouldn\u2019t have secretly traveled to Peru in March to take her life.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cI would call it recklessness,\u201d Lacey Valentini, one of McCollough\u2019s closest friends, says, labeling Watts\u2019 enthusiastic promotion of ketamine and other substances as dangerous. \u201cI\u2019m so afraid that him being so cavalier is going to lead to irreparable harm or death of another person.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n\tWatts declined Rolling Stone\u2019s multiple requests for an interview and did not specifically address a majority of questions posed to him in a detailed request for comment. However, his attorney, Andrew Brettler, said it was \u201cdangerously false\u201d and a \u201cpreconceived narrative\u201d to suggest that Watts was responsible for McCollough\u2019s suicide. Brettler also pushed back on Watts\u2019 alleged prodding of McCollough to take drugs with him, claiming she was already an \u201cexperienced\u201d drug user. \u201cMs. McCollough did not need any so-called \u2018encouragement\u2019 from him,\u201d Brettler said in a statement.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\t\tEditor\u2019s picks<\/p>\n
\n\tStill, five women who previously dated Watts tell Rolling Stone they recognize elements of their own experience in how McCollough\u2019s friends describe her relationship with the comedian: Watts\u2019 needs prioritized above their own, the chipping away at their self-confidence, and the prompting to take substances with him.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cI do feel like he\u2019s not who he projects himself to be publicly, and I\u2019ve seen many people hurt or mishandled in their relationship with him,\u201d says Anna, who dated Watts in 2018 and was part of his larger friend group. (She requested a pseudonym to protect her privacy.) \u201cI have wanted to see much more accountability than has been taken for all of this.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tIn the five months since McCollough\u2019s death, her younger sister Colleen still struggles to wrap her mind around how drastically McCollough changed during her time with Watts. \u201cI feel very strongly that the sister that I knew before this relationship would still be here if she had never met him,\u201d she says.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/themes\/vip\/pmc-rollingstone-2022\/assets\/public\/lazyload-fallback.gif\")
<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\tMcCollough in Los Angeles, 2023<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tPete Lee<\/p>\n
\n\tMcCOLLOUGH WAS IMPOSSIBLE to miss. She was striking: model height, with large, bouncy curls that she dyed various shades of pink and blond before settling on a captivating auburn hue. Friends describe her as a lovable weirdo who made connections wherever she went, and maintained them with check-in texts and hourslong phone calls. She read voraciously, had a depth of knowledge in music, art, and film, and gravitated toward creative pursuits. She had a razor-sharp sense of humor that lent itself to her obsession with the comedy world. After years of feeling like she stuck out in her conservative hometown of Columbia, South Carolina, she moved to Los Angeles in 2016.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\t\tRelated Content<\/p>\n
\n\tMcCollough quickly created a network of friends through attending music gigs and comedy shows, her various jobs, and community and activist groups. She had a brief stint back on the East Coast, when she quit her digital-marketing position at a record label to earn a law degree at Cornell in Ithaca, New York. But she missed the sunshine and finished her final term at UCLA. It was around this time, in May 2023, that McCollough bumped into Watts at a party. She commemorated the moment with a text to a friend: \u201cThat photo was taken by Reggie Watts, whose ketamine I was high on. What a life.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tIt\u2019s a running joke in Los Angeles that if you\u2019re out late enough, Watts will somehow materialize. The youthful 54-year-old is easy to spot, his six-foot build accentuated by his long, frizzed-out hair that he wears loose or piled high in a bun that tilts to the side. Watts comes across as a lovable, goofy \u201cteddy bear,\u201d says one ex-girlfriend who requested anonymity for privacy, and someone who\u2019s always down for a good time. \u201cHe\u2019s one of the most social people that I\u2019ve ever met, and loves staying out super late,\u201d says Dakota, a close friend of McCollough who was also friendly with Watts, and requested a pseudonym for professional reasons. \u201cWhen the bars close down, he frequently hosts gatherings at his house until five, six in the morning.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n\tAn eccentric character with a cult following, Watts considers himself a citizen of the world. Born overseas to a French mother and an American Air Force father, he spent his early years bouncing around military bases in Germany, Italy, and Spain before his parents settled down in Great Falls, Montana. He grew up around music, taking piano lessons at age five, clanging out his own arrangements rather than following sheet music. Performing came naturally, but Watts wrote in his 2023 memoir that he was \u201cterrible at memorizing\u201d and preferred winging it onstage.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n\tThese early tendencies would become his calling card: improvisational, surrealist stand-up acts blending music, looping pedals, and comedy. Watts bounced around small bands before he began composing for comedy specials and the Key & Peele show, and starred in the TV talk show Comedy Bang! Bang! His big Hollywood break came in 2015 as bandleader for James Corden\u2019s late-night show, which ran until 2023. The New York Times crowned him<\/a> \u201cthe most influential absurdist in comedy today\u201d in 2016.\u00a0<\/p>\n \n\tMcCollough told friends that she doubted Watts remembered their initial encounter, but when she bumped into him again at another party in late 2023, they began a whirlwind romance. McCollough thought Watts was a comedic genius, and the pair shared a similar sense of humor, establishing their own bits and improvisational riffs. \u201cShe was taken with him immediately,\u201d Colleen says. \u201cShe just got hooked.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tThe two began spending all their time together, with Watts flying McCollough first class to join him on tour stops. \u201cIt was very intense,\u201d McCollough\u2019s friend John, who asked that his full name be withheld for reasons related to his job, says. \u201cI would describe it as Reggie love-bombing her. Like, \u2018Let me fly you out to here. Let me treat you to this.\u2019 It was extremely generous.\u201d Watts\u2019 munificence was \u201cworld-changing\u201d for McCollough, Valentini explains. \u201cIt truly felt like a cheesy romance movie,\u201d she says. \u201cHe was really playing the part. He met her every desire, and she really wanted that.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tBut there was early friction. Watts was clear from the beginning that he had been polyamorous for decades and McCollough should expect him to continue dating other women. At an early age, Watts wrote in his memoir, he became obsessed with the idea of romance, fashioning himself into the \u201csensitive James Bond, the funny James Bond, the James Bond who respected women.\u201d Watts found he had a habit of continually falling for women who \u201cwere strong, who were bold, who had a little unexpected magic about them,\u201d and decided it\u2019d be best to keep all of his relationships open.\u00a0<\/p>\n \n\tMcCollough was not game. After a few months of dating, McCollough effectively gave Watts an ultimatum, and he agreed to be monogamous. She then moved into Watts\u2019 Silver Lake home. \u201cAfter that point, they hard-launched,\u201d John says. Watts went first, posting a snapshot of McCollough kissing his head to Instagram. \u201cGirlfriend,\u201d he wrote in late May 2024<\/a>. McCollough followed<\/a> days later: \u201cThis is Reggie, I love him.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n \n\tA few months into their relationship, Colleen felt she was watching her sister \u201ccompletely do everything to bend herself to fit his life,\u201d although McCollough was supposed to be studying for the bar exam. McCollough reassured friends that she had things under control, cramming in sessions from dimly-lit airplane cabins, backstage at a show, or cocooned at social gatherings.\u00a0<\/p>\n \n\tMcCollough felt a need to be near Watts constantly, fearing he would lose interest if she didn\u2019t accompany him to events. As a result, she became his shadow. Friend Maria Vanderslice recalls gently broaching the topic with McCollough, asking why she didn\u2019t seem to be taking her law career seriously. Watts interjected, proclaiming his love for McCollough and telling Vanderslice that he and McCollough were \u201cspiritually married and he would take care of her forever, [and that] she didn\u2019t need to worry about money ever again.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI feel very strongly that the sister that I knew before this relationship would still be here if she had never met him.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Colleen McCollough<\/p>\n \n\tThose promises influenced McCollough to quit her legal externship in mid-2024 and become Watts\u2019 unpaid assistant, according to Colleen and three friends. With Watts purportedly stressed about finances in the wake of the Late Late Show\u2019s end, McCollough volunteered to subsidize his costs by running his social media accounts and handling odd jobs like manning his merch stand.\u00a0<\/p>\n \n\tEveryone in McCollough\u2019s circle could see she was consumed by the relationship. McCollough\u2019s ex-boyfriend and friend Travis Flournoy says that, prior to dating Watts, she \u201cactively resisted\u201d discussions around spirituality and higher consciousness. \u201cShe was the least \u2018woo-woo\u2019 person,\u201d he says. But Watts, who is well-versed in gnosticism<\/a> \u2014\u00a0an esoteric, religious philosophy that places emphasis on the spiritual realm and obtaining wisdom about oneself \u2014\u00a0seemed to have had a profound impact on McCollough\u2019s worldview. She began parroting some of Watts\u2019 beliefs about discovering one\u2019s higher self to her friends and mused on those concepts in her own writings.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cShe felt very strongly that Reggie was her soulmate and her teacher,\u201d McCollough\u2019s longtime friend Andrew Margalit says. \u201cShe just wanted to fucking be with him.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tWATTS\u2019 FONDNESS FOR DRUGS is no secret, with one mutual friend of his and McCollough\u2019s describing him as an \u201call day, every day ketamine and marijuana user.\u201d He\u2019s a psychedelic evangelist and self-declared \u201cpsychonaut,\u201d believing psychedelics and spirituality go hand in hand. He wears shirts with \u201cketaverse\u201d printed on the front and has appeared on a number of podcasts, academic panels, and a Netflix documentary discussing his experiences with substances.<\/p>\n \n\tHis first exposure to drugs came as a teenager, smoking marijuana in high school<\/a>. Watts said he didn\u2019t see cannabis as a thoughtless form of escapism, but an intentional opportunity for self-discovery and enlightenment. His psychedelic exploration came while living in Seattle and performing with his early musical group, Maktub, in the 1990s. But Watts said he scaled back when he entered his thirties. \u201cNow I rarely, rarely do them,\u201d he told Forbes<\/a> in November 2020. \u201cMaybe I\u2019ll do mushrooms or something like that once every three or four years.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n \n\tBy 2021, Watts took a liking to ketamine. Is anyone in a \u201cK-hole?\u201d Watts semi-jokingly asked the crowd at the Outside Lands<\/a> festival in San Francisco that October. He then launched into a spiel<\/a> about how he was a \u201cclient\u201d of ketamine and he\u2019d \u201cencourage all of you guys to get a prescription.\u201d According to Watts, ketamine felt like \u201cdancing on the edge of a black hole<\/a>\u201d and experiencing \u201cpure consciousness observing itself.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n \n\tDeveloped in the 1960s as a surgical anesthesia, ketamine has grown in popularity as a recreational drug, particularly within the rave and nightlife community, for its dissociative and psychedelic effects. (It\u2019s also used as a sedative for large animals, earning its reputation as a so-called horse tranquilizer.) In the 2010s, a wave of studies found ketamine had significant success in treating neurological conditions, particularly depression, PTSD, and anxiety, and a surge of ketamine-therapy clinics began popping up across the U.S. Still, it\u2019s far from a magic bullet, with extreme usage linked to neurotoxicity, cognition impairment, and bladder issues. \u201cWithout a doubt, I\u2019ve seen the benefits, and I\u2019m sure it\u2019s saved many patients\u2019 lives over time,\u201d says Dr. Gerard Sanacora, a professor of psychiatry at the Yale School of Medicine who studies ketamine and has used it as a form of treatment for patients. \u201c[But] these are truly dangerous drugs \u2026 and it\u2019s really scary that this belief [is] out there that these drugs are free of danger, because they\u2019re not.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tAs public sentiment has begun to more openly embrace the idea of ketamine as a therapeutic aid, Watts has become a prominent advocate. On Joe Rogan\u2019s podcast in 2024<\/a>, Watts proudly recalled leading a friend through a ketamine experience after they had been nervous to try the drug, saying he considered himself \u201creally good at dosing.\u201d In January, Watts was a guest on actor Rainn Wilson\u2019s podcast<\/a>, where Watts played devil\u2019s advocate to Wilson\u2019s skeptic about casual use of mind-altering substances. Wilson brought up actor Matthew Perry, who had been undergoing ketamine-infusion therapy and became addicted, leading him to acquire the drug outside the safety of a clinic. Perry suffered an accidental fatal overdose in October 2023 and drowned in his hot tub. (Five people, including Perry\u2019s personal assistant who helped supply the actor with the doses, were convicted on charges related to his death.)<\/p>\n \n\tWatts had a swift rebuttal. \u201cWhatever he died of, it wasn\u2019t ketamine,\u201d he countered. \u201cIt was like it was a drug interaction, and he also had heart problems. There was a confluence.\u201d (The Los Angeles Medical Examiner\u2019s Office listed Perry\u2019s cause of death as the \u201cacute effects\u201d of ketamine<\/a>, noting Perry had a history of heart disease.)\u00a0<\/p>\n \n\tViewers mainly agreed with Watts and scoffed at Wilson for being what they perceived as overly judgmental. \u201cIt\u2019s clear that [Watts] has a fair amount of experience with psychedelics and he approaches them responsibly and thoughtfully,\u201d said one commenter.\u00a0<\/p>\n \n\tBut Watts is not as responsible as he likes to publicly portray when it comes to recreational substance use, four sources tell Rolling Stone, claiming that he often offers a range of drugs to anyone in his proximity. \u201cIt\u2019s pretty commonly known in our shared circles [that Watts gives] people way too much, and is not super responsible with how he introduces people to it or how he administers it,\u201d says Anna. \u201cIt\u2019s incredibly reckless.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tVanderslice remembers a dinner party Watts was hosting in 2024. \u201cImmediately after everyone took their last bite of food,\u201d Vanderslice says, Watts pulled out a basket of drugs, declaring it was \u201ctime for dessert.\u201d Inside, there were \u201cprobably like 20 substances that I\u2019ve never even heard of.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n \n\tWatts deemed anyone who didn\u2019t partake alongside him \u201cboring\u201d and tended to be dismissive of them, three of McCollough\u2019s friends say. One friend says Watts once grilled her at a party when she declined his offer of ketamine. \u201cIt was like I was in a D.A.R.E. ad,\u201d they say, referring to the 1980s anti-drug campaign.\u00a0<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\tMcCollough and Watts in June 2024<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tFaye\u2019s Vision\/Cover Images\/AP<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\tMcCollough and Watts in March 2025<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tPaul Morigi\/Getty Images<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\tMcCollough and Watts in September 2025<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tMichael Buckner\/Variety\/Getty Images<\/p>\n \n\tHigh Maintenance creator and actor Ben Sinclair described in a Substack post <\/a>an alarming incident that demonstrated Watts\u2019 glib attitude. At a dance party co-hosted by Watts in March, where Sinclair continually took ketamine throughout the night, a man wearing a lab coat \u2014\u00a0\u201cDr. Leo\u201d was scribbled on his jacket in Sharpie \u2014\u00a0offered Watts and Sinclair what they were told were quaaludes. Watts went first, remarking that something tasted off, according to Sinclair. Still, Watts offered a generous heap of the powder to Sinclair, who readily accepted. Sinclair said they\u2019d later learn they took a massive dose of O-PCE<\/a>, branded as a significantly more potent version of ketamine, with longer-lasting effects and a deeper dissociative free fall.<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cI mourned my beautiful brain,\u201d Sinclair wrote, describing how he spent the next few hours monitored by friends. When the drug finally wore off, Sinclair said he prodded Watts to reflect with him, realizing they could have easily suffered a fatal overdose. \u201c[Watts] started speaking of gnosticism in a British accent, an improvisational bit he often does while performing. I said, \u2018Be real with me.\u2019 He said, \u2018I am being real.\u2019\u201d They parted ways. \u201cI later heard that Reggie danced at a rave that night,\u201d Sinclair wrote.<\/p>\n \n\tWITHIN McCOLLOUGH\u2019S COMMUNITY of creatives, no one was a prude about drug use. But while all of McCollough\u2019s friends admit she was \u201copen-minded\u201d and had experimented with substances in the past, including marijuana, cocaine, ketamine, and Ecstasy, they are adamant that she was not a heavy drug user.\u00a0<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cI never knew her to really be a drug user,\u201d says one friend. \u201cAt parties, I rarely saw her do drugs, and if I did, she\u2019d do one or two \u2018bumptinis\u2019\u201d \u2014 McCollough\u2019s made-up word for the \u201ctiniest bump of something.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n \n\tMcCollough drastically increased her consumption after she started dating Watts, her friends say. Drugs became a central part of their relationship, and early on, Watts brought McCollough to a practitioner for an intramuscular ketamine injection. McCollough told friends \u2014\u00a0as did Watts \u2014\u00a0that Watts felt he could best connect with someone when they were on the same plane.\u00a0<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cHe would call it medicine,\u201d friend Dakota explains. \u201cHe really has this idea that most people moving through the world are holding themselves back, and taking this \u2018medicine\u2019 all day, every day, opens you up and detaches you from your ego.\u2026 He thought Katherine had all these flaws, and he acted as if he were her teacher \u2026 [and through this] medicine, \u2018I\u2019m going to guide you through these experiences and towards being a more conscious, open-hearted person.\u2019\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n \n\tNora, who met McCollough at Cornell and requested a pseudonym due to her career, later compiled a list of all the substances McCollough said she had tried with Watts: LSD, MDMA, DMT, MMCs, cocaine, Ritalin, Adderall, ketamine, Xanax, Valium, and Modafinil \u2014\u00a0a wakefulness drug. \u201cHe really took her to the edge,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n \n\tMcCollough\u2019s friends were also concerned about the amount of drugs she was taking. According to two of McCollough\u2019s friends, Watts believed there should be no difference in their dosage amounts, despite their significant differences in tolerance levels and physical size. It was something McCollough repeatedly voiced concern about, confiding in at least two friends that she believed Watts was giving her more than she could handle. At one party, a friend says she overheard McCollough questioning Watts as to whether the amount of ketamine he was administering to her was the \u201cright\u201d amount. Watts was \u201cconstantly pushing her boundaries and trying to convince her that she should be taking the same dose as him or at least a heavier dose than what she thought she wanted,\u201d Dakota says. \u201cIt was tension between them. The vibe was that he didn\u2019t respect that.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n \n\tIn a statement, Watts\u2019 attorney didn\u2019t respond to questions about the prominent use of drugs in his and McCollough\u2019s relationship. However, he claimed that McCollough was already an \u201cexperienced drug user,\u201d had taken ketamine prior to when she met Watts, and didn\u2019t need to \u201cencourage\u201d her to partake in substance use with him.\u00a0<\/p>\n \n\tFor McCollough\u2019s friends, the escalation was jarring. \u201cKatherine, to us, was not a rock star or a psychonaut, and clearly was having moments where she wasn\u2019t keeping up and faltering,\u201d her close friend Travis Broyles says. McCollough would later detail her extensive drug use in her Notes app, claiming that she \u201cnearly died\u201d from the chemical inhalant amyl nitrate, had K-holed \u201cextremely hard many times,\u201d and once \u201cseverely overdosed on MDMA.\u201d (It does not appear that she sought medical help in these instances.)\u00a0<\/p>\n \n\tMcCollough told her friend John about the amyl nitrate incident, which occurred within the first six months of dating Watts, saying Watts had given her too much and she \u201ccould feel her heart stopping.\u201d Watts had \u201cto give her a bump of cocaine to push adrenaline back into her system,\u201d John says McCollough told him. When John voiced concern, she brushed him off, countering that she was safe and Watts had taken care of her.\u00a0<\/p>\n \n\tBrylan May, who met McCollough through her legal internship at the Writers Guild of America West in 2024, recalls once seeing McCollough snort a line of cocaine at a party and immediately throw up. Watts \u201cdidn\u2019t move a muscle,\u201d May says. Instead, Watts reasoned McCollough must not have had enough water that day.\u00a0<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cThere were a lot of physical moments of vulnerability that Katherine found herself in that she normalized,\u201d John adds. \u201cBut she wouldn\u2019t have found herself in this situation without the reality that was imposed on her by Reggie. He was the instigator.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tROLLING STONE SPOKE to five women who dated Watts over the past two decades, whose combined experiences showcase a pattern of what some described as reckless and selfish behavior from Watts that manifested in different ways across his relationships and led to potentially precarious moments.\u00a0<\/p>\n \n\tSubstances have always been a major part of Watts\u2019 lifestyle, according to three women\u00a0who recall how he\u2019d encouraged them to use drugs with him. A decade ago, Watts seemed mostly interested in weed and THC-based drinks. Claire, who dated Watts in 2016 and requested a pseudonym to protect her privacy, says he was \u201cconstantly ushering\u201d her to join him to get high. \u201cThe context was usually around \u2018You\u2019re always telling me all the things that make you feel bad, and I\u2019m giving you something that would make you feel good, and you\u2019re not letting me help you feel good.\u2019\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m afraid that him being so cavalier is going to lead to irreparable harm or death of another person.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Lacey Valentini<\/p>\n \n\tDuring the pandemic, according to two of the women, Watts began experimenting with ketamine and kratom, a substance from a tropical tree\u2019s leaves that acts as a natural stimulant in smaller doses and a powerful sedative in higher amounts. Olivia, who also requested a pseudonym to protect her privacy, began casually seeing Watts in 2020 and says Watts was \u201cvery insistent on me trying\u201d ketamine and was \u201cespousing expansive, almost theological-like reasons\u201d to get her to agree. Watts would offer her a \u201chero dose\u201d \u2014\u00a0a particularly large quantity \u2014\u00a0which she adamantly refused. \u201cBut maybe if someone was more open,\u201d she says, \u201cmaybe they got the hero dose without stopping.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tAnna says she never felt judged or pressured by Watts to partake in substance use with him, but she did feel \u201cencouraged,\u201d though she noted Watts would respect her decision if she declined. Anna recalls several instances where Watts had given her too much of a substance, describing him as \u201creckless\u201d when it came to dosing. \u201cI had so many experiences with him where he would be like, \u2018This is totally going to be fine for you \u2014 it feels amazing.\u2019 Next thing you know, I\u2019m dry-heaving on my hands and knees in a stranger\u2019s bathroom.\u201d Watts was largely inattentive in those vulnerable moments, Anna says. \u201cIt doesn\u2019t feel like there was a lot of care,\u201d she adds. \u201cIt was mostly like, \u2018Damn, that sucks.\u2019\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n \n\tClaire and another woman, whom Rolling Stone is identifying as Lindsey, described an intense cycle of love-bombing and whittling away at their self-confidence. They claimed Watts played manipulative mind games with them and blew past their boundaries in pursuit of his own self-satisfaction. (Watts\u2019 attorney said any suggestion that he was an \u201cabusive\u201d boyfriend was false.)\u00a0<\/p>\n \n\tLindsey, who dated Watts for roughly three years and requested anonymity, described their relationship as emotionally and psychologically abusive. Watts seemed to want to \u201cmake me feel small,\u201d Lindsey says. \u201cIt was a constant cycle [of] love-bombing and veiled insults that would tear down your self-esteem.\u201d Their relationship ended in 2020 when, feeling \u201cdepleted,\u201d Lindsey says she broke up with Watts. \u201cHe started hyperventilating. I could see in his eyes that he knew he lost his grip on me, and it was so weird how it manifested in him.\u2026 He kind of teared up a little bit, [and] that\u2019s all I remember because I was really surprised [by] that reaction from him.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n \n\tAfter the breakup, Lindsey says, she tried to remain friendly with Watts. She became suspicious, however, he was monitoring her when, on at least two occasions, he appeared where she was, including a restaurant during a date and at a hotel in Los Angeles. In trying to win her back, Watts allegedly disclosed that he had an explicit video of her that she had not consented to. \u201cI was shocked,\u201d Lindsey says, still confused about why Watts would think she \u201cwould be flattered\u201d by his confession. Lindsey says she made Watts delete the recording, recognizing it as a \u201cdisgusting breach of trust.\u201d She eventually blocked Watts and discarded all of the electronic devices he had gifted her. \u201cI wish I went to the police, but the time has passed,\u201d she says. (Watts offered no response when asked if he had filmed a sexual encounter with Lindsey without her permission.)\u00a0<\/p>\n \n\tTo Claire, Watts seemed charming and lighthearted, but she would now describe their four-month relationship as \u201cabusive.\u201d A red flag came when Watts pressured Claire to stop taking doctor-prescribed medication, blaming the prescriptions on her struggle to orgasm during sex. \u201cI remember we had one fight where he was at the James Corden show backstage yelling at me about how this was an ego thing for men,\u201d she says. \u201cThat it was a deal-breaker for him.\u201d It was a point of contention for weeks, and after putting up with Watts rolling his eyes and walking out of the room whenever she took the medication, \u201cI finally ended up going off of it for him, which I really regret.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n \n\tAfter Claire went off her medication, she says, one incident would make her cut Watts out of her life completely. During what would be their first official date, Watts disclosed that he had an STD and vowed to be hypervigilant about wearing condoms. He made a \u201cbig show with where he keeps his condoms,\u201d Claire says. (Watts was not always upfront about his alleged STD diagnosis, according to three women, who say he only disclosed his condition after they had been intimate. McCollough told Colleen that something similar occurred with her, with Watts allegedly saying, \u201c\u2018I didn\u2019t think you needed to know because I wasn\u2019t having an outbreak,\u2019\u201d Colleen says McCollough told her.)\u00a0<\/p>\n \n\tIn Claire\u2019s eyes, there was an implicit agreement they would always use protection. One night, as Claire was leaving Watts\u2019 home, she claims he came up behind her and initiated sex. Afterward, Claire knew something was wrong. \u201cBefore I even looked at him, he said, \u2018I\u2019m so sorry, I just had to know how you felt.\u2019 My heart went into my throat, because I knew what that meant. I turned around, and he did not have a condom on.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tFor years, Claire says she had been hesitant to publicly share her experience with Watts. \u201cYou always have in the back of your mind \u2026 maybe everyone thinks I\u2019m crazy because he\u2019s so nice [and] charming,\u201d she says. \u201cWhy would anyone believe me? What if I\u2019m the only person that has this story?\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tWatts did not respond to Rolling Stone\u2019s detailed list of questions regarding his behavior in past relationships, but through an attorney, said any suggestion that he \u201crecklessly\u201d exposed his ex-girlfriends to a sexually transmitted disease was false. His lawyer provided the name of a former girlfriend whom Watts dated in the early 2010s as a character witness, but she declined to be interviewed by phone. In a text message, however, she said, \u201cReggie is a wonderful, generous, thoughtful person, and a dear friend.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tA third woman, who briefly dated Watts in New York in the 2010s and asked for her name to be withheld for professional reasons, said an abrupt end to their fling left her feeling upended. She felt so unmoored that she took acting classes in a bid to feel more interesting. \u201cI didn\u2019t even date him for that long, but it affected me so seriously that I ended up having a complete personality crisis,\u201d she says. \u201cI still remember having these really intense feelings of, like, \u2018Why do I feel completely broken?\u2019 It left me questioning my own self-worth.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\tReggie Watts during The Late Late Show With James Corden in 2016<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tTerence Patrick\/CBS\/Getty Images<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cI THINK I HAVE an addiction problem,\u201d Colleen says McCollough confided to her in the spring of 2025. McCollough was hesitant, though, to broach the topic with Watts. \u201c\u2018I\u2019ve got to prepare for it, because he\u2019s not going to like it,\u2019\u201d Colleen says McCollough told her.\u00a0<\/p>\n \n\tWeeks later, McCollough would backtrack, becoming defensive when Colleen asked her how the conversation with Watts went. McCollough said she no longer believed she had a drug problem. \u201cI didn\u2019t realize the danger she was really in, in this relationship,\u201d Colleen adds. \u201cIt\u2019s so painfully obvious now.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n \n\tA year into McCollough\u2019s relationship with Watts, her friends and sister tried to show McCollough that the relationship was toxic and that they believed there were aspects that were abusive. \u201cI noticed an extreme personality change and the chiseling away and erosion of her independence,\u201d says Brylan May. \u201cI tried the tough-love approach. I could not break the spell he had over her.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n \n\tThere was Watts\u2019 skirting around paying McCollough any salary for her work for him. He reportedly blamed his accountant for not being able to afford it, although McCollough helped produce one of Watts\u2019 comedy specials<\/a> and self-funded the production of his improv talk show Watch Watts Happen Live<\/a>, which yielded only one episode. Then there was the isolation. Watts attempted to steer McCollough away from certain friends he didn\u2019t like, according to Dakota and Vanderslice, the latter of whom recalls two instances when Watts physically led McCollough away to be alone with him in a separate room for lengths of time, including at Vanderslice\u2019s wedding.\u00a0<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cThere were a lot of things that he did to control her \u2026 that are classic abusive behaviors in terms of trying to isolate her,\u201d Dakota says, such as making McCollough \u201cmalleable\u201d enough to be open to leaving her job and some friendships behind. \u201cHe cultivated a dynamic and a relationship where she felt like she could only truly access intimacy, closeness, and empathy from him if they were both using [drugs] together.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tWhile McCollough would do seemingly anything for Watts, it wasn\u2019t always reciprocal. When McCollough returned home to South Carolina to be by her father\u2019s side before his death in early 2025, Watts declined to accompany her and was emotionally absent, telling McCollough that he \u201cdidn\u2019t do grief.\u201d According to Colleen, McCollough told Watts she needed his support. \u201cHe responded, \u2018I\u2019ve thought a lot about that, and I just need to protect myself right now,\u2019\u201d Colleen says. (Watts would later fly into town for the funeral.)<\/p>\n \n\tAn event in summer 2025 would trigger a devastating domino effect, according to McCollough\u2019s circle. To help in her grieving process from her father\u2019s death, Watts and McCollough took bufo, an intense, ego-death psychedelic derived from the venom of the Sonoran Desert toad.<\/p>\n \n\tMcCollough wrote in her Notes app that her interest in partaking in the bufo trip was \u201cspurred by grief,\u201d and afterward, McCollough told loved ones that she experienced an enlightening \u201crebirth.\u201d But she later began telling friends that she was suffering negative side effects commonly associated with the drug, including nightmares, deep anxiety, and panic, for weeks afterward. (Watts\u2019 attorney said it was McCollough who initiated and organized a supplier to administer the bufo, and said Watts never witnessed McCollough suffering from any side effects.)<\/p>\n \n\tBy August, Watts and McCollough had set off for what was supposed to be a weekslong international trip, but things would take a dark turn. Whether it was continual heavy drug use, an extreme lack of sleep, or continued flare-ups from the bufo experience, McCollough entered a state of mania, resulting in unusual social media posts, strange texts to her friends, and a 24-page Google document titled \u201cA working (complete) unified theory of infinite eternal love.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n \n\tDakota saw danger immediately when she visited the couple in Berlin. McCollough was still taking various drugs and partying alongside Watts throughout the episode, and Dakota says she \u201cstarted communicating to Reggie [that] this is really serious, we need to get her to a hospital, she needs medication.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n \n\tWatts \u201cwas supportive in some ways,\u201d Dakota adds. \u201cBut essentially it was like, \u2018[Dakota], figure this out.\u2019 He kept partying [and] going out with his friends.\u201d (Through his attorney, Watts said it was \u201csimply untrue\u201d that he didn\u2019t assist in getting McCollough medical help in Berlin, saying he \u201ctook her to see a different doctor, who examined her and prescribed antipsychotic medication to treat her symptoms.\u201d Watts claimed that he also stopped McCollough from buying drugs from an online delivery service while in the country.)<\/p>\n \n\tAccording to three people, Watts seemed desperate to rid himself of McCollough amid this incident, trying to put her on the 14-hour flight from Berlin to Los Angeles alone, until he was convinced otherwise by McCollough\u2019s friends. When they landed at LAX, McCollough was barely able to walk and soiled herself. Friends came to take her straight to the hospital, where she was placed on a psychiatric hold. A dismissive Watts did not accompany the group to the hospital. Instead, he jumped into an awaiting black car and went home to catch up on sleep. (Watts did not deny that he went home during McCollough\u2019s initial hospitalization, but said, through his attorney, that he later visited her.) Watts was adamant, friend Travis Broyles says, that McCollough was not \u201chaving an episode and it wasn\u2019t the ketamine.\u201d Instead, Watts allegedly insisted that \u201cshe was going through some awakening, a deeply spiritual moment.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tStill in the throes of a manic episode, doctors kept McCollough overnight, ultimately diagnosing her with bipolar disorder. Dr. Po Wang, a psychiatrist and director of the Stanford Bipolar Disorders Clinic, who did not treat McCollough, says for people with a vulnerability to the condition, \u201cdrugs can definitely unmask the vulnerability.\u201d \u201cMaybe the bipolar wouldn\u2019t come out\u201d on its own, he says, \u201cand it would have been brought out now with these stimulating medications.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n \n\tAfter McCollough was released, she eventually returned to Watts\u2019 home, but friends say she didn\u2019t seem like she had fully stabilized. Lacey Valentini, one of McCollough\u2019s best friends, and others say they begged Watts to get rid of all the drugs in the house. He came up with a compromise. Watts \u201cput all the drugs Ms. McCollough could access into a biometric safe that Ms. McCollough could not open and he hid all the alcohol that was at the residence,\u201d his attorney said. But McCollough was still able to find drugs. Colleen claims that she saw McCollough doing drugs at Watts\u2019 home over FaceTime during this period, and friends claim that Watts never safely locked all of the drugs away.<\/p>\n \n\tStill in a vulnerable mental state and still taking various drugs, McCollough pinballed between being grateful that her friends had come to her rescue and furious over the hold, which led to a diagnosis that she disagreed with. In her Notes app, dated Aug. 18, 2025, she jotted her \u201creasons I\u2019m not worried about\u201d the manic episode, saying there was no known family history of bipolar disorder and this was the first manic episode she had ever experienced.<\/p>\n \n\tIn that same Notes document, McCollough addressed the flip side of her situation. \u201cReasons I AM worried about the manic episode,\u201d she began, listing the times she believed she overdosed and highlighting scientific findings about the long-term effects of heavy ketamine usage. McCollough was direct about her views on Watts\u2019 role in her substance intake. \u201cMy partner is not totally supportive of me resting or abstaining from drugs. I feel his judgment \/ resistance when I abstain or barely partake or want to do more research before partaking, because it confronts him with a message about his own drug use that he is not ready to receive yet.\u201d She notes, \u201cThere are absolutely things I can do to improve this by asserting stronger boundaries, but I also need his support and understanding.\u201d (Watts offered no response when asked about McCollough\u2019s claim that he didn\u2019t allow her to take breaks from drug use.)\u00a0<\/p>\n \n\tThere was an immediate shift from Watts after the manic episode, McCollough\u2019s friends say. McCollough had already felt anxiety about the security of her relationship after the death of her father disrupted their honeymoon phase, according to Colleen. McCollough was also struggling to keep up with Watts\u2019 around-the-clock partying, which began taking a toll on her physically and mentally. \u201cShe felt Reggie could not get rid of her fast enough,\u201d Vanderslice says. \u201cHe wanted absolutely nothing to do with her the moment she stopped being fun and easygoing and a good vibe to be around.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n \n\tBy October 2025, Watts ended their relationship. In explaining himself, Watts said he couldn\u2019t handle being McCollough\u2019s \u201ccaretaker,\u201d Dakota says.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s pretty commonly known in our shared circles [that Watts gives] people way too much [drugs].\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAnna\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tMcCOLLOUGH WAS DESTABILIZED after the breakup. She had no home and no steady job, and had pushed some of her closest friends away following the manic episode. McCollough had wanted to explore a career in the entertainment space, but without Watts\u2019 support, she believed that possibility was out of reach. She continued to live with Watts and accompanied him to a set of shows in Australia, partly because she had invested a significant amount of her minimal savings into creating his new tour merchandise, according to Colleen. In December, McCollough moved out and rented a room from a mutual friend, with Watts covering a few months of her rent until she was back on her feet, spotting her around $1,400 a month. Watts\u2019 attorney says he also paid for McCollough\u2019s psychiatric treatment and medication.\u00a0<\/p>\n \n\tThrough the first months of this year, friends say, McCollough\u2019s self-confidence was shattered, and she lost an alarming amount of weight. Watts preferred to speak to her by email, was frosty, and ignored her when he bumped into her at events, according to four friends. (\u201cThe last time Mr. Watts saw Ms. McCollough prior to her trip to Lima, he told her he loved her and would always be supportive of her,\u201d Watts\u2019 attorney says.) Just a few months earlier, Watts had assured McCollough that she was his lifelong partner and told their friends they were as good as married and that he\u2019d always provide for her. Now, she\u2019d been dumped for what she saw as an involuntary medical response to a drug. And she was addicted to ketamine, taking near-daily hits and voicing anxiety about the long-term ramifications, her friends say.\u00a0<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cShe was pretty afraid that perhaps she had fucked up her brain in some way,\u201d McCollough\u2019s friend Andrew Margalit says. \u201cI\u2019ll use her own words here: She regretted how cavalier she was about drug use, but she really trusted the people that she was around.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n \n\tNo one registered the depth of McCollough\u2019s despair. She began visiting an anonymous suicide forum that some states have tried to restrict access to, and in early March \u2014 shortly after her 36th birthday \u2014 she began posting about different means and methods to end her life. She wrote of her fears of a painful death, and was hopeful about finding someone from the forum to be present with her in her final moments.\u00a0<\/p>\n \n\tMcCollough wrote a detailed post about why she felt this was the path she needed to take. \u201cI was in a relationship with a brilliant, handsome, sensitive, romantic, hilarious, insanely talented and fun partner that ended because I had a drug-induced manic episode 7 months ago (never happened to me before that in my life). It made him lose his romantic and sexual attraction to me to see me in that state.\u2026 Our relationship was dream-level romantic and we loved being together all the time \u2026\u00a0<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cDoing really fun and stimulating things literally every day with other incredible artists, sleeping in as late as I wanted, sharing a beautiful home, not worrying about money for the first time in my life, being spoiled with whatever I wanted,\u201d she added. \u201cHis life is absolutely incredible and sharing it with him was bliss, magic, unbelievable, beyond my wildest dreams\u2026. I can\u2019t get over the stupid way I lost him and I can\u2019t stand my life now compared to what it was with him. I also can\u2019t stand knowing I will never be remotely close to that happy again, and knowing I will never love someone nearly as much as him because he is so total package and singular. I think about him and memories of our life together literally every waking moment and sometimes in my dreams too.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n \n\tIt was among some of McCollough\u2019s final posts on the forum. Then, without telling anyone apart from a German man she is believed to have met through the site, McCollough boarded a flight for Lima, Peru, where it\u2019s reportedly easier to obtain a euthanasia agent. She briefly texted with Watts about the afterlife and posted \u201cHappy Reggie Week\u201d on Instagram to celebrate Watts\u2019 upcoming March 23 birthday. Then McCollough went dark.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n \n\tIt had been only a few days after McCollough left when Colleen realized she hadn\u2019t heard from her sister. Colleen touched base with McCollough\u2019s friends, who also had no idea where she was. Having exhausted her options, Colleen reached out to Watts for assistance. He also hadn\u2019t heard from McCollough and didn\u2019t know where she could be, but he remembered that he had access to her iCloud account and was able to trace her phone\u2019s location to a police station in Lima. \u201cI\u2019m thinking, \u2018Oh, god, she\u2019s there doing some drug ceremony or something,\u2019\u201d Colleen says. Through a translator, Peruvian authorities relayed that McCollough had been found dead alongside the German man, both dying by suicide.\u00a0<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cTo everyone this hurts, I am so sorry that my peace came at your expense,\u201d McCollough wrote in a goodbye letter that was found with her body. \u201cI hope you can forgive me. I hope it helps you to know that the way I went was as peaceful as possible. I know it\u2019s so selfish and loser-y to quit because drugs gave me a mental illness that took away the people and the life I loved. But I\u2019m tired and it hurts and I can\u2019t trust that things get better. I believe that consciousness is an ocean containing everything and that the individual corporeal self is only a wave temporarily rising from it. I\u2019ve returned to the ocean but I believe we bring our memories back with us. Because of this I will never forget or stop loving you.\u201d<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\tMcCollough with sister Colleen<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tCourtesy of Colleen McCollough<\/p>\n \n\tFROM A CORNER of a dark room on April 1, Watts began recording himself singing a rendition of \u201cBlueberry Hill.\u201d \u201cHello and welcome. Tonight is a very special night,\u201d Watts began in a faux British accent. He briefly paused, ducking out of the frame as the sound of several loud sniffs and the clinking of hollow metal came from off-camera. When Watts reappeared, he introduced a new piece of music, something he had just written, an abrasive, cacophonous track. \u201cKatherine vibes,\u201d Watts captioned the video. \u201cMy heart is full for you.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n \n\tIn a separate post, Watts shared the news of McCollough\u2019s death and elaborated on his moment of reflection to his nearly half a million followers. \u201cKatherine, I will miss you so much. I know you were in pain, and while I tried everything I could to reflect the light you brought into this world, the sorrow became too much to overcome. You changed my life. You opened my vulnerability and taught me how to receive love from someone so close. We built a life together, went on adventures, and we took chances together. You had a natural radiance that people could feel from so far away \u2014 a light that you carried despite the difficult path you walked from childhood. I\u2019ve been processing so much. I know you can hear me, and I honor the intentionality of your journey. You planned your time in Lima beautifully \u2014\u00a0the coast, the art, the meals shared with a friend. While it is so difficult for those of us left behind, I understand your need for peace.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n \n\tInformation about McCollough\u2019s last days was news to Colleen and McCollough\u2019s friends. \u201cWe\u2019re like, \u2018What is he talking about?\u2019 We didn\u2019t know those details,\u201d Colleen says. It took another week for Watts to disclose to Colleen that he had rummaged through McCollough\u2019s iCloud. Flicking through her photos, scrolling through her texts, and going into her Notes app, Watts was able to retrace McCollough\u2019s final moments and locate a draft of her goodbye letter, which he recited back to Colleen.\u00a0<\/p>\n \n\tColleen was beside herself. \u201cIt was torturous to not know anything, and he knew the entire week,\u201d she says. \u201cHe didn\u2019t consider her family at all. He didn\u2019t care. He was like, \u2018I have this information, and I\u2019ll decide who needs it and who doesn\u2019t.\u2019\u201d (Watts did not offer an explanation to Rolling Stone as to why he did not immediately share details with McCollough\u2019s family. Through his attorney, Watts said he wasn\u2019t aware McCollough was suicidal. \u201cNot once during that period did Katherine or any of her family members or friends, ever suggest to Reggie that she was suicidal.\u201d )\u00a0<\/p>\n \n\tMcCollough\u2019s friends were similarly incensed. Watts spoke as if he and McCollough were still together. He had used flowery language to describe what they saw as a tragic and horrifying decision. \u201cI don\u2019t think there\u2019s any universe in which you can compliment somebody\u2019s suicide,\u201d Margalit says. \u201cShe went to Lima explicitly and exclusively to kill herself. There\u2019s nothing beautiful about that.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n \n\tWatts was also hindering the healing process by being insensitive and self-centered, friends say. Watts initially refused to delete a video where he shared more details about McCollough\u2019s death, erasing Colleen\u2019s comments where she begged him to take down the post. (He eventually removed the video.) Watts asked Colleen if she\u2019d feel comfortable obtaining crime scene photos of McCollough in the bed where her body was found. And when it came to the laborious process of bringing McCollough\u2019s body home \u2014 for which McCollough\u2019s friends created a GoFundMe to offset the $20,000 cost \u2014\u00a0Watts never donated to the fund or shared the link with his followers. (Watts did not dispute this.)<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cThere\u2019s just no room, even now,\u201d Colleen says. \u201cThere\u2019s no room for her in her own death.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n \n\tMcCollough\u2019s loved ones view her experience with Watts as a devastating cautionary tale: a perfect storm of conditions that led to a tragic outcome. They firmly believe that if McCollough had never met Watts, had he not pushed his extreme views on psychedelics and substances on her and had McCollough not adopted those views, that she\u2019d still be alive today. \u201cI\u2019m confident if she never met Reggie, she\u2019d be alive,\u201d Nora says.<\/p>\n \n\tThe women who previously dated Watts say although they were left with emotional scars, they feel lucky they were able to get away. \u201cMy heart just broke for her,\u201d Lindsey says. \u201cI remember feeling [how] he would make me feel \u2014\u00a0completely devastated and worthless. I just wish so badly that she could have known that it gets better, and that this guy has no say in your worth.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n \n\tMcCollough\u2019s sister and friends hope that her story can prevent another woman or fan who heeds Watts\u2019 blanket endorsement of ketamine and other substances from falling into addiction. Watts is \u201ca manipulative and negligent person riding the wave of this popular drug,\u201d Broyles says. \u201cIt was [McCollough\u2019s] undoing.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n \n\tMany also voiced concern for Watts himself, labeling his \u201cdaily\u201d substance use as equally alarming. It would be a silver lining to Margalit if Watts has a wake-up call about how he propagates psychedelics. \u201cHopefully, as a result of these things, he can reconsider his approach and advocacy,\u201d Margalit says.<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cPeople can get so wrapped up in the celebrity part \u2014 his persona \u2014 and they trust him,\u201d Colleen says. \u201cI never thought it would happen to Katherine. I would hate for this to happen to anyone else.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n \n\tIf you or someone you know is struggling or in crisis, help is available. Dial 988 or chat at 988lifeline.org<\/a> to reach the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline<\/a>. The Trevor Project<\/a>, which provides help and suicide-prevention resources for LGBTQ+ youth, can be reached at 1-866-488-7386. Find other international suicide helplines at Befrienders Worldwide (befrienders.org<\/a>).<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n