As a child, she competed as a figure skater at regional and national levels, at first in singles and then in pair skating with Mark Ladwig. However, she struggled with bulimia during her competitions and, after her skating career ended, she developed a drug addiction in high school and college. She continued to deal with this and other problems while attending Rutgers University and later Cornell University before being caught and arrested in December of 2010 for possession of heroin.