Richard Taites (Photo: Supplied)
Richard Taite, an addiction expert and owner of Carrara Treatment Spa & Wellness Center — a luxury rehab facility in California — is giving Us an inside look at where some celebrities go to rehab and what a stay at Carrara would look like.
“They all have 1000 thread count sheets, all Egyptian cotton sheets,” Taite recently told Us Weekly in an exclusive interview. “You’ll walk in and you’ll see their Carrara chocolate on top of their robe. And it’s not like the robes that you get in some lame spa.”
Carrara’s $165,000 a month price tag includes many workout class options such as tai chi, special forms of yoga, pilates, as well as several pools, a spa, flowers from French Florist — and one can’t forget the $600 candles! Plus, you can even bring your dog.
There’s also no shortage of skin care treatments at the wellness center. “You know that you could be at Carrara for 30 days and get a treatment every single day and not get the same treatment? I’m talking facials, scrubs, wraps, massages, different variations of all of it,” he said.
The perils of fame: struggling with painful pasts, overnight success and other demons, countless A-listers — from former child stars like Lindsay Lohan to Oscar winners like Robert Downey Jr. — have sought help at rehab. Click through to see more celebs who’ve gone to rehab
Taite said he received around 2,000 resumes to be the chef, but once he saw a woman who previously worked as Stevie Wonder’s personal chef, he hired her “on the spot.” He then told the “amazing” woman he wanted the food centered around a blue zone diet because “part of self-care is what we put in our bodies.”
A “blue zone diet” is mostly plant-based, focusing on unprocessed foods designed to improve overall health. Carrara follows this by incorporating lots of fresh ingredients into its menu.
“It’s Mediterranean food … [the chef] made boiled salmon and Chilean sea bass with lotus root and kale and all these different delicious exotic vegetables,” he said of the food served at Carrara. “It’s organic, and it’s prepared fresh every day, and it’s prepared with love every day, [by] somebody [that] actually cares.”
Taite also noted that the treatment center isn’t all lavish.
“People come to treatment, and they’re completely broken, they’re shame based. They feel they’ve donkeyed off their entire life,” he said. “When people come into treatment, they need to be loved, nurtured and respected and supported, empathized, [be given] compassion and attuned to one’s needs before they know they have a need. That is the important thing. Now, Carrara is built for people who absolutely positively have to have the finest experience under these difficult circumstances.”
He continued, “It’s not just for people who have to have the best of everything … It’s for people that have to have the single most comfortable experience they can humanly possibly have under these difficult circumstances.”
Several of Hollywood’s biggest stars have been candid about their sobriety journeys over the years. Kelly Osbourne, who previously talked about being sober for six years, revealed in April 2021 that she had suffered a relapse and was working on next steps. “Not proud of it. But I am back on track,” she wrote via […]
Taite is the former owner of Cliffside Malibu, where he worked with celebrities like Scott Disick and Oscar De La Hoya. Taite’s passion for helping people with addiction stems from his own understanding and experience of what it was like being an addict for two decades. (Taite has now celebrated over 20 years of sobriety.)
Taite also claims that a big difference between Carrara and other treatment centers is that they “don’t leak” inpatient’s information. “We would never even consider it … Their identities are going to be protected for sure,” he said.
Carrara Treatment Spa & Wellness Center offers three locations in L.A. and one in Malibu.
With reporting by Amanda Williams
