619. Cathy Smith and the Death of John Belushi

Trashy Divorces

Hemlock Creatives

History, Comedy

4.5 • 2.2K Ratings

🗓️ 26 April 2026

⏱️ 67 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

After her tumultuous relationship with Gordon Lightfoot ended, Cathy Smith headed to California to pursue her own musical dreams. She was briefly a backup singer for Hoyt Axton. She also had a brief interlude in Paris, where she met The Rolling Stones, who she would later provide drugs to. But it was her association with John Belushi that made her notorious. In March of 1982, she injected Belushi with a mixture of heroin and cocaine that proved fatal. The media and legal drama that followed was just another part of her pattern of being taken advantage of by others. Sponsors Acorns. Get a $5 bonus investment when you sign up at acorns.com/trashy, or download the Acorns app to get started. Want early, ad-free episodes, regular Dumpster Dives, bonus divorces, limited series, Zoom hangouts, and more? Join us at patreon.com/trashydivorces! Want a personalized message for someone in your life? Check us out on Cameo! To advertise on our podcast, please reach out to info@amplitudemediapartners.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hello and welcome to trashy divorces. Everybody's favor, a good podcast about bad relationships. My name is
0:07.1	Stacy and Alicia. We are wrapping up our Kathy Smith arc today. We are. We are closing Kathy Smith down.
0:13.8	We have taken her with Levan Helm and the band. We've taken her through her relationship with Gordon Lightfoot.
0:19.8	What happens in the remaining years of her life, including her legal drama that happened after the death of John Belushi?
0:29.2	We're getting into all of it today to wrap this one up.
0:32.9	Before we begin our episode, though, we do have some fantastic supporters over on patreon that need their
0:39.7	trashy shout outs indeed they do thank you so much for joining us at patreon dot com slash trashy
0:45.4	divorces haley k Melanie b shana a Lauren c Stacy P
0:51.8	Meredith M Danielle L Amelia. Amelia H. And holy cats, three new super supporters. Thank you, Carrie and Melissa and Dorothy. Y'all so amazing. Thank you to all of our new supporters. Huge thanks to sustaining supporters as well. Oh, and it's a salon weekend. I love them.
1:12.8	It is a salon weekend. We're going to get to hang out with all our folks over there.
1:16.8	Right now, we are hanging out for the, wow, Kathy Smith runs away to the circus.
1:22.8	How do you even live a normal life after that?
1:25.7	For sure, this is such a, I've never heard of this person,
1:28.7	and this has been such a fascinating exploration of her life
1:32.9	and the impact she had on the world,
1:34.5	the surprising impact she had on the world.
1:36.1	And you wouldn't know she was connected through all three.
1:39.0	Let us go ahead and join this circus ride and go, go, go.
1:56.1	What a ride.
1:58.4	Kathy has been on so far.
1:59.2	Seems like.
2:00.7	Started young. Started young. Never like. Seems like. Started young.
	...

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