SUNDANCE — In the summer of 2001, movie star Ben Affleck checked into a Malibu rehab center for alcohol abuse. Within days it was national news.
If Affleck wanted to stay out of the tabloids, he should have come to Utah to dry out.
For four years, celebrities and other wealthy folk struggling with drug and alcohol abuse have slipped under the radar to a secluded Sundance lodge for what could be the premier drug treatment center in the country.
"Believe me, if you knew some of the people we've had here you would be shocked," says founder Richard Losee. "You wouldn't believe who's here right now."
Cirque Lodge faces the backside of Mount Timpanogos, not far from the home of Robert Redford. A 30-day stay at the posh lodge, which has fireplaces and jacuzzi bathtubs in each bedroom, runs about $26,000. Additional treatment at the lodge is $865 per day.
Last year, Losee converted the former Osmond television studio in Orem into the treatment center's sister facility. A 30-day stay there costs $20,000 for primary care, $13,950 for extended care.
"To tell you the truth we don't think $25,950 is very expensive. If your mother had cancer, would you want her to get the best treatment available?" said Gary Fisher, the director of operations. "Well, this is the finest treatment facility in the United States."
Losee and Fisher say their facility is not just for the rich and famous, however. Many of their clients are middle class, and the Losee family sometimes provides scholarships for needy patients.
Compared to other rehab centers that treat celebrities, Cirque Lodge is moderately priced. Thirty days at Promises, the Malibu beach house that has treated Affleck, Robert Downey Jr. and Diana Ross, cost $38,000.
"We're the water and they're the mountains. We are mirror programs; we're after the same niche," says Deb Keltz, vice president of business development at Promises. "You have a gem in your backyard."
Tania McCormick, director of admissions at the Betty Ford Clinic in Palm Springs, says she often refers clients to the Cirque lodge when her facility is full.
"We wouldn't refer someone there if they didn't have a very good reputation," McCormick said. "The lodge is a fabulous home. It is very warm and welcoming, and their equestrian program is magical."
If you didn't know Richard Losee, you could easily mistake him for a celebrity roaming the halls of the Studio, as the Orem facility is called.
Losee has matinee idol looks — tall and slender, with a strong jaw and jet-black hair.
So it is fitting that Losee, a local celebrity known for his family's jewelry store and hair-styling academy, would run a high-end drug rehab center from the famed studio built for the budding careers of Donny and Marie.
"If you told me six years ago this is what I would be doing, I never would have believed it," Losee said. "This found me, I didn't find it."
Losee and his family were desperately searching for a way to help a relative who was battling drug addiction. Even the best treatment available had been ineffective.
Then, in 1998, Losee had an idea. He would turn his recently completed eight-bedroom, multimillion-dollar Sundance lodge into a top-notch drug treatment center. He hired some of the nation's top therapists, even though there was doubt that clients would fly from New York and L.A. to a Mormon town known for anything but substance abuse.
"People didn't think there was a chance a couple guys in Utah could start a treatment center and compete with the big boys," Losee said. "They thought we wouldn't last six months."
It's been four years — and Losee's Cirque Lodge now enjoys the reputation he hoped for.
"As far as I'm concerned Cirque Lodge is right up there with Betty Ford," said John Southworth, an intervention specialist who works with Eric Clapton's rehab center in the Caribbean. "I would send your mother or your sister there. Their reputation is impeccable."
The studio in Orem is a monstrosity of a building — 95,000 square feet on 12 acres — at the end of an upscale Orem neighborhood. For the most part, those who live near the former TV studio don't mind its existence. Most neighbors do not even know its function.
Losee says those who live near the old studio have nothing to worry about.
"There are less drugs and alcohol in this facility than there are in the neighborhood next to it," he said.
The studio is a cinderblock building, but there has been considerable effort to make it warm and inviting inside. Oil paintings decorate the halls, and the furnishing and amenities match those at the lodge.
Upon arrival, residents get a haircut, manicure and pedicure. The building also houses an archery course, the nation's largest indoor ropes course, administrative offices and rooms for meetings and counseling.
Cirque Lodge is currently treating eight clients from California, three from New York, and five from Utah. Losee says he won't leak the names of his high-profile clientele to the press because he believes that would be exploitative.
"Quite frankly we've had some of the biggest stars in Hollywood," Fisher said. "And we've had some of the most powerful people in the industry."
All clients come to the studio first, where they receive a primary assessment. When out-of-state clients assigned to the lodge ask where they are going, Fisher points to Mount Timpanogos and says, "Up there."
The lodge is named for the glacier-carved bowl, or cirque, just below the mountain peak it faces. On a promotional video for the lodge, one resident says the setting is something he has seen only in movies.
"You stand and look at that mountain and it's easier to believe in a power greater than yourself," Fisher says.
The lodge includes saunas, a fitness room and a handcrafted staircase that took eight months to build. At the top of the spiral staircase is the Cirque Room, which has a panoramic view of the mountains.
The menu includes salmon and steak cooked by graduates of the Utah Valley State College culinary arts school. The day sometimes ends with movies on a large screen television in the plush media room.
"There's something about the setting that has the ability to help people transform themselves," Fisher said. "I want this to be the best experience of your life."
One former resident says her experience at the lodge helped her realize life was better without drugs.
"I was sitting on the mountain one day just thinking, 'You know, this is probably the best time in my life, and I've had nothing,' " she said. "So maybe I should try nothing."
Most current Cirque Lodge stays are 30 days, Fisher says. Within the next five years, most treatment programs will be designed for 90 days.
Like other rehab centers, the cognitive treatment at Cirque Lodge is based on the 12-step program of Alcoholics Anonymous. The basic idea is that with the help of a higher power, anyone can overcome drug addiction. Residents use the 12 steps in group and individual therapy sessions with counselors, and Cirque pays for one year of group therapy for residents in their home areas after they leave. Before they graduate, all residents, even celebrities, leave the lodge to participate in group therapy sessions within the community. Fisher says this helps them adjust to life after rehab.
What makes the Cirque Lodge unique among its peers is its emphasis on experiential therapy — which includes hiking, snow shoeing, cross-country skiing and horseback riding.
The horseriding program is run by Dave Beck, whom Fisher calls a "horse whisperer."
Beck says clients can't lie to a horse about their problems. A client who denies he has a hard time asking for help, for example, will be forced to admit that shortcoming when he is asked to catch and halter a skittish horse in an open field.
Because horses sense feelings such as fear and anger, Becks says the horse is a mirror of what is going on inside his clients. An angry client, for example, will have a hard time convincing a horse to trust her.
Eventually, clients will learn to use virtues, such as patience and determination, to win the horse's trust.
The breakthrough that leads to recovery often happens during a hike, working with a horse, or while staring at the ceiling in bed, Losee says.
"I don't care where it happens, I just want it to happen," Losee says. "We don't fix anybody. All we do is provide tools and opportunities they need to stay sober."
Losee, who has never struggled with drug and alcohol abuse, says the stories of recovery are fabulous. He pulls a stack of mail from his desk, thank-you letters from Cirque alumni, that are symbolic of the reason he has put millions of dollars into this project.
"If I died tomorrow it's the best thing I've been involved in by 100 times," Losee says. "I'm more passionate about this business than anything else I've been involved in."
Losee hopes to start a nationally syndicated radio show for recovering addicts as a service to those who can't afford therapy. He says his business is stable, but he needs to stop spending money on it. That is hard, he says, because he hopes to make Cirque the best place to go for a chance at long-term sobriety.
"We've been successful, but if you're asking me if they've recouped their investment? No way," Fisher says. "I'm sure there's more generous people (than Losee) out there. I just haven't met them."
Mickey Bickers, a gruff therapist from Dallas who works with Betty Ford clients, has nothing but praise for Cirque Lodge.
"That place has a heart. It's not run like a business," Bickers said. "If people run out of money up there they don't kick them out. They really try to help people."
E-MAIL: jhyde@desnews.com