George Clooney is cautious of painkillers for fear of becoming addicted. The Hollywood heart-throb refuses to take the drugs despite suffering from blinding daily headaches.

Clooney is still recuperating from an operation he underwent last December. The operation was to stop a leak of spinal fluid to his head after an accident during filming the political thriller “Syriana.”

The 44-year-old star witnessed his aunt singer Rosemary Clooney’s dependence on them before her death three years ago. He said, “I don’t take painkillers because we’ve had members of our family who have become very fond of painkillers over the years.”

Rosemary, who co-starred with Bing Crosby in the film White Christmas, became hooked on the pills, as well as suffering an alcohol addiction, before dying from lung cancer.