George Clooney Refuses Controversial Pain Pills as He Fights Headaches  8/26/05

Movie star George Clooney is struggling with daily headaches because he's worried he'll inherit his family's well-publicized love of pain pills.

The Ocean's Twelve star is still recuperating from surgery he had last December (04) to stop a leakage of spinal fluid in his head that was literally drowning his brain, and he suffers from blinding headaches daily.

But he's refusing to reach out for the more powerful painkillers after seeing how addictive they can be when his late aunt Rosemary Clooney started taking them.

He says he's taking weak pharmacy painkillers like Motrin and Xanax, despite medical advice he should consider Vicodin.

He says, "Our family history is fairly fond of painkillers, so I stay away from those."

Clooney admits he's found that work helps him forget about his health problems - and that's just as well.

He adds, "I'm in a position that I know doesn't last very long. I know that there's only a very short window of opportunity before they start going, 'Well, he's a little too old now.'"