In 1989, McCain developed an addiction to Percocet and Vicodin. She initially took the opioid painkillers to alleviate pain after two spinal surgeries for ruptured discs. She also used the drugs to ease emotional stress during the Keating Five scandal. The addiction progressed to where she was taking upwards of twenty pills a day, and she resorted to having an AVMT physician write illegal prescriptions in the names of three AVMT employees without their knowledge. In 1992, her parents staged an intervention to force her to get help; she told her husband about her problem and subsequently attended a drug treatment facility where she began outpatient sessions to begin recovery from drug addiction. In 1993, she underwent surgery, which resolved her back pain.