TROUBLED actor Matthew Newton has left a US clinic and is drug free, his lawyer, Chris Murphy, has told a Sydney court. Newton, 35, is charged with assaulting a taxi driver in December last year.
Mr Murphy said his client had spent 84 days in a psychiatric clinic where doctors had taken him off all medication and he had been drug free since leaving on July 24.
He said the actor was now mixing in a ''community of people who are assisting him'' in Los Angeles.
Newton will appear in a US court on September 18 charged with trespassing and resisting arrest after an incident on April 6. Two weeks later, he was charged with battery and resisting arrest without violence.
Mr Murphy said his client had been diagnosed with bipolar disorder, social phobia, generalised disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder and ''a personal illness I don't want to disclose to the court that affects him badly''.
He said Newton had been hounded by the media.
Deputy Chief Magistrate Jane Mottley suggested Newton appear via video link on September 26.