Bela Lugosi, who made his mark as Dracula in Hollywood, insisted to reporters that he battled a crippling drug addiction for over two decades – but a writer claimed he “deliberately exaggerated” his story for a heartbreaking reason.

“What he said was that he had been addicted to drugs for 20 years, in some cases 25 years,” author Robert Cremer told Fox News Digital. “But he greatly exaggerated the story… And this exaggeration of his addiction to drugs was partly aimed at (his fourth wife) in the hope that she would feel guilty, reconcile with him and come back to him.”

“He wanted to win back his wife and his son,” Cremer added.

Cremer, who was a syndicated columnist at The Hollywood Reporter, has a new book due out Dec. 17, “Bela Lugosi: The Man Behind the Cape.” It contains over 700 photos, family artifacts and historical documents, many of which have never been seen outside the Lugosi family. It also highlights interviews with those who knew the actor over the years.

Cremer has known the Lugosi family for over 50 years. His original book about the Hungarian artist was published in 1976. His forthcoming release is the only authorized biography of the star, who died in 1956 at the age of 73.

Lugosi brought Dracula to life in Hollywood following his success in the lead role on stage, the Los Angeles Times reported. His performance, which involved a distinctive accent, black hair, a flowing cape, and a charming persona, helped define how vampires are portrayed on screen over the years.

But despite soaring to fame, Lugosi became addicted to morphine due to injuries he sustained during World War I, Turner Classic Movies (TCM) reported.

“His (fourth wife) Lillian made it abundantly clear that he was only addicted to drugs from 1953 — after their divorce — until he committed himself to rehab in 1955,” Cremer explained. “She said before that he wasn’t a drug addict in any sense of the word. He only took the medication when he was in really extreme pain caused by the World War I injury. He didn’t take it regularly like a drug addict would. He only took it when it it was imperative to take care of the pain.”

Cremer said Lugosi had hoped his account would make studio executives sympathetic and offer him more roles to support his family.

“The divorce from Lillian in 1953 devastated him,” Cremer explained. “He was a very proud man, and he took his marriage seriously. He took his responsibility to his family very seriously. And in those years, between 1948 and . . . through the early 1950s, he was just on the move all the time.”

“… This is a man who was well past retirement age with sciatica issues that caused him a lot of pain down the road endlessly,” Cremer shared. “He felt this responsibility that he wanted to adequately provide for his wife and son.”

Lugosi married Lillian in 1933. They welcomed his only child, a son named Bela G. Lugosi, in 1938.

Cremer previously spoke with the doctor who treated Lugosi for his drug addiction, as well as Lillian before she died in 1981.

“I brought boxes of Kleenex over to Lillian’s place when we talked about (the divorce),” Cremer recalled. “Tears flowed endlessly. She really loved him, but Bela could not overcome his jealousy. And because there was a 30-year age difference, he always felt that he was inadequate as a husband and was very jealous. For that reason, he felt that Lillian had to look around for younger men, which was absolutely not the case. Because of jealousy, Lillian finally felt she could no longer subject her son Bela Jr to the tension, the arguments, his accusations.”

“This exaggerated idea that he was addicted to drugs for so long is absolute nonsense,” Cremer continued. “Lillian repeated that … several times. She said, ‘It’s so important to me to make sure people know what the real background of this is.’

“The papers, of course, based their reports on what Bela had said. But this deliberate exaggeration has never, ever been addressed by the press in recent years.”

Cremer noted that the main reason Lillian was willing to speak up was to help set the record straight.

“We agreed that we wanted this drug issue settled once and for all, so there’s no more misinformation floating around about it,” Cremer added.

Lugosi struggled with painful sciatica in his later years. Still, he was determined to perform for the fans. Cremer described how, before a performance on stage as Dracula in which he had to climb out of a coffin, he was “deathly afraid” that a sciatica attack would occur on stage, interrupting his performance.

Lugosi’s granddaughter, Lynne Lugosi Sparks, told Fox News Digital that it was important for the family to address the decades-long rumors about his drug use.

“The first three chapters of the book are about the end of his life and that topic to get that out of the way, because the rest of his life story is so interesting and important,” she explained. “… Right from the beginning, we have my grandmother’s feelings known (about) what the real situation was. And then we really get to the heart of the book, which is this beautiful story of Bela’s life.”

Cremer said Lugosi was taken advantage of by movie studios. At the end of his life, the actor felt that he had been forgotten.

“Lillian told me that after he starred in ‘Dracula’ (1931) he almost immediately began appearing in small roles, some even uncredited,” he explained. “… She felt that these roles were far below his stature as a major Hollywood star. His closest friend… whom I interviewed endlessly, said he talked to him and asked, ‘Why are you taking these uncredited and very small roles ?’ Bela said: ‘I want people to see me more’… He felt that if he could keep his face on the screen constantly, that it would increase his popularity and increase his stature, which was not true.

“This tendency for him to take smaller roles at very low salaries created the impression among the studios that they could get him for a dime or a dime, where they would have to pay a lot more for other actors,” Cremer said. “They also knew that no matter what role he appeared in, he created a magnificent performance. . . . This tendency continued throughout his career. . . . It was a tragic story.”

Lugosi died in his apartment at the age of 73 of a heart attack. His fifth and final wife, Hope Lininger, said the actor “seemed to be getting better month by month” after his drug treatment.

Lugosi Sparks said that her grandmother and father chose to bury her grandfather in his suit.

“It was their way of paying homage to the role that he had created and was famous for, although they had no idea at the time that just a few years later it would be resurrected in horror films, and they would be shown on TV,” she said.

“Bela… thought he had been forgotten. And that tribute to him, when they buried him in the cloak and robes, was their way of saying, ‘This is Bela. Bela is Dracula. This was his life’s achievement.’ “