Answer Addiction

Category: Danny Trejo

  • Danny Trejo Talks Long-Term Recovery: I Surround Myself With People Who Are Sober

    Danny Trejo Talks Long-Term Recovery: I Surround Myself With People Who Are Sober

    The prolific actor discussed sobriety, prison and AA in Variety’s recovery issue. 

    Danny Trejo was 24 years old when he began his recovery journey. Now at 75, the prolific Machete actor and restaurant owner has more than 50 years of sobriety under his belt, something he got candid about for Variety‘s first issue dedicated to recovery.

    The Trejo’s Tacos owner is a proud member of Alcoholics Anonymous – a program he believes kept him out of jail and alive.

    “They tell you if you leave [Alcoholics Anonymous or Narcotics Anonymous], you will die, go insane or go to jail,” Trejo said. “And I proved that right. Every time I left, I went to jail.”

    Decades ago, while Trejo was serving time at San Quentin, he reached a turning point when a speaker (and former inmate) named Johnny Harris returned to share his story of recovery.

    “What Do You Have To Lose?”

    “That guy saved my life,” Trejo revealed. “He said, ‘Why don’t you join us? Before you do anything, just join us. Give it a try. What do you have to lose?’ It was kind of like an awakening. So when I got out of the joint, I went back to meetings.”

    So Trejo buckled down and did the work. He attended meetings and kept himself busy with various gigs, including working as a drug counselor. Then, 16 years into his recovery, Trejo’s life would take another life-changing turn when he got hired as an extra in the 1985 movie Runaway Train – the movie would mark the beginning of a long, successful Hollywood career. 

    “Everything good that has happened to me has happened as a direct result of helping someone else — everything,” Trejo said. “That’s the way I live my life.”

    And Trejo practices what he preaches. He has been a passionate recovery advocate who is vocal about the benefits of sobriety and the work it takes to maintain it.

    It’s All About Your Support System

    “I honestly believe this sobriety and being clean depends on your support system,” Trejo explained to Variety. “You’ve got this system of people around you that want you to stay clean and sober. If I’m driving down the street and I’m with somebody clean and sober and I say, ‘God, man, I sure could go for a joint right now or a beer,’ this guy will say, ‘Hey, wait a minute. … Let’s go to a meeting.’ … I surround myself with people that are clean and sober.”

    Trejo, who has appeared in nearly 400 film and TV projects, maintains his sobriety by attending meetings and keeping in mind where he was in his life when he was using.  

    “When I think about drugs … I think about having to shower with 50 men in prison. I don’t want to do that anymore. I don’t want somebody saying, ‘Hey, bend over and spread ’em.’ That’s what drugs mean to me.” Trejo said.

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • Danny Trejo Celebrates 51 Years Sober

    Danny Trejo Celebrates 51 Years Sober

    “My life is just so beautiful since I took alcohol and drugs out of it,” Trejo said.

    Danny Trejo celebrated over a half-century sober this month. The actor posted a photo on social media of himself holding a cake with the caption, “Celebrating 51 years of being clean and sober with the guys.”

    The actor, who is promoting the new Rob Zombie film 3 From Hell, shared with Entertainment Tonight, “My life is just so beautiful since I took alcohol and drugs out of it.”

    He added, “God has blessed me with great friends, a great support system and great people around me. That’s what a person needs, a great support system.”

    First Encounter With Drugs

    Trejo, 75, has come a long way.

    His uncle introduced him to weed when he was eight years old. And from then on, he would use “whatever drugs were available,” he told Prison Legal News in 2011.

    “I thought that drugs were my answer,” he said in a 2015 AARP documentary. “As long as I stayed loaded, I’m okay. But life would turn into chaos.”

    Trejo spent more than a decade in various maximum-security California state prisons, making a name for himself as a boxing champ “in every institution I was in.”

    When he left prison for the final time, he dedicated himself to serving others and became a drug counselor, connecting with people in juvenile halls, prisons and more.

    His Big Break

    That’s when he got his big break. He found himself on the set of the film Runaway Train (1985) while responding to a call from a production assistant who needed support so he wouldn’t use drugs. While Trejo was on set, he was recruited by a former fellow inmate who recognized him to teach Eric Roberts how to box for the film. The director was so pleased with his work that he put him in the film as a boxer.

    “Everything good that has happened to me has happened as a direct result of helping someone else,” said Trejo. “My passion is talking to young people… My message is, staying away from drugs and alcohol, and education is the key to anything you want to do.”

    Trejo was first introduced to Alcoholics Anonymous in 1959. “Once you know about it, it’s always there, it’s always an alternative,” he told Prison Legal News.

    A Long, Successful Career

    The iconic Hollywood “tough guy” has been in at least 124 films. And he’s managed to stay humble despite his impressive filmography. “I don’t think I am a big Hollywood star,” he told the Hollywood Reporter in 2016. “I won’t let myself. I can’t, because I’ve seen too many actors with the feeling of entitlement, and I want to slap the shit out of them.”

    Having been through so much in his life, Trejo learned the hard way, by being incarcerated, that substance abuse is not the answer.

    “I was an addict, an alcoholic, and I know that road,” he said in the AARP documentary. “That road leads to death, institutions or insanity.”

    View the original article at thefix.com