Answer Addiction

Tag: hollywood actors

  • "Vikings" Actor Alexander Ludwig Opens Up About Addiction Struggle

    "Vikings" Actor Alexander Ludwig Opens Up About Addiction Struggle

    “I’ve struggled with addiction for a long part of my life and I went to rehab at one point, came out, and it was the greatest thing I ever did in my life.” 

    While promoting the History Channel series Vikings at Comic-Con 2018, Canadian actor Alexander Ludwig addressed his recovery in a candid interview.

    Ludwig, who opened up about his struggle with addiction in a new awareness campaign, shared with ET Canada that he’s learned a lot while working through is recovery.

    “I’ve struggled with addiction for a long part of my life and I went to rehab at one point, came out, and it was the greatest thing I ever did in my life,” he said. “One thing that comes with addiction is realizing that it really doesn’t just start with you. Even though I’m fighting it, my whole family, my loved ones, are living with it too.”

    Ludwig’s story is featured on the Instagram account @BiteTheBulletStories, a collection of stories of hardship, determination, and survival.

    Ludwig chose to share his experience with addiction. “With the help of family, friends and my love [girlfriend Kristy Dawn Dinsmore] I was able to see I had an addiction,” Ludwig said in the Instagram post. “I chose to fight it and I went to rehab. I bite the bullet for the addict who still suffers, I bite the bullet for the loved ones who try to help to no avail.”

    Ludwig’s girlfriend, actress Kristy Dawn Dinsmore, was there with him through it all, he said.

    Dinsmore also had a story to tell, about seeing her mother sick for three years before she passed away when she was 9 years old. Dinsmore said at the time she was at a crossroads, but the selfless love of her surrounding community compelled her to go down a “path of gratitude instead of the seductive path of self-loathing.”

    She said in her Instagram post, ”I could have succumbed to being a victim, or I could choose to accept that some things are out of my control. When I finally accepted the things I couldn’t change, I was able to take the appropriate steps towards changing what I could.”

    “With [Alexander’s] struggle with addiction I’ve undergone some of the toughest times since my mother died and I’ve had to be as resilient as ever to help him through this. Our willingness to be vulnerable and open gives birth to a space within where we ultimately grow,” said Dinsmore, who has appeared on Supernatural and recently the TV series Loudermilk.

    Ludwig said that by sharing with Dinsmore, he wants to let people know that they’re not alone and it’s important to talk about what’s within.

    “A lot of people live in toxic shame,” he said. “There’s no shame in getting help for things that you need.”

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • Simon Pegg Details Alcoholism, Depression Battle: It Was Terrible, It Owned Me

    Simon Pegg Details Alcoholism, Depression Battle: It Was Terrible, It Owned Me

    “It’s like you have grown a second head and all it wants to do is destroy itself, and it puts that ahead of everything else—your marriage, children, your job.”

    Now feeling secure in his recovery, British actor Simon Pegg is discussing the years he spent hiding his drinking problem and depression from his family and friends.

    “One thing [addiction] does is make you clever at not giving anything away. People think junkies and alcoholics are slovenly, unmotivated people. They’re not—they are incredibly organized. They can nip out for a quick shot of whisky and you wouldn’t know they have gone. It’s as if… you are micro-managed by it,” he told the Guardian, while promoting his new film Mission: Impossible: Fallout.

    But one can only hide it for so long, he cautioned. “Eventually the signs are too obvious. You have taken the dog for one too many walks,” he said.

    Pegg’s secret battle with alcoholism and depression—“It was awful, terrible. It owned me.”—was even hidden from his best friend and collaborator Nick Frost. The two have starred in many films together, including Hot Fuzz and Shaun of the Dead.

    The actor, now 48, says he’s felt depressed since he was 18. He drank to self-medicate. “It’s like you have grown a second head and all it wants to do is destroy itself, and it puts that ahead of everything else—your marriage, children, your job,” he said.

    The worst of it—the “crisis years”—began during filming of Mission: Impossible III (2006).

    Even the birth of his daughter Matilda was not the turning point he’d hoped it would be. “It was the most cosmic experience of my life. I thought it would fix things and it just didn’t. Because it can’t,” he said. “Nothing can, other than a dedicated approach, whether that’s therapy or medication, or whatever.”

    That dedicated approach came a year later, when his drinking came to a head during a 2011 Comic-Con convention in San Diego. “I sort of went missing for about four days. I got back to the UK and just checked myself in somewhere,” he said in a June interview.

    At rehab, Pegg seized the opportunity to get well. “I got into it. I got into the reasons I was feeling that way. I went into AA for a while, too. I don’t think I would be here now if I hadn’t had help,” he told the Guardian.

    Now that he’s come out on the other side, he’s more comfortable discussing the times that he struggled.

    “I’m not ashamed of what happened. And I think if anyone finds any relationship to it, then it might motivate them to get well,” he said. “But I am not proud of it either—I don’t think it’s cool, like I was Mr. Rock ’n’ Roll, blackout and all that shit. It wasn’t, it was just terrible.”

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • Tom Hanks’ Son Chet: Parents Helped "Every Step Of The Way" To Sobriety

    Tom Hanks’ Son Chet: Parents Helped "Every Step Of The Way" To Sobriety

    The actor and rapper says parental support and the birth of his daughter gave him the motivation to get sober.

    Chet Hanks has struggled with substance use under the public eye but is now sober thanks to his parents.

    Chet Hanks, the son of Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson, has had a long, public struggle with substance use disorder, but the musician says those days are behind him. His biggest motivator for getting his life together was becoming a parent.

    “It was the prospect of having a kid, and I knew that in nine months there’s gonna be a baby here,” Hanks said in an ET interview with Katie Krause on Tuesday. “That gave me the motivation to be like, ‘OK, I’ve had my time now, and I need to move on.’”

    Hanks said he had long known he had a problem and needed to get clean, but was unable to find the energy or motivation to do so.

    “There’s a part of you that knows that you need to make a change but you can’t really shut that door on your life and just move on to a new chapter,” he explained. “For me, it took something drastic happening, like becoming a father, for me to make the change.”

    His daughter, Michaiah, was born in April of 2016. While fatherhood served as an impetus to kick his habits, it was his own parents who gave him the support he needed to follow through. “They couldn’t be more supportive,” he explained. “Every step of the way… They’ve always been there for me and I’m really lucky.”

    His famous parents love being grandparents, and Hanks says they offer to babysit very often. “It’s awesome seeing them being grandparents as well, because I was really close with my grandparents and now my daughter gets to have the same experience,” Hanks said.

    Hanks’ sobriety has also provided inspiration in his rap career as his duo act, FTRZ, tackles the issues the pair has faced in their debut album, Ocean Park EP.

    “I feel a responsibility like to tell the truth… and be as open as possible, because there is such a bad drug epidemic going on,” Hanks explained. “It’s a bad problem and I feel like there should be no stigma around people who get sober, because you need to be open to help other people.”

    In sharing his experiences, he hopes to help others.

    “If you just get sober and try to keep it a secret, you’re not really helping anybody because there could be somebody that’s struggling really hard and if you can be an inspiration to that person to make the change for them to change their life, you can’t put a price on that,” he said.

    Hanks is also working with his father for the first time on an upcoming World War II movie called Greyhound.

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • Vince Vaughn Arrested On Suspicion Of DUI

    Vince Vaughn Arrested On Suspicion Of DUI

    The actor and his passenger were arrested at a DUI checkpoint in Manhattan Beach, California.

    Actor Vince Vaughn has been arrested for what would be his first DUI offense, TMZ reports.

    Early Sunday morning (June 10), the 48-year-old actor and a passenger were passing through a DUI checkpoint a little after midnight outside of Los Angeles, according to Manhattan Beach police.

    CNN reported that the Old School actor was arrested for driving under the influence and for resisting, delaying or obstructing officers. Vaughn’s male passenger was also arrested on charges of obstructing officers and public intoxication.

    However, Sgt. Tim Zins of Manhattan Beach police clarified that the arrests were not spurred by “fighting with officers, but more of delaying the investigation” by initially refusing to exit their vehicle. “There was no officer use of force or anything like that,” said Zins.

    Both men posted bail from Manhattan Beach Jail later Sunday morning.

    Earlier in the week, Manhattan Beach police had posted on Facebook informing locals about the DUI checkpoint, which ran from Saturday evening to early Sunday morning: “The intent of the checkpoint is to encourage sober designated drivers. By publicizing these educational and enforcement efforts, the Manhattan Beach Police Department believes that drinking and driving while unlicensed will be reduced.”

    According to TMZ, this would be Vaughn’s first DUI offense, if he is charged.

    The last time the Wedding Crashers actor made headlines for drunken behavior was in 2001. Vaughn was in Wilmington, North Carolina while filming Domestic Disturbance, when he got into a bar brawl with some local men at the Firebelly Lounge, the Associated Press reported at the time.

    Co-star Steve Buscemi, who was also involved, was taken to the emergency room for multiple stab wounds, according to Entertainment Weekly. He was later flown to New York to see a plastic surgeon before he could return to set.

    Vaughn and screenwriter Scott Rosenberg were arrested. According to the Guardian, two local men allegedly picked a fight with the men when one of their girlfriend began talking to Vaughn.

    Police said the brawlers “refused to disperse, so they all got pepper spray. In all, there were about ten involved when we got there, but the four kept fighting. Normally, we don’t have any problems there.”

    View the original article at thefix.com