She insisted he go to rehab and deal with his demons.
Trigger Warning: This story mentions drug abuse that may be disturbing to readers.
Being a celebrity is no easy feat. There is immense pressure on a person in the public eye to succeed.
Sometimes, to deal with it all, celebrities turn to some kind of respite, like drugs or alcohol.
Samuel L. Jackson's story is no different. While he is now a living legend, there was a time early in his career when Jackson struggled, according to PEOPLE. The movie star made the revelation when he and his wife of 41 years, Broadway actress LaTanya Richardson Jackson, sat down for an intimate interview to discuss their love and life now.
Jackson shared that, early on in their marriage, Samuel became addicted to drugs and admits he was not emotionally present for his family.
"I had basically moved into the basement of our brownstone," the 73-year-old says. "I was like the troll in the basement, and every now and then I'd come upstairs and hover around to do something. I was addicted and being crazy."
But his wife was not willing to give up on him. She knew he was better than the drugs in his system. She insisted he go to rehab and deal with his demons. "She didn't have to try to fix me," he says. "She could've just said, 'Get out,' and left me into the world, let me go and be whatever I was going to be.
But LaTanya, 72, says that was not an option: "I couldn't do that because I felt as though God had spoken to me and said, 'Now, you can't leave this young man like this. Give him some help. And then, if you feel like leaving afterward, we'll talk about it.'"
According to Page Six, what LaTanya did was basically hold true to her vow to stay by her husband’s side “in good times and in bad”. She did exactly that when Jackson's drug addiction began to spiral.
Because of her, Jackson made it to rehab in the early 1990s. His wife took care of their family while he got himself clean.
But, it's not like he enjoyed the process. In an interview with Vanity Fair in 2021, Jackson shared that he spent 28 days in rehab, and he simply hated every single day in that place. But during his stay, he learned about how alcoholism ran in families, and he finally acknowledged how bad he had it. If there was a six-pack of beer, he could never have just one; he needed to drink them all.
"I never thought I was an alcoholic; I just drank all my life. But I was a blackout drinker: I would wake up in places and not know how I got there," he said back then. The movie star has now been in recovery for more than 30 years. “She gave me the chance to be the man I was supposed to be,” he gushed.
There's always light at the end of the tunnel, isn't there?
References:
https://pagesix.com/2022/03/16/samuel-l-jackson-shares-secret-to-his-long-lasting-marriage/
Cover Image Source: Getty Images | Photo by Frazer Harrison
