In 2009, MTV aired Steve-O: Demise and Rise, a documentary about Jackass star Steve-O’s “decent into madness” while he was addicted to drugs. “When I saw the footage of myself doing drugs, I felt like I could see them, I could taste them. It made me crave them and as embarrassing as that footage is, that just seemed like another reason to get high. I couldn’t watch it; I haven’t watched it since then,” he recalled about the special years later. “The producers put it all together and finished it up without any input for me, it’s better that way.” Steve-O has since kicked his addiction, and on Wednesday, he celebrated 13 years of sobriety with a “grateful” tweet.
So grateful to be celebrating thirteen years of sobriety today— thanks to everyone who helped me get here! pic.twitter.com/LDncqH7Z2A
— Steve-O (@steveo) March 11, 2021
“So grateful to be celebrating thirteen years of sobriety today— thanks to everyone who helped me get here!” he tweeted. On the left, in a photo from 2006, he’s surrounded by pills and booze and blood (?), and looks strung out. On the right, from 2021, the pills and cigarette have been replaced by vegetables and he looks happy and healthy.
Steve-O, who’s been sober since March 10, 2008, told us about the difficulty of doing what he does — getting launched into the air in a disgusting portable toilet, a.k.a. the “Poo Cocktail Supreme” — without taking painkillers. “When I got my ankle screwed together. There’s little more invasive surgery than, what do you call it, compound fracture… open reduction. Open reduction, where they screw your whole ankle together, and I went through that and took zero painkillers other than Tylenol and Advil,” he said. “Of course, when I was in the hospital, they had me under, and they gave me, I’m sure, some kind of IV pain medication on the spot, but I’ve never even filled out a prescription. Tylenol and Advil for the win. And when it’s really unbearable, Tylenol with Advil.”
Jackass 4 is scheduled to come out on September 3.