Jason Mewes has been by Kevin Smith’s side since the start. Starting with his debut, Clerks, the actor has played Jay to Smith’s Silent Bob. They’ve been there for each other through thick and thin. Mewes has been sober for 11 years, and he’s always been very open about his addiction struggles. On a recent appearance on the podcast Steve-O’s Wild Ride!, he told the Jackass star, himself a recovering addict, a heartbreaking story about the first time he decided to get sober.
Over the years, Mewes has gotten sober several times, with the help of Smith, who wanted him to not only stay healthy but also be able to appear in his films. Mewes recounted a tale of one of the numerous times he says he’s hit rock bottom. It was a Thanksgiving many years ago.
“I remember me and him sitting out in front of his house, and he’s crying, saying ‘I want to let you in, but the whole family is here,’” Mewes recalled. “And I had on a tank-top on, and I had track marks. And he’s like, ‘I can’t have you see them like that.’ And I’m like, ‘I can’t come in for a plate of Thanksgiving dinner?’ And he’s like, ‘You can’t. Here, I am going to bring you some food.’ That was the first time I got sober for a while.”
Mewes said Smith has never been judgmental about his addiction issues, and he simply wanted him to be a healthy member of his extended family. “All the trouble I had, I had Kevin’s support and I know that made a big difference in the outcome of everything,” Mewes told Steve-O.
You can see a clip of Mewes’ Steve-O’s Wild Ride! appearance in the video below.
(Via The Hollywood Reporter)