Samuel L. Jackson's Addiction
Jackson started acting back in the 1970s, and has consistently booked major roles in award-winning films, like Goodfellas, Jurassic Park, Star Wars, Pulp Fiction, The Incredibles, and a plethora of others. However, throughout his decades-long career, he's struggled with drug addiction, a disease that nearly destroyed his marriage to LaTanya Richardson Jackson.
In the 1980s, he was frequently drinking heavily, using marijuana and LSD, and abusing cocaine. This trickled into the 1990s, when he finally had a wake up call: his wife and daughter, then aged 8, found him unconscious at their home in New York City surrounded by drug paraphernalia. After this, he was determined to get sober.
How Addiction Changed His Marriage
In a recent joint interview with People, LaTanya and Samuel looked back on his journey to sobriety. During the times of his addiction, he recalled living reclusively in his own home. "I had basically moved into the basement of our brownstone," he said. "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."
He recalls LaTanya being there for him in his time of need, explaining that she made him go to rehab. "She didn't have to try and fix me," Jackson said. "She's could've just said, 'Get out,' and left me into the world, let me go and be whatever I was going to be."
LaTanya then added that she could never: "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 afterwards, we'll talk about it."