Edward Furlong, best known for playing John Connor in “Terminator 2: Judgement Day”, is opening up about his recovery from meth and heroin addiction, revealing in a new interview that he’s now been sober for four years.
Speaking with the Daily Mail, Furlong, 44, explained how the instant stardom he experienced from his role in the Arnold Schwarzenegger-starring blockbuster opened a pathway that ultimately led in a dark direction.
According to Furlong, he “didn’t have too many people looking out for me and I was left to run wild” when he was a teenager in the Hollywood fast lane.
Starting with marijuana and alcohol, in his 20s he moved on to cocaine. “When I was high, I had camaraderie with other people. Just drinking and partying. All of a sudden, I felt like I was with people and I fit in somehow. That’s how it started,” he explained.
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Over time, his drug use escalated. “I was shooting loads and loads of heroin, meth, smoking DMT all the time. That’s the way I was all day,” he told the Mail. “It’s amazing I’m still alive — there were a couple of close calls. I definitely OD’d but that’s the cycle, you know. Once you get in there, it’s so hard to see a way out. That’s what I’d want people to understand — there is a way out but it’s hard.”
He continued, “I’m not hungover and wondering what I did last night. There’s so many awesome things and reasons I do it for. I hope to keep it up.”
Getting sober, he admitted, was “the greatest thing I’ve ever done,” and now he’s focusing on repairing professional relationships he ruined when he was high.
“I f**ked over so many people when I was on drugs, gaining back the trust of the people that work with you when you’ve flaked on them so much is a long process,” he said.
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“It’s like the friendship that happens after a bad breakup – people are learning to trust me again. It’s great and things are slowly starting to get going again.”
Joking that “people definitely like me better sober,” he added, “I like how simple my life is these days. I get to wake up and not worry I’m going to go to jail.”
Earlier this month, Furlong shared a video promoting a convention appearance, showing off the recent dental work he’s done after his teeth rotted due to his meth use.
“It sounds weird for me to be talking about teeth because I don’t live and breathe the way I look but every time I looked in the mirror, it just bummed me out as a reminder of what I had done for all those years,” he said of his new implants.
“It’s nice to get a second chance,” he shared. “It was a no-brainer, I’m super glad I did it.”