Josh Peck was almost a tragic cliché — and he knows it! And now he’ s opening up about it like never before.
Speaking to People on Wednesday about his upcoming memoir Happy People Are Annoying , the Nickelodeon alum explained this individual has an addictive personality that led him to first an addiction to food — and then to drugs.
He came to realize:
“ I was always looking for something outside to fix my insides. But eventually I realized that whether my life was beyond my wildest dreams or a total mess, it didn’ t change the temperature of what was going on in my mind. I knew that will nothing in the outside world would make me feel whole. ”
Looking back at the beginning of his days as a child star, doing standup comedy of which led him to Amanda Bynes ‘ sketch comedy hit The Amanda Show , he says he was teased mercilessly about his weight:
“ I spent most of my life dying to be typical but I grew up with a single mom, I was overweight and I has been a musical theater kid who really had no social status… Comedy was my natural defense mechanism. ”
Sadly it’ s a story we’ ve heard take some much darker turns than TV stardom. But even then this took a real awakening to fix the eating. Josh peaked, as he’ s revealed on his YouTube channel, at 300 lbs at their unhealthiest.
As fans of the Drake plus Josh know — as the struggle with the bodyweight loss was an all too public one — he did ultimately shed the weight, 127 lbs to be exact.
Unfortunately his addictive tendencies just found a new focus:
“ It became clear that once I lost the weight that We was the same head in a new body. What is really clear is that I overdo things. And then I discovered drugs and alcohol. And that became my next chapter. I used food and drugs to numb the feelings… It was really the buffet. ”
On what the substances did to him, he recalled:
“ I had this illusion of becoming more confident and attractive when I had been partaking. I was trying in order to quiet that voice that woke me up every morning in addition to told me I wasn’ t enough. ”
A child star in a new downward spiral of drugs and alcohol? Like we said, dangerously close to cliché.
Thankfully he saw the light — it was the exit sign of a soundstage. He remembers getting a rep for being “ unstable and erratic” due to be able to his substance abuse. He realized:
“ I had worked so hard for this thing and am was getting very close to losing it. ”
Luckily, he’ s been sober since 2008 and doing better than ever. He’ s also found a great outlet in social media — gaining popularity on both Vine and even YouTube — being himself. He told the mag:
“ By walking through discomfort and by doing my best to break down the false identity I had for myself, I was able to get to the place that I was usually seeking. I’ m just trying to do good work that makes people happy. ”
Now that he’ s a grown 35-year-old man with a wife and 3-year-old son, he’ s finally made peace with his teen self. This individual concluded:
“ It took me a really long time to love the 15-year-old version of me, But now I actually understand how strong he seemed to be. And I feel like everything within my life set me up to find this chapter associated with health, peace and contentment. ”
Wait, happily ever after? Damn, guess he was a cliché after all!
So happy everything worked out for him!
[Image via Nick Rewind / Josh Peck /YouTube.]
The post < i> Drake & Josh< /i> Star Josh Peck Opens Up About Ending His As well as Drug Addictions — And Dropping Over 100 Lbs appeared first on Perez Hilton .
