If you've watched even a segment of "Entertainment Tonight," "Access Hollywood," "Extra" or "E! True Hollywood Story," in the past decade, you're probably saturated with the "former child star turns to drugs and lives to tell the tale" story arc.
So are we ...
But, then we came across this item about Jodie Sweetin, who starred on ABC's show "Full House" (the show with Bob Saget, John Stamos and the Olsen twins), and we realized there was a local angle.
Sweetin, who battled problems with booze, cocaine and meth, has written a book about her problems called "unSweetined." In it, she describes a "rock bottom" moment that took place in Milwaukee on April 23, 2007.
It seems that the folks at Marquette University enlisted Sweetin to tell her story to students. The "Just Say No" pep talk was designed to discourage students from using drugs, but Sweetin reveals in the book that she used the money from the speaking tour to buy drugs.
An excerpt from her book reveals further details:
"When I got to my hotel near Marquette University in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, I slept for a few hours but when I woke up I was still dead tired. I was a mess. Luckily I had the coke to pick me back up. I did a few key bumps and headed to the lecture hall, where a sold-out crowd waited to hear me speak. I thought for sure that one of the professors would take one look at me and kick me out. But none did. They wanted to hear about the trials and tribulations of Jodie Sweetin, or at least the Jodie Sweetin I had created by appearing on Good Morning America and talking to People magazine.
"I stood up at the podium, looked around the room, and put on my best TV smile. I was so disappointed in myself. I was living a complete lie. But unfortunately, guilt doesn't make you stop. I talked about growing up on television and about how great my life was now that I was sober, and then mid-speech I started to cry. The crowd probably thought that the memories of hitting rock bottom were too much for me to handle. Or maybe they thought the tears were just a way for an actor to send a message that drugs are bad. I don't know what they thought.
"I know what they didn't think. They didn't think I was coming down from a two-day bender of coke, meth, and Ecstasy and they didn't think that I was lying to them with every sentence that came out of my mouth. That much I do know. The little bit of coke that I had done before the speech wasn't enough to make me forget how bad I felt for doing what I was doing. The guilt was eating away at me. I was struggling to keep it together, but no one realized that. I finished. They applauded. Standing ovation. Just how I liked it. And it was over.
"I was just so tired. Tired of lying. Tired of pretending to be someone that I wasn't. I took a deep breath and walked out of the lecture hall. I went back to my hotel room and buried my face in my hands. I couldn't keep doing this. It had to end.
"But not today. I wiped away the tears and finished the baggie of coke.
"F-ck it. I'll quit tomorrow."
Pretty chilling stuff. Normally, we wouldn't be interested in this, but the local angle is pretty interesting.
Host of “The Drew Olson Show,” which airs 1-3 p.m. weekdays on The Big 902. Sidekick on “The Mike Heller Show,” airing weekdays on The Big 920 and a statewide network including stations in Madison, Appleton and Wausau. Co-author of Bill Schroeder’s “If These Walls Could Talk: Milwaukee Brewers” on Triumph Books. Co-host of “Big 12 Sports Saturday,” which airs Saturdays during football season on WISN-12. Former senior editor at OnMilwaukee.com. Former reporter at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
