Todd Bridges, who played Willis on the hit 80’s sitcom Different Strokes, is currently promoting a book about his struggles with addiction. Bridges is constantly held up as the poster child for child actors gone bad, yet he has 17 years of sobriety under his belt at this point! I don’t know what his full beliefs on addiction are, or what path he took to change (I guess I gotta read the book), but the way he’s describing his problems is refreshing. Here’s a quote from an interview:
In the end Todd Bridges doesn’t blame anyone but himself; “We can’t blame Hollywood, it’s not Hollywood — those are choices that I made,” he said. “The media always wants to blame Hollywood: ‘Oh, it’s because they threw you away,’ and all this and that, but I can’t blame Hollywood. … I made some stupid choices; I made some horrible mistakes that cost me.”
This is the kind of thinking that leads to the long-term resolution of a substance abuse problem. He is taking responsibility for his own choices – and we should really take notice of that. There are so many celebrities out there talking about their “disease”, and those same ones are constantly “relapsing”. Here’s a guy who says “I made some stupid choices” and he’s been sober 17 years- it’s no accident. Knowing that your behavior is a choice, you also know you don’t have to choose to do it again, and that’s powerful stuff – and far different than the self-defeating ideas substance abusers are usually given by rehabs and so-called support groups.
Anyways, I’ve categorized this as a “moment of clarity” because it’s simple smart thinking. Bravo Todd Bridges!