These 5 stars have been through a lot – drug addiction, crime, abuse – but they’ve all bounced back after their difficult period, and have spoken on what triggered them to turn everything around for them. Some were in jail, while others lost someone they love or met the person they’d marry – all of these big moments made them take stock of where they were in life and they felt it was time to make a change and better themselves. Though they’ve been through some rough times, these 5 stars now have success, and most importantly, happiness since they’ve decided to take matters into their own hands and change things for the better.
Danny Trejo
In jail for armed robbery offenses in 1968, Danny was put into solitary confinement which is where he had a realization: “It was alleged that during the riot I hit a lieutenant in the head with a rock… They put me in solitary. I walk into the cell, see that somebody had smeared ‘God Sucks’ with human s**t on the wall, and I think, ‘This is the culmination of my life.’ I remember praying, ‘God, if you’re there, it’s going to be OK. If you’re not, I’m f**ked.’ And then I said to God, ‘Just get me through this. Let it be over, and I got your back. I’ll do whatever you want me to.’ I sat in the hole from Cinco de Mayo (05May) to August 23rd. The charges were thrown out of court, and when I got out of prison a year later, I dedicated my life to helping other people.”
Tracy Morgan
Tracy quit drinking when his long-time wife decided to leave him: “What made me stop is when I woke up and my wife who I was with for 21 years, Sabina Morgan, left me. She wanted off the rollercoaster. And that was it. I thought I was winning because I was on TV, I had money but I lost. I love her, she’s still my best friend. Nothing’s changed – we still say I love you. Sabina still gets on my nerves sometimes, but that’s my girl, that’s my baby. So having gone through all of this – it’s made me a better man, rather than just a funny man. I’ve always wanted to be a good man, a better man.”
Mary J. Blige
When Mary met her husband Kendu Isaacs, he convinced her to seek help for her addiction and abuse problems which changed her completely: “We met when I hated men. He said, ‘Mary, I’ve got something to tell you that’s going to hurt, but it will help you heal. You’re scarred inside. It’s like you have a cut, and it’s infected. You have to let me put proper medicine on it so it can heal.’ Guys didn’t ever talk to me like that. After I met him, everything changed in my life.”
Jason Bateman
Jason says that meeting his wife was the biggest turning point for him: “Meeting my wife Amanda was the best thing that could ever have happened to me. She wasn’t going to let me screw around my life any more, so I stopped drinking and started behaving like a decent human being. Then I got very, very lucky when ‘Arrested Development’ came along. That series saved my career – it gave me back my credibility I used to have when I was much younger and before people gave up on me as a party guy in Hollywood. It was just enough to make me ambitious again.”
Gwyneth Paltrow
Paltrow says she was dealing with issues in her late 20s, but meeting her current husband Chris Martin turned things around: “I had to find the right person and I had to clear up a lot of personal stuff along the way. I was doing that in my own way, but having to deal with things in private. I did have therapy – just a limited amount, which helped clear my mind. “I turned 30 and my father died three days later. My life did a 180-degree turn in all areas. It was horrible beyond description to lose my father. But, on one hand, I lost the most special person in my life – and on the other, I had never been happier.”
