Russell Brand Tells Oprah His Addictions Started As A Child

His addictive personality happened way before the drugs…

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by Sophie Wilkinson |
Published on

Lindsay Lohan isn’t the only recovering addict Oprah’s been nodding at solemnly of late – the talk show matriarch has also interviewed Russell Brand, who had some touching things to say about his own experiences with addiction.

He admitted that his problems with compulsive consumption long preceded his battle with drugs – which saw him sacked from his jobas an MTV presenter after taking crack and turning up to work dressed as Osama Bin Laden the day after 9/11. Seriously.

He explained that he would use substances as a way of filling an internal void: ‘I don’t know if it’s to do with my personal circumstances – single mum, and a feeling we didn’t have a lot of money and stuff, I felt sort of alienated and unhappy and lonely,' he said. ‘When I first discovered chocolate as a little kid, I used to eat it compulsively; then I was infatuated with pornography… I look to solve inner problems with external things. I’ll use anything to stop myself feeling. As a little kid, I felt very lonely, very isolated and confused and anything that could temporarily relieve that, I was very grateful for.’

The comedian also spoke about his sadness of fellow recovering addict Philip Seymour Hoffman, who died recently after doing a 'speedball' – a mix of cocaine and heroin – and explained that people will potentially return to drugs after a recovery because drugs are taken to fix problems. ‘When you take drugs out of the equation, those issues remain. That's why someone can have 23 years clean and then use drugs again.’

The full interview will be aired on TLC on Thursday 8th May at 8pm.

Follow Sophie on Twitter @sophwilkinson

This article originally appeared on The Debrief.

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