Here's What Made Steve-O Adopt a Sober Lifestyle
Steve-O has come a long way since he made he burst onto the scene in the early 2000s. While he made a career for himself performing dangerous (and sometimes stupid) stunts on Jackass, the comedian is now making a consistent effort to maintain a healthy and sober lifestyle.
The former MTV star still gets quite a bit of pushback toward his daredevil ways (which he now performs on his YouTube channel), and naturally he has something to say about it. Steve-O teamed up with Men’s Health for the latest installment of Vs. the Internet, where he revealed how he’s keeping up with new stunts (including one which involves anesthesia), his motivation for getting sober, and if there were any stunts he couldn’t necessarily go through with.
And in perfect Steve-O fashion, there’s a story about him being rejected from the circus. Bizarre, but perfectly on-brand.
On evolving from his early 2000's persona.
“Fair point. There’s a lot of difference between me in the 2000s and there’s also a lot in common.”
On his love of skateboarding.
“I’m 46 years old and I’m going after it on my skateboard as hard as ever! If anything, even harder, because I’m trying tricks I’ve never been able to do before. Just going for it!”
On once being offered his own dating show.
"In the 2000s, when the VH1 network was having great success with dating shows such as Rock of Love—I swear this is true. The production company responsible for the show actually reached out to offer me my own series in the exact same format. I gotta say, it would’ve been so entertaining, right? Like, the challenges I would’ve had these women go through to try and date me. Potential for entertainment was off the charts."
On stunts he regrets doing on Jackass.
“The one regret that I really have is that I didn’t do more, because there were many times where I could’ve dug deeper and just went all out. I could’ve went for it, but I didn’t, and so I didn’t get the footage.”
On being healthy and sober.
“This is going to break a lot of vegan hearts, but I’m no longer vegan. I’ve been eating fish and eggs, and I’ve been letting a lot of dairy slide too. Even admitting that, I have a problem with that. But yeah, sober, 100%, 12 years. It’s been over twelve years and running triathlons—one triathlon in 2018. That was my good year.”
On what motivated him to get healthy.
“Here’s what got me motivated to change: I hit a wall. There was no continuing where I was going. There was no longevity in my lifestyle. So I really reached a point where thank god, my life got so bad that I had to surrender to the process of recovery. It’s really rad, man. I can’t say enough about being a guy in recovery. It’s been everything for me.”
On being rejected from the circus.
“Yeah, I got into Ringling Brothers, Barnum and Bailey clown college. It was very prestigious, institution. All 33 clowns graduated, but only ten of them were awarded contracts… I was not one of those ten.”
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