Jacob Young is best known for his roles on All My Children and The Bold and the Beautiful. He returned to the small screen in the new thriller, A Murder Between Friends. In a new interview, Young opened up about his seven-year struggle with opioid addiction and his path to sobriety.
Key Takeaways
- Young appeared on the Imperfectly Perfect podcast, where he first spoke about his seven-year addiction to opioids.
- The soap alum kept this secret from everyone in his life, including his wife.
- Young felt it was important to share his path to sobriety.
How Childhood Trauma Impacted Young’s Life
On the Imperfectly Perfect podcast, Young had a candid conversation about his upbringing. He was just a teenager when he was cast on B&B. At the time, Young had to travel between households since he grew up in a divorced family.
His family struggled to make ends meet. Young recalled times when he was “literally starving.” When he was 16 years old, he lost his mom to suicide. With great lows in his life came great highs.
Young signed a contract with B&B and earned his first Daytime Emmy nomination six months after appearing on the soap. It was also around the time he struggled with substance use. In his teens, he would spend most of his time smoking marijuana with friends.
But then, he would turn to alcohol and harder drugs in his mid-20s. When he met his now-wife, Christen Steward, he still partied but quit marijuana and cocaine. That all changed after he underwent dental surgery. “And I ended up with a prescription for Vicodin,” Young admitted.
NEXT: B&B’s Jacob Young talks mental health.
Jacob Young Shares His Path to Sobriety
In the interview, Young said that he’s never opened up about his addiction before. “I started getting hooked on opioids, and I went through seven years of my life wasted on opioids,” he explained. He recalled, “just needing to numb, and to just sit and just feel normal.”
Despite his addiction, Young was the utmost professional. He showed up to film his lines. “I was always well-studied. It never affected my work,” Young said. He thought he could keep his addiction under control.
Young kept it from everything, including his loved ones and wife. He hit his limit when he was tired of hiding his dependency. From then on, he sought counseling and wanted to get to the root of his trauma.
These days, Young is open about his addiction and path to sobriety. He also wants to help others going through similar struggles, no matter what those struggles may be.
“We are all going through something in our lives, you know? Whether it’s raising children, trying to navigate that, whether it’s just trying to raise yourself and figure out, you know, ‘Where am I in my headspace today?'” Young said.
If you or someone you know is in crisis, the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline is available 24 hours a day. There is always help available via text, chat, or talk.
