How Robert Downey Jr. saved Wes Bentley's life during drug addiction
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Wes Bentley says that watching Robert Downey Jr. publicly open up about his past drug use inspired him to seek help for a crippling heroin addiction in the late-aughts.
“I was in the deepest throes of my addiction and in the worst place and at death’s door, I guess, or at risk of it and I saw him be so bold and brave and open and it saved me,” the “Yellowstone” actor told us at the Season 5 premiere in New York on Thursday.
Bentley — who’s been sober since 2009 — added, “So I thought if I do that too, I can maybe pass that on to somebody else.”
Bentley’s drug addiction began almost immediately after starring in the critically acclaimed 1999 film “American Beauty.”
“I never had money before,” the actor, 44, told us. “So there was a lot of combination of things I wasn’t prepared for.
“I also knew as an actor that I wasn’t going to be really ready to do good roles until in my 30s and 40s. So I didn’t really want it to happen like that too early. I tried to go with it and hang with it, but I wasn’t ready.”
The actor — like Downey Jr., who’s been drug-free since 2003 — has spoken openly about his addiction, telling the New York Times in 2010 that he worked sporadically from 2002 to 2009, purely to earn money to buy drugs.
In 2008, Bentley was arrested and pleaded guilty to heroin possession. He was mandated to 12-step programs but relapsed. Finally, in 2009, he met a guy who would help him kick his drug addiction for good.
“I met a guy who had been sober and didn’t know, that I was struggling,” the “Hunger Games” star told us. “He just talked about what a beautiful life he had now, and how he’s looking out the window at the trees, and I missed that. And I thought I want that back.
“So that’s how that happened. So I just went to meetings and the 12-step meetings really helped me a lot. I already had belief in God, so that kind of helps — the higher power thing.”
Bentley’s career has come roaring back with roles in “American Horror Story: Freak Show” and playing the villainous Jamie Dutton on the hugely popular Western series, “Yellowstone.”
“I feel lucky that I’ve gotten a second chance,” he said.
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