Michael Chernow

At that stage in my life, I mean, I was a real rebel and I was terrified.

I was scared.

So I drank a lot and I did a lot of drugs and I was not a tough guy, but I pretended to be, you know, getting into fights and doing all this stuff that like, you know, if my son was doing,

it'd be it'd take all the all the power for me not to just you know grab him throw him in the car and like drive far far far away and hold him in a house with me for like a year and just watch him just not let him do what he's gonna do this is not some like small town in Texas this is

Oh, I mean, I was, you know, I got pistol whipped, duct taped, tied up, thrown in the bathtub, you know, robbed, you know, bad.

It was bad.

Yeah, I can imagine.

It was ugly.

So I lived this really, you know, but by the way, I should just say that like in the beginning, it did save me.

Like I was suicidal at 12.

I was like put into a mental institution because I slit my wrist in front of my father thinking that he was going to come and save me and love me and give me a hug and tell me he loved me.

And he like kicked my ass and they put me into a pain Whitney because they thought I was like, I didn't really want to kill myself, but I was ultimately cry for help, you know?

But the alcohol and drugs came, you know, shortly thereafter.

And I really do believe like blanketed that period of my life where I was like, actually able to feel okay.

Got you out of it.

got me out of it.

So, so, you know, I, I, all through my teens, I was working in restaurants, working in nightclubs, stay, I graduated high school.

I actually did a year of college and, um,

From like, my father died when I was 20.

It was a wonderful excuse to just continue to just get crazy and get worse with my addiction and dive deeper.