The US comedian and actor Tom Arnold has had his fair share of battles with addiction. During the 1980s, he hit the headlines for his serious addiction to alcohol or drugs. He managed to break away from addiction and enjoyed almost two decades of sobriety. Then, in 2008, he crashed his motorbike on the Pacific Coast Highway. He was lucky enough to walk away from this with just a broken scapula. Unfortunately, though, in order to control the pain he needed to take strong analgesia, and he ended up addicted to these painkillers after years of sobriety. He ended up in a coma that was at least partially due to this new addiction.
Addiction and Fame
Tom Arnold was a reasonably successfully comedian in the eighties, but it was not until he began dating the TV star Roseanne Barr that he really started hitting the headlines. He had been a heavy drinker and drug user for years, but it was during this period of his life that he really began to party hard. Like many high functioning addicts, he likely felt that his success justified this wild partying. In the end though, it all became too much for Tom, and he could see where this life was taking him. He entered rehab and after he became sober, his life really began to take off.
The two decades of sobriety that Tom managed were also the most productive of his life. This is when he managed to become a household name after appearing in TV and movies. Most of us will remember him from the movie True Lies, or the TV hit, The Jackie Thomas Show. He was also the leading man in Happy Endings, and The Kid and I. Tom has been the perfect example of how alcohol and drugs is not needed to make people creative or talented – he did all his best work after becoming sober. During those many years of recovery, Tom took his sobriety seriously, and he seems to have gotten a great deal of help from the 12 Step program. Tom admits though that eventually he did become a bit complacent about his recovery, and this turned out to be his downfall.
Relapse Back to Addiction
When Tom Arnold had his motorbike accident, his recovery was already a bit shaky. He needed strong painkillers, but he admits that he was over confident in his approach to this medication. He just did not believe that there was any risk of him falling into addiction again. After being sober for so many years, he believed himself to be beyond such behaviour – even though he no doubt heard many stories of people who relapsed after being sober for decades.
It took a couple of years before Tom was able to acknowledge that he was once again battling with addiction problems. He started to see an addiction specialist, but it was around this time that his stomach ruptured and he became septic – Tom fell into a coma for three weeks and it very nearly killed him. He believes that 90% of the cause of this incident was the continued use of painkillers from the time when he had his accident. As soon as he was well enough to do so, Tom knew that there was only one thing he could do. He went back to basics. After leaving hospital, he entered rehab, so that he could once again reclaim his sobriety. The two years of prescription medication abuse meant that he needed to develop a more honest approach to recovery – he need to become a bit more humble and develop an increased respect for the power of addiction.
Tom Arnold Provides a Powerful Lesson to People Trying to Break Away from Addiction
The experience of Tom Arnold is a powerful lesson to all of those people who are trying to break away from addiction. It demonstrates that we should never take our sobriety for granted no matter how long it has been since our last drink or drug. The addiction is always there waiting in the background, and if we give it a chance to return it will take it. When we relapse, there is never any guarantee that we will be able to make our way back to sobriety. Addiction will be far worse than it ever was the last time because we will remember what it was like to life a good life away from alcohol and drugs.
Tom Arnold is back on track in recovery. He has a new respect for addiction, and his sobriety is strong as a result. It was a painful lesson, but the fact that it pushed him out of his complacency means that it was not completely bad. Tom admits that he feels that his recovery is more honest now, and it is this that has probably strengthened it for him.
