Steve-O born as Stephen Glover, was born on June
13,1974 in Wimbledon, London. Steve-O as he is commonly known, is an actor,
comedian, stunt performer, producer, author, and as many don’t know, a professional
clown. Steve-O had somewhat of a tumultuous childhood. His father was the
president of the South American division of Pepsi-Cola and as such his family
moved from country to country very frequently. His mother wasn’t around very
much either and as such his first words were actually in Portuguese, because he
was raised for the most part by his ‘nannies’. This set the stage for what
would eventually become his feelings of inadequacy and start him down the path
of drug addiction, later rehabilitation, and eventually redemption.
Steve-O
has often stated that the first time he realized anything was possible as long
as you set your mind to it, was when he was growing up. Motley Crue was touring
through Toronto, where Steve-O’s family was living at the time. A 13-year-old
Stephen phoned every hotel in the area until he found the name that they were
checked in under (it was their managers ‘Doc McGhee’) and found their room.
Instead of being mad McGhee was so impressed with the resolve of Steve-O to
meet Motley Crue, that he brought him out for their show, let him meet them,
and hang with them backstage. As told in Tommy Lee's autobiography.
Steve-O’s
career got its jumpstart when after sending many videos of wild stunts to Jeff
Tremaine, a magazine editor and later future director to Jackass, Jeff recruited him as one of the original cast members to
his show, Jackass. Further proving Steve-O’s
ideology that life is what you make it as long as you commit yourself to it one
hundred percent. During this time Steve-O would go on to star in several movies
of the Jackass franchise, and even several spin-off tv series.
Underneath the surface of
his wild career, Steve-O was actually developing a terrible drug addiction to
cocaine, p.c.p., nitrous oxide, alcohol, and marijuana. Often, he would do this
concoction all at the same time. All of this came to a head however when during
a particular drug binge, Steve-O sent a cryptic email to his friends and
Jackass co-stars, contemplating his suicide. This spurred them into action,
forcing him into rehab. After a couple rough years battling with his drug
addictions Steve-O finally reached sobriety.
After finding his inner
peace and sobriety of so far 11+ years, Steve-O has gone one to write a famous
book detailing his exploits, his downfalls and his struggle to find help. As
such he frequently travels and talks about the dangers of drug addiction encouraging
others to seek help. As of the past few years, he has taken up Veganism and
often leads famous protests and tries to raise awareness of animal abuse in
places such as SeaWorld. He has truly reformed himself from a dangerous
entertainer you wouldn’t want your kids to see, to a social and animal activist,
of things so far, most people can agree on.
Stephen’s life has been a
wild ride, but in the end, he has learned from his mistakes and continuously does his best
to raise awareness to those who might make the same mistakes he has. Moreover,
he often includes in his talks that anything is possible in this life, and as
long as you take control you can achieve anything you set your mind to. To top all of this off he
encourages others to be the best versions of themselves that they can possibly
be, living a life of love and compassion. His tumultuous life has truly come
full circle.
Discussion Questions:
Should we have Role
Models that have lived such controversial lives?
Are you a fan of Steve-O?
Why or Why not?
What are your personal
opinions of Steve-O? Before/After reading this.
Quiz Questions:
What language were steve-o’s
first words in?
What Band did Steve-O idolize
and eventual get to meet?
How many years has
Steve-O been sober?
Sources:
My 2 posts I’ve commented on:
What do you see as the central philosophical significance of his story? Is it the Nietzschean quest for self-overcoming? The Aristotelian reach for one's inmost potential? Or something else?
ReplyDeleteI find it to be a combination of most of those. I feel that to get to this point, there was a great amount of inner struggles and conquering to be done. He not only overcame his demons and did reach his full potential, but he helps others and encourages them to also reach theirs.
DeleteEven though he went through drug addiction he was able to over come his addiction and that is perhaps reason enough to see him as a role model.
ReplyDelete