Steve-O is one crazy motherfucker. We knew this. We all watched the dude get electrocuted with 50,000 volts, butt chug through a beer funnel, and voluntarily stick a fish hook through his cheek. Steve-O’s hilariously insane antics were self-admittedly fueled by his insatiable craving for attention. He recently revealed that he found a sixth grade report card where the teacher wrote, “Steve is so desperate for the approval and affection of his peers that everything he does to try to get that has the opposite effect.”
Steve-O used his insecurities to go where few men would and in the process garner international fame. But those same insecurities were eventually what would lead to the 41-year-old’s life spiraling out of control–using booze, PCP, ketamine, nitrous, and cocaine regularly. He even threatened to take his own life.
Steve-O is now eight years sober, a vegan (lol, I know), meditates daily and is trying his hand at making it in stand-up comedy. He recently sat down for an extremely candid interview with GQ Magazine that is definitely worth a read if you’ve got the time. If you don’t, I’ve cut out the juiciest parts–namely the time where he blew coke with Mike Tyson for three hours locked in a bathroom.
I’ve done fucking cocaine with Mike Tyson, dude. We spent three hours locked in a bathroom together. There was this house party in the Hollywood Hills. And I remember I was distinctly not invited, but I showed up and rang the doorbell. Mike Tyson opened up the door. I said, “Hey, is it cool if I come in?” And he said, “You got any coke?” And I told him, “Yeah, dude, I got a bunch.” And I did. I had like a whole eight ball in one pocket, half an eight ball in the other pocket.
Yeah, I was packing. So we locked ourselves in this bathroom. So there we are, and he asked me for a cigarette while I was chopping up a bunch of blow on the counter. He rolled it back and forth between his fingers and all the tobacco fell out, and he kept doing it until nothing was left except a tube of paper connected to the cylinder. And he turned it right side up and started scooping cocaine into it, like pure cocaine. Nothing but. And I’m fascinated. I’m thinking that can’t work. It boiled down to the most fucking gripping science fair project ever. He filled it until it was fucking full as fuck. And he made it work, man. He sat there and smoked the whole deal.
At that time in my life I would develop Tourette’s syndrome if I was fucked up enough, just blurting out inappropriate shit. So I said to him, my exact words, “You know, Mike, I don’t have a racist bone in my body, but I like to consider myself a n—-r.” [laughs] I’ll never forget, he said, “You ask me, the definition of that word is anybody who uses it.” And I was like, “Damn! Iron Mike, deep as fuck!” And so we’re talking about the finer points of racism in America, or whatever, just sort of philosophizing about how to make the world a better place, and it was just fucking incredible, man. The last thing he said to me was, “You know, Steve, everybody’s got you wrong. You’re actually really smart.” And the next time I spent real time with Mike Tyson, one-on-one conversing, was when we were locked up in the psychiatric ward together.
Short GIF break:
When asked about a specific point that Steve-O realized he hit rock bottom, he presented this repulsive story.
[h/t GQ]