Edward Furlong became known to audiences worldwide at a very young age when he was cast as John Connor in 1991’s Terminator 2: Judgment Day. The film was a huge hit, and it made Furlong a young star that was sought after for more roles. Unfortunately, like many child stars, the actor succumbed to various addictions that derailed his career at various stages. His battles became a media fixture, but at 44, Furlong reveals he is four years sober after battling heroin, meth, and alcohol addiction.
During an interview with the Daily Mail, Furlong reveals that he has put his life back on track and now has a clear head after four years of sobriety. The actor admits things got out of hand early because he “didn’t have too many people looking out for me, and I was left to run wild.” His addictions started with marijuana and alcohol, and then they escalated to cocaine. The actor said, “When I was high, I had camaraderie with other people. Just drinking and partying. All of a sudden, I felt like I was with people, and I fit in somehow. That’s how it started.”
Harder drugs soon came into play, with Furlong developing an addiction to heroin and meth. The actor said, “I was shooting loads and loads of heroin, meth, smoking DMT all the time. That’s the way I was all day. It’s amazing I’m still alive – there were a couple of close calls.” He then added he “definitely OD’d, but that’s the cycle, you know. Once you get in there, it’s so hard to see a way out. That’s what I’d want people to understand – there is a way out, but it’s hard.”
As a result of Furlong’s meth addiction, his teeth began to rot, and he recently replaced them, a move that has given him more self-confidence:
“It sounds weird for me to be talking about teeth because I don’t live and breathe the way I look but every time I looked in the mirror, it just bummed me out as a reminder of what I had done for all those years.”
Furlong entered rehab in 2018, and after four years of being sober, the actor has managed to stay free of drugs and rebuild his life. He now maintains a healthy relationship with his family, and he’s starting to work more. Furlong says getting sober was “the greatest thing I’ve ever done,” and he’s also looking to repair professional relationships that he ruined while he was high:
“I f***ed over so many people when I was on drugs, gaining back the trust of the people that work with you when you’ve flaked on them so much is a long process,” he shared. “It’s like the friendship that happens after a bad breakup – people are learning to trust me again. It’s great and things are slowly starting to get going again.”
It’s good to see that he has gotten his life together and that he didn’t become another cautionary tale of young Hollywood gone wrong. I’d love to see him make some kind of professional comeback because as much as Hollywood loves to tear people down, they also love a good redemption story.