Content warning: this article contains references to substance abuse
The Mighty Ducks star Shaun Weiss has admitted he did some 'deplorable things' when life spiralled out of control after battling with a severe drug addiction.
The 44-year-old first rose to fame in the 1990s after playing the beloved character of goalie Greg Goldberg in all three of the iconic family comedy films.
Weiss starred in the trio of movies alongside the likes of Emilio Estevez, Joshua Jackson and Elden Henson in the fit franchise.
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The live-action film trilogy spanned an impressive four years with the original flick, The Mighty Ducks, first hitting theatres back in 1992 and the final instalment of the franchise, D3: The Mighty Ducks, gracing our screens in 1996.
However, the actor's trajectory totally changed after he got caught in a repeat cycle of drugs and crime before he eventually hit the lowest point of his life.
The former Hollywood child actor has become almost unrecognisable after a couple mugshots of him made their rounds online.
Weiss was arrested for meth possession back in 2017 and then again in 2020, with mugshots showing him looking extremely emaciated and nothing at all like his happy-go-lucky goalkeeper character.
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But now, he has opened up about some of the experiences leading to the low points in his life and the 'deplorable' things he did to both survive and fund his out-of-control substance issues to both heroin and meth.
Weiss told the Daily Star in an exclusive interview that he went from Hollywood to homelessness in less than a handful of months.
He said: "Show business became my Achilles heel in the fact that there was always so much going on and everything was so exciting.
"I kind of became addicted to the adrenaline of things going on."
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Weiss went on the explain that when that feeling 'went away', his life became 'very boring'.
"That kind of led to a different depression," he continued, "when that lifestyle wasn't there any more, I didn't know how to fill that void."
He added: "My fiancée left me and I lost my mind. I couldn’t f**king deal with it. My father had died, I guess a month or two prior. The lease on my apartment was running out."
The actor admitted that his downfall was due to the 'timing of a bunch of bad things'.
And it was exactly this mix of 'bad things' which led Weiss to a 'confluence of traumatic experiences'.
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In a hopes to self-medicate, Weiss began using Class A drugs.
"I lost my mind over my fiancée and when I started doing meth it made it so I didn’t think of her as much."
While many people had the 'luxury' of having family around to 'stop them from falling too deeply down the path', Weiss explained that he 'didn't have that luxury'.
He went on to reveal that the descent into a life of drug abuse, crime and homelessness was extremely quick.
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"From the time I started hard drugs to the time everybody had heard about it, was a very short period of time – maybe three or four months," Weiss recalled.
While the actor has explained that he is now telling his story in the hope that it can be 'helpful to people', he has admitted that it's an 'embarrassing thing' to discuss.
He said: "Even though I'm on the other side of, I did some deplorable things and I'm at the mercy of people's compassion.
"[Previously] I had never even seen hard drugs, and from the time I tried them for the first time to when I was homeless and a full-blown drug addict, it was probably less than six months."
Weiss has since been able to get sober and is currently in recovery after celebrating three years and three months totally clean.
Still a comic at heart, he is now gearing up for his first-ever US comedy tour, Mighty Weiss, which begins later this year in June.
If you want friendly, confidential advice about drugs, you can talk to FRANK. You can call 0300 123 6600, text 82111 or contact through their website 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, or livechat from 2pm-6pm any day of the week
Topics: Celebrity, Drugs, TV and Film, Crime
Rhiannon Ingle