Danny Trejo celebrates 55 years of being sober

24 August, 2023

Danny Trejo

Danny Trejo celebrated 55 years of being “clean and sober” this week.

The 79-year-old actor, known for his roles in Heat, Con Air, From Dusk Till Dawn and many more, took to Twitter to reflect on his sobriety journey.

“I’m 55 years clean and sober today by the grace of God!” he wrote on Wednesday (August 23).

“I’ve done this one day at a time, and for anyone out there struggling YOU CAN TOO!”

Trejo has been open about his addiction struggles in the past, revealing that he was just eight years old when he first tried marijuana, and 12 when he started drinking alcohol. He started using heroin in his teens and went on to deal it too.

He had been in and out of correctional facilities since the 1950s, and later served prison time at California’s notorious San Quentin State Prison at 24.

It was there that he started attending AA meetings, when a former inmate convinced him to try sobriety. “That guy saved my life,” the Los Angeles-born actor told Variety in 2019. “He said, ‘Why don’t you join us? Before you do anything, just join us. Give it a try. What do you have to lose?’ It was kind of like an awakening. So when I got out of the joint, I went back to meetings.”

Trejo eventually went on to become a drug and alcohol counsellor for at-risk teens.

“I really love where I’m at right now,” Trejo told NME in 2020. “And I know I couldn’t have got here if I was just a good guy, I don’t think I ever would have got here.”

Back in 2021, Trejo opened up about the time when he met Charles Manson while serving time in prison. In his memoir Trejo, the actor confirmed that he met Manson in 1961, eight years before the Tate murders.

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