Danny Trejo: I Was As Sick As My Secrets

Mayim Bialik's Breakdown

Mayim Bialik

Mental Health, Society & Culture, Wellness, Health & Fitness, Comedy, Thebigbangtheory, Spirituality, Selfimprovement, Mentalhealth

4.7 • 5.2K Ratings

🗓️ 18 April 2023

⏱️ 86 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Danny Trejo (actor, Machete, Breaking Bad, Boba Fett & author) joins us in-studio to discuss how the culture he was raised in contributed to his early drug and alcohol use, the evolution of his relationship with a higher power from one of fear to one of love, and his transition from convict to actor/author/restaurateur. He opens up about being conditioned as a child to use rage and violence to survive, what early sobriety taught him, and why he feels like he can reach troubled youth better than other adults. Danny explains what it was like to be incarcerated for the first time, his role as an "Inmate Social Catalyst" in prison, and why his parole board actually suggested he murder someone. Mayim and Danny consider the weaknesses of our prison system and the inhumanity of solitary confinement after Danny shares his heartbreaking experience being locked up "in the hole." Danny reveals how his drug counseling skills led him to land acting roles, his experiences training movie stars in the art of prison boxing, his love of good food and the fascinating story of how he got into the restaurant business. He also considers the negative effects of toxic masculinity, his complex relationships with women, why his children are his vulnerable spot, his favorites of his iconic acting roles, and his status as a Los Angeles icon.

Transcript

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0:00.0	The first 25 years of my life were full of secrets, full of shame, full of violence, full
0:14.4	of crime, full of drugs.
0:17.5	I mean, that was just, I had an uncle that turned me on to grass on the 8th, gave me a
0:22.0	fix a heroin when I was 12.
0:26.7	It's funny because when I talked to like psychiatrists, well, that was abuse.
0:31.0	I thought, oh, I thought it was sharing.
0:32.9	I mean, you know, he was sharing this because, you know, especially if an older sibling in your family
0:43.7	is smoking weed, you know, it's he's not turning the younger siblings on to be mean or vicious.
0:52.1	He is doing what he does and he didn't do it viciously.
0:56.7	It was like, I was there.
0:58.2	Hey, let's get him loaded and that's what happens.
1:02.0	You know, and people don't, you know, I could never, it was funny.
1:06.7	I remember when my uncle tried to make amends to me.
1:09.1	Right?
1:09.6	Before he died trying to make amends, I said, shut up, man.
1:12.3	If you wouldn't have turned me on to grass on a prospect in a Republican somewhere.
1:16.7	You know, you know, read the paper, tell them I did this, shut up.
1:22.4	I don't know, you know, but I don't know what would happen.
1:25.6	But everything that happened to me happened the way it was supposed to.
1:32.0	It's my ambiolix breakdown.
1:34.3	She's going to break it down for you because you know, she knows a thing or two.
1:40.2	And now she's going to break down.
	...

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