Dennis Quaid: Hollywood’s Drug Culture Shifting After Belushi’s Death
In a recent interview, actor Dennis Quaid candidly discussed his cocaine use and how John Belushi’s tragic death in 1982 marked a shift in Hollywood’s drug culture. Quaid, promoting his movie “Reagan,” shared personal experiences of substance use affecting his performances early in his career. He acknowledged the impact of drugs on his work and mentioned the influence of Belushi’s death on the drug scene.
Dennis Quaid opened up about his past use of cocaine and said the drug culture in Hollywood changed when John Belushi died from an overdose in 1982.
During his appearance on “Piers Morgan Uncensored” to talk about his upcoming movie “Reagan” — about the life of late President Ronald Reagan — the 70-year-old actor said when he was doing movies early on in his career, he was “doing blow” and was “operating on 2-3 hours of sleep.”
“I’d like to say it didn’t affect my performances, but it did, how could it not,” Quaid said. “You know, when you are not operating at 100 percent capacity.”
When pressed by the host if he had friends who died of drugs, “The Rookie” star said yes, and then mentioned the late-star Belushi.
“You know it all started [when] John Belushi died,” Quaid said. “Cocaine before that was, it was in People magazine, doctors saying that it wasn’t addictive. It was a party thing or whatever. Everything was fine and dandy until … in fact, it [cocaine] was in the budget of movies.”
“You know all that funny money set aside,” he added. “You would go to meetings and executives would have it there on their desk. It was just a thing. … And then when John Belushi died, that changed everything. Or at least that’s when it started to change.”
Quaid said he doesn’t “miss it a bit” after he “got sober for it,” which took four years getting over. He said it was really “a hole” that he needed to fill, and that’s when he went “back to being a seeker again.”
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Earlier in the interview, the two talked about how Quaid lost his way for years with religion after being raised Baptist.
“I’ve always been a seeker,” Quaid said, as he talked about after high school starting to study other religions around the world. “Finally, after going through the God of cocaine and that era of my life, came back to the red words of Jesus, rereading the Bible, and that brought me back.”
“I read the Bible and then I read all the other books … but reading the Bible again, the red words of Jesus again and the things that Jesus said, and that lead me to a personal relationship with God,” he added. “And that’s really in the end what it’s all about.”
Related: WATCH: New Trailer For ‘Reagan’ Movie Starring Dennis Quaid Just Released
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