Love Island USA star emotionally admits that addiction took over his life at the age of 17
'I kept digging myself into the deepest hole'
Love Island USA star Austin Shepard just lifted the lid on his experience of the show, as well as opening up about his past struggles, revealing that his life was consumed by opioid addiction from the age of 17. He shared the difficult journey he faced before finding his way out of “the deepest hole.” Austin may have risen to stardom on Love Island USA, but behind the scenes, he’d actually been through a lot that viewers at home didn’t know about. Post-show, he’s now revealed that for five years addiction took over his life after an accident.
Love Island USA’s Austin opens up about addiction
@sidestrokeshep He real reunion hosted by @tjpalma #reunion #loveisland
When people first met Austin Shepard on Love Island USA, many thought he was a charming contestant of season seven, but it didn’t take long before people began scouring his social media and firing hate his way. Post-show, Austin is explaining on The Journey Podcast that away from the spotlight, he’s fought much bigger battles. The reality star revealed that he endured an opioid addiction that began when he was just 17. What started as an attempt to cope with physical pain after he broke his hand soon spiralled into dependency. Austin said: “…from 17 to 22, I had got prescribed opiates by a doctor, and I was a pretty bad opiate addict for five years.”
Opening up about his past, he described how the addiction consumed his teenage years and early adulthood. Austin also said that in his younger years, he had open-heart surgery and “kinda had a really weird childhood growing up.” He added: “To now be here, it’s super weird how things have gone in my life. I never thought in a million years that this type of stuff would be happening to me.” Speaking of his life as a teenager, Austin admitted: “I was royally f***ing up my life until I was 22, I had two DUIs at 19… I kept digging myself the deepest hole, and it took so much to come out of it.”
Austin managed to overcome opioid addiction
Now in his mid-20s, the former islander has reflected on how far he has come since those dark days. He explained that breaking free from opioids was not easy, but it was necessary in order to reclaim his life and future. His road to sobriety was unique as he explained in the podcast episode: “To get clean from opiates at 22, I did this psychedelic stuff called Ibogaine. It’s like this 18-hour trip, super intense, it’s like crazy, but in it, I lived until I was like 64 years old as an addict, day in and day out.”
The Love Island USA star added of his “trip”: “I had two kids, a wife, kids got taken away… I came out of my trip 18 hours later, and I was like holy sh**, I need to get my life figured out. So, then I started trying all these alternative ways of going about sh**, because you’re so used to the Western way of going about things…”
Austin said he turned to meditation, Qigong, and working out as “forms of therapy,” adding: “It’s helped tenfold.” Speaking of his psychedelic experience, Austin said: “It was intense, it’s not recreational at all. You’re stuck in a dream-like state the whole time.” The season seven star also pointed out: “The stuff that I was doing, it’s like twelve per cent of people get clean and stay clean, so I feel like there’s life after it. It doesn’t have to define your entire life. I’m very open about it.”
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