It’s been two years since The Mighty Ducks alum Shaun Weiss overcame his drug addiction after looking unrecognizable in a mugshot years ago. Weiss celebrated his sobriety with a hopeful post earlier this year. Since then, he has been open about his sober journey. While sharing his story of addiction, the actor opened up about how his life as a child star led to his battle with drugs.
The Mighty Ducks star broke down how his heroin ad meth addiction began on the YouTube show Addiction Talk Live. It wasn’t just an overnight switch for Weiss, as he revealed it all started with his one-year apartment lease running out. Around the same time, he had broken up with his fiancée, with whom he shared the apartment. The breakup was an emotional ordeal for the former child actor, leading to him trying meth to cope with his feelings. At the same time, his father had passed away, and his Hollywood prospects were drying up after a role fell through.
Getting addicted to meth and then heroin led to Shaun Weiss ending up homeless after finding a new place to live became less of a priority for him. It only took Weiss six months to develop a serious addiction. The former child star admitted to drinking alcohol and smoking marijuana in his youth before trying meth and heroin. After the D2: The Mighty Ducks star shared his story, he was asked whether his life as a 1990s child star has any impact on his crippling drug addiction. Instead of blaming his acting career for substance abuse, he said it fueled another addiction, saying:
It made me an adrenaline junkie. Things were a lot more exciting for me than the average 13-year-old — taking trips and flying to places and being in movies.
It appeared all the action and excitement surrounding the Mighty Ducks franchise gave him a high equivalent to drugs, as Shaun Weiss enjoyed all the rewards of being a child star. The hockey franchise’s intense action and game scenes seemed to fill that void for a long time. He loved the filmmaking process and the attention surrounding it, which can be highly addictive for anyone with an addictive personality.
But once his career and all the adoration started to wane, Weiss needed something else to keep that excitement going. According to Weiss, that’s when he replaced fame and success with various substances to maintain that feeling.
So, I was very addicted to the excitement of things. And when that went away, I didn't really know how to get that feeling. And I found that in drugs.
The former child star admitted to being a person who enjoys doing something naughty to keep the excitement going. Now, the 43-year-old actor has maintained his sobriety by practicing yoga. Shaun Weiss’ fortunes have been up after scoring his first movie role in years through the 1970s-themed Christian film Jesus Revolution, where he’ll play a drug-addicted war veteran. As he begins getting his career back on track, the real question is, will the Mighty Ducks actor appear in the Disney+ sequel series?
If you want to relive every Greg Goldberg moment on and off the ice, just subscribe to Disney+ to watch all The Mighty Ducks movies. After binging the beloved hockey franchise, you can check out the best movies on Disney+.
