Christian Slater opens up about is drink and drugs hell

15 Oct 2008 

The troubled actor appeared on US TV's 'Inside the Actors Studio' and gave an honest account of his troubles with handling fame and fortune - and how it affected his relationship with ex-girlfriend Michelle Jonas.

Slater, who was famously arrested in 1997 for beating up Jonas and biting a man who tried to come to his girlfriend's aid at a party whilst high on drugs and booze revealed that he was paralysed with a number of insecurities dating Jonas.

Slater said: "For a certain period of time I met a girl, got involved with her, and it was pretty much brought into that relationship all the tools that I had at that particular time, which was jealousy, insecurity, neurosis, fear, paranoia - not the best tools to enter into a relationship.

To deal with his problems Slater said he went back to the bottle searching for answers - starting with a glass of champagne culminating into a 2-year bender.

Slater revealed: "I kind of got to the point when I wasn't drinking, I wasn't using but I wasn't happy. I thought It's been a few years now I've been trying to live this way and it's not making me happy either, so I might as well go back to the escape I was originally using, which was drinking. So I found myself at home one night with a bottle of champagne, popped the cork, poured the glass said, 'God keep an eye on me' downed the drink and went on this phenomenal two year run where I pretty much drank my way around the world."

The hell-raising star, who has appeared in a number of Hollywood movies including 'True Romance' and 'Heathers' has had a number of brushes with the law. In 1994 he was arrested for bringing a loaded gun into New York's JFK airport.

In 1995, former girlfriend Nina Huang sued Slater for palimony after their break-up alleging that she gave up her career to support him. She reportedly collected $100,000. In 1997 Slater was arrested for punching then girlfriend Michelle Jonas at a swish party, whilst under the influence of heroin, coke and alcohol.

Slater also attacked a man who had come to Jonas' aid, biting him in the stomach. The actor pleaded no contest to the charges and served 90 days in jail. In 2003, Slater and then-wife Ryan Haddon got into a fight in a Las Vegas casino, which culminated in Slater needing nine stitches to close up a wound in his head after Haddon reportedly struck him with a drinking glass. The pair divorced in 2005.

More recently in 2005, Slater was arrested in New York for allegedly groping a woman on a Manhattan street. Slater was accused of touching the women's buttocks, and arrested on a charge of third-degree sexual abuse.

Slater is enjoying a career resurgence on US TV - and can be currently seen in the highly-rated drama series 'My Own Worst Enemy.'