Baywatch Star Talks Dangers Of Addiction, Underage Drinking

ALISO VIEJO, CA —The life of a child actor in the 90s was a fast-paced whirlwind for former Baywatch Star Jeremy Jackson, who played star David Hasselhoff's son, Hobie. Joining the cast at age 10, he took his first drink at age 12 and quickly began experimenting with drugs. On the outside, everything was going Jackson's way. He shared the dark underside of that experience at a recent conference, sponsored by the Laguna Treatment Hospital.

What began as underage drinking and drug use spiraled into years of drug and alcohol addiction and multiple stints in rehab.

"There is no way I've survived what I've gone through, the highs and lows, to not share that experience," Jackson told the crowd. "I think I'm here to do that. I show my scars so others can heal."

He "pretty much kept (his alcohol and drug use) hidden" until his late teen years when he couldn't remember his lines. One day, David Hasselhoff confronted him, asking if he'd been smoking pot. "I had been up for days smoking crystal methamphetamine," and rather than try and get help, he just quit. "That was just one of the multi-million opportunities I walked away from."
Drug users feel "convinced that no one will understand," or that things are "way too bad to tell anyone," Jackson said. "That's one of the biggest issues, is believing that. And the only answer to that is a connection. That connection can save your life."

Jackson was one of several storytellers who shared his experiences with underage drinking as part of the community event.

The event also included a Q&A with an experts panel discussing the disease of addiction and resources for parents and teens in the community, including National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence - Orange County and Social Model Recovery Systems and OC Revive.

The event was held in support of SAMHSA’s Communities Talk initiative for town-hall meetings nationwide.

"Parents may think, 'this would never happen to my kid,' but surveys from our local schools show otherwise," said Bob Hails, CEO of Laguna Treatment Hospital. "Unfortunately, we see people every day whose addiction started with underage drinking. Alcohol addiction is still the number one reason why people seek treatment at our hospital."

Findings from the most recent California Healthy Kids Survey found the following for Orange County students:

• 5 percent of 7th graders currently drink or do drugs
• 10 percent of high school juniors have been very drunk or high 7 or more times
• 36 percent of 11th graders have drank to get drunk

According to Jackson, every few months he would say to himself, "tomorrow, tomorrow for sure, I'll stop" the drug use.

It wasn't until later that he realized that the addiction was a disease. On his own, without wisdom or deepening his spiritual life, he was the victim of a bleak fate. But, once he began to really receive help, he understood it was more than just him and that he could help others.

"If you had a kid who had cancer you would do everything and anything...to make sure they don’t die from it," he said. "You have to do the same thing with drugs and alcohol especially if it gets nasty."

Jackson has turned his focus toward helping others, and now encourages parents to learn more about the disease of addiction and to never give up on a child who is struggling with it.

Now, Jackson has mended fences with Hasselhoff and other former associates. For him, confronting the truth of his recovery really did set him free, but treatment can be a long road. For Jackson, sometimes you have to go back and start over.

"If drinking and using isn't working out for you, there is a solution," he said. "You're never too far down the scale, and it never is too early to start."