Comedian John Crist Celebrates 4 Years Sober, Says Fame Was Like ‘Cocaine’ for Him

Comedian John Crist always has a joke up his sleeve, but he got very serious in a recent podcast interview where he shared about battling his addictions, including his desperate hunger for fame. It’s the latest confession in his ongoing effort to deal with the underlying issues that contributed to his sexual misconduct revelations four years ago.

Appearing on The Dr. John Delony Show, Crist opened up about several unhealthy habits that ultimately left him contemplating suicide.

It all culminated with allegations of sexual misconduct with female fans in 2019 that led to him being canceled. 

READ  John Crist Breaks Silence After Sexual Misconduct Claims: ‘The Biggest Hypocrite in All of This Was Me’

After making a recent comeback to comedy, he shared he “wanted to commit suicide” when in rehab.

“I came up with that idea when I was in rehab in 2019,” he said. “I think I just saw it so many times, maybe we watched some music videos, probably in rehab — it’s kind of my way of coping with a lot of these things.” 

During those four months, Crist said the public cancellation was “the worst thing on planet Earth,” but he learned a very valuable lesson.

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“Every time I had like a sold-out show or anything I did on television … I thought that if everybody knew the truth about me that all of these people would hate me,” he said. 

On the Delony podcast, he shared that his struggles with addiction were a “mechanism” that prevented him from killing himself. 

“I cannot—after the glory or height of this comedy show, everybody, you know, signing autographs, everything, this is unbelievable—I cannot survive the night in this hotel room,” Crist said about the time he struggled with addiction. “I felt like closing that hotel door was like a prison cell, without my cell phone, or in some kind of relationship flirty type situation or alcohol. I will not survive.”

“Now that’s not true, right? But your chest tightens up. It closes in,” he continued.

“And so these mechanisms prevented me from jumping out the window,” the comedian explained. “Now the demons were just screaming so loudly…You go, you see somebody out on Broadway drinking, drunk, or whatever, that you want to judge them or…whatever his present situation is, everybody has a set of tools to cope.”

Crist said through rehab he learned to use another, more healthy tool to cope with his addictions. As a result, he is celebrating four years sober from alcohol. 

He admitted he currently still fights being pulled into the temptation of finding glory from his achievements and fame. 

Crist shared that while he was in rehab he recognized that getting attention in public was like getting a shot of cocaine. 

“There’s this monster that wants attention and accolades from my insecurities. And I could be all on this range. Do I love standup or do I love helping people? Yes. But also does the same activity be expressed as acting out my insecurities and pain,” he explained. 

Crist said he is now healing from the bottom up. 

“In that whole rehabilitation process, I found out there’s a God that loves you, and He cares about you, and He’s not mad at you,” he recently shared.