Actor Dennis Quaid has been open about his struggle with addiction over the years, and now he’s discussing the benefits of staying sober and relying on his faith in a higher power.
“I’m grateful to still be here, I’m grateful to be alive really every day,” the “Yours, Mine, and Ours” actor said during an interview with People. “It’s important to really enjoy your ride in life as much as you can, because there’s a lot of challenges and stuff to knock it down.”
The 69-year-old star previously revealed some of his experiences while battling addiction. “I remember going home and having kind of a white light experience that I saw myself either dead or in jail or losing everything I had, and I didn’t want that,” he told the publication.
“I was in a band and we got a record gig. … They broke up the night they got it, and they broke up because of me, because I was not reliable,” Quaid said.
Quaid recalled writing a faith-based song for his mother to let her know he was OK after not doing well for a long time.
“That’s when I started developing a personal relationship,” he says. “Before that, I didn’t have one, even though I grew up as a Christian.”
“I grew up at the Baptist church; I love the hymns that I remember from being a kid,” Quaid continued. “The songs are self-reflective and self-examining, not churchy. All of us have a relationship with God, whether you’re a Christian or not.”
Quaid was once described by The Guardian as one of the best actors to never receive an Academy Award nomination. He rose to fame in the ’70s and has been appearing in films consistently ever since. The actor also discussed how his experience with addiction shaped his life.
CLICK HERE TO GET THE DAILYWIRE+ APP
“It’s a struggle,” he said. “We’re all looking for the joy of life, and drugs give that to you and alcohol and whatever it is for anybody give that to you really quick. Then they’re fun and then they’re fun with problems, and then they’re just problems after a while. That’s really what we’re looking for, the joy of life, which is our gift, actually, the relationship with God that we all have. It’s at the bottom of it, the joy of being alive.”