Jake "The Snake" Roberts was one of the most famous pro wrestlers of the 1980s. He had a massive following. But behind the scenes he was addicted to drugs and alcohol, and haunted by childhood abuse. This is the story of how Jake "The Snake" turned things around and found a second career as a stand-up comedian.
Transcript
Vic Vela:
Hey guys, this is our finale! It's a pretty big deal.
Mic check, testing one, two. Hello.
I must say it's been quite a journey.
Hey Anders, can you hear me?
Anders Osbourne:
Yeah. Sorry. I was hollering in there. Yes, I'm here!
Vic Vela:
Is this David?
David Mellor:
Yes, it is. How are you, Vic?
Vic Vela:
I'm doing great. It's a good day for baseball, right?
David Mellor:
Yes, sir.
Vic Vela:
People have opened up their lives on this show to help you and the people you love to not feel so alone in recovery.
Andy Bellatti:
Maybe if I hadn't had this gambling addiction, I would have just gone through the rest of my life with all these unaddressed, un-dealt-with issues.
Vic Vela:
More than a year of research, preparation, interviews, sound design and music production went into this show. We even had a live event. [The Lumineers playing music]
Wes Schultz:
Families band together in this way that they don't even sometimes have a choice. It's just what makes, I think, addiction a social disease. It makes it a family event.
Vic Vela:
None of it would have been possible without the support of listeners, just like you. So my question, before we get into today's interview, do you value this show and would you make a donation to support “Back from Broken”?
Chamique Holdsclaw:
I'm really just glad that I've just grown to this point and, my heart is full.
Vic Vela:
You can hit pause right now and give whatever you can to support this show and the people who make it at backfrombroken.org.
Okay. With that out of the way, onto the show. And I want to let you know that this episode contains some strong language and graphic descriptions of child abuse. Please be advised.
Jake “The Snake” Roberts:
I was drinking and I was smoking pot and I'm like, man, there needs to be a wrestler called “The Snake.” Oh hell yeah. And I kept smoking that weed. The next thing I'm thinking about is man, you can like put the snake on people. It would freak them out so much, man. Oh my God, they're going to go crazy. They're going to s--- their pants, whatever. That's the reason they call pot “dope.” Because when you’re smoking weed, you don't — normally, you don't think the idea all the way through. And that's what happened in this instance. It goes, the idea was phenomenal. I mean, that's a, there's nothing better. Sure. But, one problem: I'm terrified of snakes.
Vic Vela:
Aurelian “Jake” Smith Jr. was a wrestler competing in the South and smaller wrestling circuits and struggling to create a catchy character for himself until he had that idea. He stuck with it and eventually got him all the way to a meeting with World Wrestling Federation boss, Vince McMahon.
Jake “The Snake” Roberts:
His words were, they had a spot for someone that was going to wear spandex tights, purple and lime green.
Vic Vela:
Okay…
Jake “The Snake” Roberts:
And I'm like, Oh, hell no, I'm not wearing that BS. You won’t catch me dead in that crap. So as I'm shaking my head, he says, and carry a huge python. And before I could say, Oh, hell no, he had written some numbers on a piece of paper and he slid it over to me. And I looked down at it and I'm like, wait. And there's one, two, three, four, five, six zeros. So that would be — yep — 1 million. You know what, Vince? You gotta be a real tough guy to wear purple and lime green. I think I'd like to try that, and the snake thing, don't worry about it, man. I got that. You know, I lied right through my teeth because you're offering me a million dollars.
[Audio from a wrestling match; crowds cheering]
Vic Vela:
He was now Jake “The Snake” Roberts. And if he was afraid of that 15-foot python he carried with him wherever he went, you'd never know it. He would eventually become a hall of fame wrestler and one of the baddest bad guys in wrestling history. I grew up in the 1980s during the golden age of the World Wrestling Federation now known as the WWE and Jake “The Snake” was one of my favorites. Some of his matches, like when he wrestled in front of a huge crowd at WrestleMania 3 with shock rocker Alice Cooper in his corner, are cherished memories for me. But for Jake, all the money, all the fame — those memories are bittersweet.
Jake “The Snake” Roberts:
Being in the ring with Hogan, with, with Macho Man and having the snake bite Macho Man, which is an iconic moment in wrestling, being in buildings with 60, 70, 80,000 people, setting records everywhere we went — those were great moments, but I wasn't enjoying them.
Vic Vela:
I'm Vic Vela. I'm a journalist, a storyteller and a recovering drug addict. And this is “Back from Broken” from Colorado Public Radio, stories about the highest highs, the darkest moments and what it takes to make a comeback.
Jake has racked up a lot of wins in wrestling and a lot of losses in life. Some of his story sounds too crazy to be true when you first hear it. And if you're skeptical when you're listening, that might be because Jake made his living in an industry that's not exactly known for its authenticity. I guess help — because there's gonna be a lot of people listening who may not know much about wrestling aside from the — they know it's fake or scripted. How real is wrestling?
Jake “The Snake” Roberts:
As far as it being fake, I don't think so. Because when I hit you, I'm gonna whack you. I'm gonna rattle your teeth a little bit. I’m gonna kick you.
Vic Vela:
So if I'm in the ring with you, I'm going to feel it.
Jake “The Snake” Roberts:
Oh, hell yeah. Oh, hell yeah. I always called it the theater of the absurd.
Vic Vela:
I love it. I love it.
Jake “The Snake” Roberts:
We know what we're doing. We know the ending. How we get there is up to us.
Vic Vela:
And Jake's approach in the ring was about psychology. When a lot of wrestlers were flexing their biceps and yelling at the top of their lungs to show how tough they were, Jake would be trying to get into their heads.
Jake “The Snake” Roberts:
[Archive audio] Every night when I lay down to sleep, do you think I pray the Lord my soul to keep? I've never asked forgiveness from any man or anyone. Do you think I'll start now?
To me, it was like a chess match, manipulating the fans to make them smile, to make them angry. You brought him right to the edge and then you set them back down a little bit.
There's nothing on four wheels I can't drive and there's not an animal I'm afraid of. So show me something new. Anybody, step up, give me something exciting.
I always wanted to endear people to wrestle me because they knew that I was going to take care of them out there. I was going to knock the hell out of them, but I wasn't going to hurt them. There's an unseen line that’s drawn across the sand and you're not supposed to go past it.
Vic Vela:
As a professional, Jake understood that line, that wrestling was about performing. But he didn't understand what was going on when he was a young kid watching his dad wrestle.
Jake “The Snake” Roberts:
We were scared to death when he would be wrestling — this tag team called the assassins — because they always made him bleed. And that was just what they were doing, you know? And he would act it out at home and we were scared to death he was going to get killed.
Vic Vela:
You guys weren't in on the act?
Jake “The Snake” Roberts:
No, no we weren't. We weren't. We believed it a hundred percent. I remember Harley race-jumping off of a 10-foot ladder onto his throat, and I just knew that he killed my father. And my dad took like two months off and on TV they were saying broken neck and all this stuff. And man, I was horrified. And no, I wasn't — the term is “smartened up” to what was going on. And I really hated my father for that once I found out the truth, because it tormented me as a child every night worrying that my dad was going to die. So I hated wrestling. I hated wrestling all my life because my father never raised me. And I thought wrestling had taken him away from me as a child. That's what I blamed it on.
Vic Vela:
But seeing his dad get beat up in the ring wasn't even close to the most traumatic thing Jake had to deal with as a child. Nearly every adult in his life let Jake down in a serious way. And no one in the family was spared from his dad's destruction.
I just want to warn you again that Jake is about to talk about some really awful, traumatic memories right here.
Jake “The Snake” Roberts:
My mother had me when she was 13 years old, man. My father was dating my grandmother, and she passed out from drinking and my father went into the next room and raped a 12-year-old girl. And that's how I came into this world.
My younger brother was given away to my aunt and uncle because they couldn't have kids. And my mother was only, my mother was only 18 years old and she had three kids, you know, and no job. And my father divorced her and he left. And they left me with my grandparents till my grandmother died.
She was a good woman. My grandfather was a hopeless alcoholic, and that was horrible. I didn't bring kids to my house because my grandfather would be sitting, laying on the couch, puked on, pissed on, whatever. That was a daily routine, man. So when I got the opportunity to live with my dad, I thought, man, I'm finally going to be happy.
My stepmother used to, well, she used to wear things and leave buttons open. Then at night after my little brother and sister went to bed, I could hear her come down the hallway and I could count the steps, man. I knew exactly how many steps it was, 16 steps. And she would open the door and come in and tap me and take me into the room and make me perform sexually. And I was a young kid, man. I was 13 years old. And then afterwards she would beat me with a hairbrush or whatever she just had me grab ahold of, man, and tell me that if my dad found out that he would kill me, and all this s---.
One time, she beat me pretty bad. My dad noticed the marks on me and he asked me what happened and I didn't say anything, but I looked at her, and he said, well, this has got to stop. And he got really angry and she looked at me and she mouthed the words, I'll get even with you. And that day we had spaghetti for dinner and we were sitting at the table and she went to hand me the plate of spaghetti. And as she handed it across the table, she dumped it in my lap. Well, it was boiling hot. It had just come out of the pot. So it scalded my lap. That was no accident.
Vic Vela:
Well, you're talking about it so openly now as an adult, but at the time, how did you deal with all of this trauma as a child?
Jake “The Snake” Roberts:
It was driving me crazy. I finally, I put up with it for about eight months, and I left and I went to live with my mother. After I graduated from school, and my father did not come to my graduation, and I went down to see him several months later. “Hey, did you know I graduated? I know you never came to a football game or a baseball game. I was really good at baseball. You should've seen me.” But, you know, I confronted him with it. And he's like, “Well, you're going to college?” I said, “Yeah.” And he goes, “Well, I hope you don't want anything from me. I don't have it to spare.”
Vic Vela:
Oh, Jake, that's heartbreaking.
Jake “The Snake” Roberts:
I didn't want his money, man. I wanted him to say he was proud of me, but he didn't do it. And several nights later, I was at a show and he was wrestling and I was drinking. The alcohol and youth and ignorance told me if I wanted to impress my father, the only way I was going to be able to do that is to get in the ring and wrestle one of those wrestlers.
Vic Vela:
Okay, so then that was all you needed.
Jake “The Snake” Roberts:
So I went up and challenged a guy and they proceeded to tear my ass apart. Basically after he got through with me, I crawled out of the ring into the locker room, on my hands and knees. I couldn't stand up. I was hurting so bad. And my father was right there at the door and I opened it up and he looked down at me and he goes, “I'm ashamed of you, you're gutless, and you’ll never amount to anything.” And he turned and walked away.
Vic Vela:
Jake…
Jake “The Snake” Roberts:
I wanted to die. I wanted to die so bad. I kept looking around the room and people were just shaking their heads or laughing at me and it was horrible, horrible. And that night, I remember that night like yesterday, I laid in bed and I begged the devil to help me. I made a deal with the devil that I would do anything that it took to get where I needed to be, which was the top of the wrestling heap. So I could show my father that I was better than he was.
Vic Vela:
Jake's father even tried to sabotage his early wrestling career. He called promoters and told them not to work with Jake, his own son. But after a decade of perseverance, teaching himself everything he knew, Jacob eclipsed his father's career. And in 1986, he reached the top of the wrestling heap, like he so badly wanted, when he signed with Vince McMahon and the World Wrestling Federation.
Wrestling announcers:
The music you hear in the background can only mean one thing: about to make his way down, Jake “The Snake,” along with Damian…
From Stone Mountain, Georgia, weighing 249 pounds, Jake “The Snake” Roberts!
Look at those eyes that… I wouldn't care to have looking at me.
Vic Vela:
And Jake was a big hit with the fans. That green and purple spandex he talked about earlier was now part of his everyday ring attire. And Damien, the huge python, was his companion as he traveled around the country.
Jake “The Snake” Roberts:
You know, my day was like this: I'm in a hotel room. I've got to get the snake out of the bathtub. Gee, I hope he's in a good mood.
Vic Vela:
Why is he in the bathtub?
Jake “The Snake” Roberts:
Because you got to do something with him, can't leave him locked up in that little bag.
Vic Vela:
Okay. Did it ever escape?
Jake “The Snake” Roberts:
Oh yeah. Yeah. He’d come right out of that tub in a split second. Shower curtain usually went first. One time, or several times, it would wrap around the hot water and turn the water on and scald himself, which makes for a very pissed off snake.
It broke a toilet one time and that water was going everywhere. And I called the front desk and I'm like, “Hey, man. My snake broke the toilet.” Of course, they opened the door and screamed.
And when they screamed I’m like, “What is it?”
“That snake!”
I'm like, “What snake? I don't have a snake”
And they’re like, “What?” And went with that for a few seconds, but then of course, you know, I had to fess up. “Yeah, that's mine,” which that was not the first hotel I've been kicked out of. There were several.
Vic Vela:
Jake introduced Damien at WrestleMania 2, which is like the SuperBowl for wrestling. Millions of fans around the world watched on pay-per-view as he draped the snake over the body of his defeated opponent, who was foaming at the mouth as part of the act.
Wrestling announcers:
Let's see — oh, my goodness! Look at that! The snake literally slithering right over to George Wells head! Look at that.
Vic Vela:
And now Jake and Damien were celebrities. Jake often headlined as the WWF toured the country. Merchandise and kids action figures, toys were sold in his likeness, but being world famous came with a pretty relentless touring schedule.
Jake “The Snake” Roberts:
They were running three cities a night. The wrestlers were going from Seattle to Tampa, to Philadelphia, to Dallas and back and forth the country, to Canada, to Hawaii and back and forth, zigzag, zigzag. We just went. And we went for long stretches of time. I wrestled Ricky Steamboat 93 days straight.
Vic Vela:
That’s a lot of wear and tear.
Jake “The Snake” Roberts:
Oh, it was insane, man. I mean, I had to have my wife come on the road and lead me around because I wasn't talking anymore, I just mumbled. My body was so beaten.
Vic Vela:
And you were still a young man at this time.
Jake “The Snake” Roberts:
Yeah. So a lot of us were getting steroids to try to help heal our bodies. We had doctors in certain places that would give us anything. There was a doctor in Hershey Park, Pennsylvania, that would literally come to the building with six or seven suitcases full of drugs. And we would get everything that we wanted or needed. I was pretty much steroids and sleeping pills. That's what I did in the beginning. And then later on I added pain pills, you know, and it was pretty scary. But yet when that bell rang, I would somehow pull my pants on and strap them on tight and go out there and do it one more time.
Vic Vela:
Jake was starting to lose control. He was a slave to the character he had created, but the physical and mental toll it was taking was worth it for that feeling of acceptance that his father never gave him. He found it in the ring with other legendary wrestlers, guys who, even if you're not a fan, you've probably heard of: Hulk Hogan, Macho Man, Randy Savage, and the one and only André the Giant, a seven-foot-five, 500-pounder nicknamed the “Eighth Wonder of the World.”
Wrestling announcer:
I got a feeling now that he's going to torture this guy too. I know the determination of Jake “The Snake” Roberts. Hey, you could have all the determination you want; he's in there with a giant!
Jake “The Snake” Roberts:
Great wrestler, a great man. To be considered worthy to be in the ring with him. To be considered good enough to beat him. You know, that's just un-f---ing-believable.
Wrestling announcer:
Look at those two ham hocks right around the neck of Jake.
Jake “The Snake” Roberts:
I wrestled him for six months every night, every night for six months and had some great moments in the ring with him. And then I had some rough moments in the ring with him. He sat on me one time and farted for 40 seconds. It was horrible. It wasn't, it wasn't a tight sounding thing. It wasn't a [sound effect], it was more of a [sound effect], you know.
Vic Vela:
Oh, the magic of radio. I love it.
Wrestling announcer:
Right now André having a good time at the expense of Jake “The Snake” Roberts.
Vic Vela:
You talked about all the pain you were going through, but this, this was a guy who would provide you with moments of joy.
Jake “The Snake” Roberts:
Oh yeah. I would have given 10 matches with Hogan away to have one match with André.
Vic Vela:
Jake said his favorite thing to do in between matches was play cribbage with André the Giant. Yes, a couple of huge, intense wrestlers in locker rooms, surrounded by testosterone and drugs, enjoying rare serenity playing a card game. But for Jake, those peaceful moments with André were the only times he was really happy.
You're wrestling in front of tens of thousands of people, WrestleMania, André the Giant, all these things. But at the time, drugs and alcohol were getting in your way.
Jake “The Snake” Roberts:
Yeah, it was getting out of control. I was drinking every night. Basically, you'd do the show and you'd go to the bar and you'd drink till closing, go to the room, pass out, get up and leave at seven. So you're getting three or four hours of sleep a night. But you’re taking pills that'll get you through the periods of no rest. Or you start even delving into cocaine, which was what we did. So once you got into all that, man, it was a freight train. And I flunked a couple drug tests, went into rehab once for them, and come back out and it didn't, didn't faze me at all. I think on the way home from the rehab, I got a 12-pack, but I was, I was running loose, man. And it started getting worse and worse.
Vic Vela:
Jake had already had one marriage fall apart while this was going on. And it looked like his second one was going that way too. By the mid-‘90s, he was starting to not even show up for his matches and Jake's problems with drugs and alcohol were becoming widely known in wrestling. In fact, in 1996, during an event called Summer Slam his opponent, Jerry “The King” Lawler kept taunting Jake over his problems with alcohol.
Jerry “The King” Lawler [archive audio]:
I thought, you know, Jake’s had, he’s been a little under the weather. He's got “bar-thritis,” that’s where you’re stiffing a different joint every night. [laughing]
Vic Vela:
After the match Lawler even poured booze down Jake's throat.
Wrestling announcers:
He’s not going to do this to Jake. Oh my goodness. That's raw, that’s raw booze he’s dumping down Jake's throat. Look at this. Jake’s off the wagon now for sure. Might as well make a night of it now, Jake.
Vic Vela:
Jake agreed to that storyline, which he now regrets. He has a lot of regrets from around this time, as his addiction was becoming beyond unmanageable.
Jake “The Snake” Roberts:
And then my wife hit me with divorce papers. And when she hit me with divorce papers, it was pedal-to-the-metal, all the way down. I don't give a F anymore. I'm going to smoke that crap, drink as much as I want, and screw every whore I can meet. And I did so for, you know, 15 years.
But I just didn't care anymore, man. I was, I was dying to die. I wanted out.
Vic Vela:
Yeah, nothing that…
Jake “The Snake” Roberts:
I hated life. I hated life.
Vic Vela:
Were you suicidal?
Jake “The Snake” Roberts:
I tried a couple of times. All I would do was puke on myself. I'd wake up with puke all over me and I'd think to myself, man, you're such a loser. You can't even die right.
Vic Vela:
Gosh, Jake.
Jake “The Snake” Roberts:
I remember hearing about other wrestlers dying and me cursing God because you're not letting me die. What did I do to you that you want to keep me alive when I don't want to live? To the point of breaking the mirrors in my house. I didn't want to see myself anymore because I looked so bad. I'm doing all this cocaine and my weight blows up. Figure that out. Wasn’t the alcohol you're drinking, it was the cocaine. All the money I got, I spent on drugs, period.
Vic Vela:
After the break, the phone call that helped Jake turn things around.
At this point, Jake had spent 15 years in a downward spiral of heavy drugs and alcohol. No one would hire him to wrestle anymore and any money he would get went toward his addiction. He had spent his life being a different persona in order to show up his father and prove he was worth something. But now he was out of shape, alone and miserable, when he got a phone call. It was from an old friend.
Wrestling announcer:
[Inaudible] …it’s Diamond Dallas Page.
Jake “The Snake” Roberts:
He was a guy that I taught how to wrestle and got him into wrestling when he was 36 years old, which means really that's when you should be getting out, not getting in.
Vic Vela:
Thanks to Jake, Diamond Dallas Page became one of the biggest stars in wrestling, but when he called Jake, he was at a different point in his career too. Dallas had created a program called DDP Yoga and he needed people to try it and see if it worked. He wanted Jake to give it a try.
Jake “The Snake” Roberts:
I'm like, dude, yeah, I appreciate you offering, but I, you know, I'm too busy, I can't do it. Because I didn't want him to see me. Dallas, I'm done, man. Don't waste your time with me. And so he came out and seen me and said, Oh my God, you know? And made me a deal I couldn't pass up. He said, “Look, I'll move you to Atlanta. I'll pay for the move everything. You'll live with me. I'll feed you the best food on this planet. And you start doing my workout daily and I'll pay all your bills.”
Vic Vela:
Wow.
Jake “The Snake” Roberts:
Excuse me?
“I'll pay all your bills.”
I'm like, “Wait a minute. You're going to pay my ex-wife, I’ll come and do your stupid s---.”
And he's like, “That's the deal, but you can't drink or drug.”
I'm like, “Whoa.” But for some reason I said, “Yeah, man, I'm in.” I figured going out there I'd last a week before he kicked my ass out because I thought there was no way in hell I could go cold turkey. But I guess that was my gift from God.
Vic Vela:
Before Dallas came to Jake with this offer, Jake had been to rehab four times and nothing ever stuck. But once he moved to Atlanta to work the DDP Yoga program, something clicked.
He says it wasn't just the yoga. A big part of it was the deal Dallas made with Jake. His willingness to take care of Jake's finances for as long as he needed to be there,
Jake “The Snake” Roberts:
You go into a rehab for 90 days. Okay. You're locked in, basically. Well, at the end of those 90 days, they release you.
But here's the problem. While you've been in there for 90 days, your bills have been mounting, your house payments, your car payments, your job’s gone. You come out and you've got all these people wanting, wanting, wanting, gimme that, gimme that, give it, “Hey man, you owe me.” And they're all over you like flies. And what do you do? You pick up again, man, because you just want it to be quiet.
Vic Vela:
Yeah. You nailed it.
Jake “The Snake” Roberts:
You just want it to be quiet.
Vic Vela:
You just nailed it. It's so hard living life on life's terms when you get clean.
Jake “The Snake” Roberts:
Yeah, it is man. Good God, man. So with Dallas, I was able to knock 80 pounds off.
Vic Vela:
Wow.
Jake “The Snake” Roberts:
80 pounds. And I got my strength back and I got my conditioning back and I got my get-up-and-go back. I looked in the mirror and I said, dude, look at you, man. You know, when you're down and out, man, a little light is so big, for you. All of a sudden I started getting a little self-esteem back, a little pride back. Those things had been gone for a long time, man.
Vic Vela:
That’s great, Jake.
Jake “The Snake” Roberts:
So in the beginning, I screwed up five times. And what I would do is I would somehow get away from my group of guys, or I’d go get my hair cut and I'd slip out the door and go over and buy a pint of whiskey and I’d down it. And then I got to go back to the house. And of course they smell it, you know? And there you go.
Vic Vela:
Oh, these were, like, super-fast relapses, in and out.
Jake “The Snake” Roberts:
Oh yeah, in and out within an hour.
Vic Vela:
Relapses are common in recovery and getting clean was a tough go for Jake, seeing as how he had been using heavy drugs for a really long time. The physical transformation he was able to make meant that eventually, he could go to a place that he'd long been associated with and conquer it. You see, in wrestling, Jake was billed as Jake “The Snake” Roberts from Stone Mountain, Georgia. It's pretty common for promoters to change up performers’ hometowns, just to add to the theater of the absurd, as Jake called it. In recovery, Jake worked hard to stay in shape and control his life. And at age 63, he achieved a major accomplishment: He climbed the real Stone Mountain.
Jake “The Snake” Roberts:
Man, each step you take is like one more, one more, one more. And you keep looking up and you still got a ways to go. And then you get to the last part. And it's like, there's 150 steps that go basically straight up it seems like, and you gotta make those. And it's an awesome feeling to get to the top and then look back over the city of Atlanta.
Vic Vela:
When you walked up that mountain, was that, was there something metaphorical to that?
Jake “The Snake” Roberts:
Yeah, there basically was. I'm back on top. Cause there was a long time in my life, there's no way in hell I could have climbed that mountain, because of my drug use and what it had done to my body. I'm just, there's no way in hell I could have done it. And now to do it — yeah. Hell yeah. I'm back. I'm back in a big way too. I'm kicking doors open. I'm taking names. I'm slapping asses. I'm smiling as I do it, you know.
Vic Vela:
Tou used to hate looking — you used to—
Jake “The Snake” Roberts:
Yeah. I hated looking in the mirror, but now I can look in that mirror and I tell myself, you know what, dude, you're a pretty good son of a bitch, you know that? And I'm smiling, smiling right now, you know? And it feels good to smile, man. And there were so many years that I couldn't smile at all.
Vic Vela:
Jake smiles also because he's finally gotten real with himself and his fans. He recalls a big moment in his recovery when he was living with Dallas Page in Atlanta.
Jake “The Snake” Roberts:
I remember getting a big blackboard and putting it up in my room and writing down the things that I wanted out of life. And writing down, you know, wanting a relationship with my children, wanting to be free of drugs and alcohol, wanting to be happy again, all the positive things I can think of.
Vic Vela:
That's great.
Jake “The Snake” Roberts:
And that was awesome.
Vic Vela:
Diamond Dallas and Jake filmed his transformation as he did the program. It became a documentary called “The Resurrection of Jake the Snake.” That's where he cast off his wrestling persona and told the public about all the awful abuse he went through as a child. Now he was feeling love from wrestling fans who finally knew the real Jake.
Jake “The Snake” Roberts:
In recovery, they teach you that if you'll just stick with it, all of a sudden you will be rained on with gifts. And I didn't buy into that at all. And then it started happening. I had people come up to me and say, Jake, after seeing your story, I understand why my dad drank. I understand the torment he was going through. And now I don't hate him near as much.
Vic Vela:
Wow.
Jake “The Snake” Roberts:
Because I understand. And I get, I get letters from kids that say, “Jake, my daddy watched ‘Resurrection.’ He loves it. And now he don't drink anymore. And guess what? He's moving back in with me and Mommy.”
Vic Vela:
That's amazing.
Jake “The Snake” Roberts:
Man. How much better do you want it? I'm out here helping people now simply by telling my story and standing in front of them and saying, Hey, look at me. I'm still alive, man. Look at this s---. Can you believe this? Cause I shouldn't be here. But I am!
Vic Vela:
What I love right now is I'm hearing the tone in your voice shift from when you were talking about some dark places earlier to the pride, I could see coming out of your voice right now.
Jake “The Snake” Roberts:
Yeah. I'm warm right now. I'm glowing a little bit, man. And that's why I like being sober, man. That's what fuels me every day. You know? I mean, sobriety's beautiful.
Vic Vela:
Now Jake has actually learned to love himself. He's retired from wrestling, but he's found a second career as a stand-up comedian and storyteller. He talks to audiences about the fun times, like getting kicked out of hotels for keeping a python in the bathtub. But he also talks about never giving up on people who are struggling. And I got to tell you, as we wrap up this season of “Back from Broken,” my interview with Jake was one of my favorite conversations I've had with anyone in recovery, and in my 20 years of journalism.” I mean, I used to play with Jake's toy action figure when I was a boy. Now here we are relating to each other's pain and recovery journeys. Jake has one more thing to say, a challenge he makes for all of us.
Jake “The Snake” Roberts:
My challenge is this: There's not one person on this planet that doesn't know somebody that's in trouble with drugs or alcohol. Are you going to be the Diamond Dallas Page in their life? It's hard to help people that don't want help, but you gotta be there, man. You got to keep knocking on that door. Don't take no for an answer. Keep challenging them, keep barking at them, help them. Help another one, help somebody else. And then pretty soon you're going to start getting high off of it.
Vic Vela:
“Back from Broken” is a show about how we are all broken sometimes and how we need help from time to time. If you're struggling with addiction, you can find a list of resources at our website, backfrombroken.org.
Well, this is the season finale and I can't tell you just how much your support of this podcast has meant to me. It wasn't that long ago when I was smoking crack behind dumpsters and ruining my health and finances with heavy drug use every day. So the fact that I'm even alive and talking to other people about their own recovery journeys is really just mind-blowing to me. So thank you for listening, from the bottom of my heart. And we may even have a surprise for you in the coming months. So make sure you stay subscribed.
In the meantime, please share these stories with people who could use them and make sure you go back and listen to other episodes you may have missed earlier in the season. Thank you for your comments, encouragement and support at backfrombroken.org.
“Back from Broken” is hosted by me, Vic Vela. It's a production of Colorado Public Radio's Audio Innovations Studio and CPR News. Thanks to people in recovery who helped us develop this podcast, Ben, Matthew, Sean and Mateo. Thank you so much for your guidance. The “Back from Broken” team is Rebekah Romberg, Jon Pinnow, Matthew Simonson, Rachel Estabrook, Brad Turner and Kevin Dale. Thanks also to Daniel Mescher, Francie Swidler, Kim Nguyen, Hart van Denberg and Kevin Beaty. And a big thanks again to you for listening.
