I don’t even want to get into the ongoing controversies surrounding the death of Ryan Dunn, but this story was irresistible to me. I guess PopEater decided to check in with some of the other Jackass dudes who are still alive, and wouldn’t you know, Steve-O happens to be promoting his memoir, Professional Idiot: A Memoir, this week. I’ve never really cared for Steve-O when I watched Jackass episodes, so this is a new experience… I actually like him in this interview. He talks about Johnny Knoxville and a group of friends forcing him to get sober, and how he’s lucky to be alive because of their intervention. But the best part of this interview is when he talks about how he used snort mountains of cocaine with famous people. He’s got a hilarious Linnocent story!

Steve-O on being forced in sobriety: “Johnny Knoxville and a bunch of our ‘Jackass’ crew staged an intervention and they forcibly locked me up in a psychiatric ward,” Steve O told me. “When I got to the hospital I was so belligerent that they changed my status to 2 weeks. So the 3 days went to 2 weeks and with that kind of time on my hands in a psych ward I eventually came to the conclusion that I really needed to make a change.”

He’s been sober for more than three years: Steve-O had suffered with alcohol and drug additions through out his life until Johnny stepped in on March 10th of 2008, a date Steve will never forget … the date he finally got sober. Admitting that if it weren’t for Johnny he would be dead, Steve-O told me about how dark and lonely his days would be when he was high. “For me it stopped being a gathering,” he said. “I was sitting alone and watching people walk around my apartment who were never actually there. It all turns on you man. It got really dark and the reason why I needed to make a change is that I truthfully turned into this nasty sh*thead. Just a douche bag.”

The Linnocent story: “I’ve done a lot of drugs with Lindsay (Lohan), but everybody knows that. Lindsay was over at my house one time and she was in my bathroom probably selfishly not sharing drugs,” Steve O revealed. “But while she was in there, I pulled out my camera and I got this crazy footage. And some time passed and later I go in my bathroom and I find that she left her wallet, so I sent her this text and I said Lindsay, you left your wallet in my bathroom. This was when she was in rehab and she told me to bring it to her. So I meet her in the driveway of this Wonderland Rehab that she’s in and I make her sign a release form of the footage that I have.”

Doing coke with Mike Tyson: “[Me and] Mike Tyson locked ourselves in the bathroom in this big mansion … so here I am with Mike Tyson locked in this bathroom in this big mansion just doing piles of cocaine and I looked at him and said ‘you know Mike, I’m not a racist guy, but I would like to say I consider myself a [n-word]. And we had a big discussion over this pile of cocaine. My point was that if we could take the color out of this word then we would really diffuse it as a weapon. Mike Tyson said the definition of that word is the people who use it and I thought that was very insightful.”

[From PopEater]

I wonder how long ago that Mike Tyson incident happened? I didn’t know Mike was a raging cokehead too, but the best is part is still the Linnocent stuff. Will Mother Crackhead even deign to deny it? Will Linnocent? I looked it up – Linnocent’s Wonderland Rehab stay was back in January 2007. And Linnocent already admitted to experimenting with cocaine back in the day, so she’ll probably just say it’s all in the past and now she’s fine. OH WAIT. Is Steve-O talking about THIS? In 2007, stills from a video were released of Linnocent on a 20-hour cocaine binge just days after leaving rehab. Did Steve-O shoot that video? Probably. After all, Linnocent also stole his cocaine back in the day too.

Photos courtesy of WENN.

When I read that Steve-O called himself a “cocaine-addicted clown” I thought he meant he was clown-ish, but he was literally working as a clown and doing lines to keep going. The former Jackass star has a new MTV special coming up in which he talks about his troubled life and struggle with addiction. He worked as a clown for a flea market after graduating from Ringling Bros clown college, and would do cocaine and go without sleeping for days to get through his frenetic act:

On Jackass, viewers watched him gag inside a helmet full of crickets and bob for jellyfish. On Dancing with the Stars, they watched as he danced the foxtrot and Viennese waltz. Now on a new unflinching MTV special, Steve-O: Demise and Rise, viewers will witness his longtime struggle with drugs and alcohol as well as his recent decision to sober up. PEOPLE has an exclusive clip of the program.

Even before Jackass and the spin-off Wildboyz, Steve-O, now 34, has been documenting his life on tape, including his days at the Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Clown College, which led to a job at a flea-market circus. There, he says, he was a “cocaine-addicted clown,” who performed “two shows on Friday, three shows on Saturday and three shows on Sunday, and typically I would do cocaine through all of it without sleeping.”

Steve-O: Demise and Rise, which airs May 3 (10 p.m. ET) on MTV, also shows “extreme substance abuse, including the marathon nitrous oxide sessions, terrorizing his next door neighbor, his ill-fated attempt at being a gangsta-rapper and several infamous public displays of self-destructive behavior,” according to a press release from the network.

Steve-O’s story continues as he tries “to stay clean, sober and focused on making amends to those closest to him hurt by his addiction,” says the release. The documentary follows the Steve-O through to his first performance on ABC’s Dancing with the Stars.

[From People]

Since attending rehab and a mental institution last year and getting sober, Steve has found comfort in spirituality and extra-sensory pursuits like astral projection. I’m not into any of that, butif you read his MySpace blog entries the way he describes his search for meaning and clarity is compelling. You root for the guy and want good things for him. Despite how foolish and stupid he is, Steve-O has a kind of humanity and humbleness that makes him real. He connects with his fans and seems really committed to change.

Steve-O competed on “Dancing With The Stars” up until last week, finishing 6th. The tabloids are reporting that the 34 year-old is involved with his dance partner, Lacey Schwimmer, 20, off the dance floor. These two had a good rapport when they appeared together on the Jimmy Kimmel show (link leads to video) last week after their elimination. Steve had Lacey kick him in the nuts on the show and they claimed that they were going to make it part of a dance but chickened out. Before she ran at him to do the deed, Lacey said “I love you,” so I would bet that they’re more than just friends.

I’m glad to see that there are more things in store for Steve and hopefully he’ll find a way to make a living without hurting himself for sport. He doesn’t seem to want to give it up though.

Steve-O and Lacey Schwimmer are shown at Perez Hilton’s birthday party on 3/28/09. Credit: WENN.com

After fellow contestants Nancy O’Dell and Jewel had to leave Dancing with the Stars due to injuries (both knee injuries from overtraining), Steve-O has become the third celebrity to have to sit out. During dress rehearsals, Steve-O fell while trying to do a flip in the air and landed on the microphone pack on his back, hurting his spine and suffering from a hematoma. Even though he couldn’t make it to the live competition, he wasn’t voted off the show and hopes to return next week.

TV stuntman Steve-O has been diagnosed with a hematoma after taking a nasty tumble while rehearsing for TV show Dancing With The Stars.

The Jackass star fell on his microphone pack while trying to perfect a somersault during Monday’s dress rehearsal for the show, and was rushed to hospital.

He was still under medical supervision when the show went live, forcing him to miss a dance-off with partner Lacey Schwimmer.

He says, “I have a hematoma. In laymen’s terms it means I grew a third butt cheek… A sprained vessel… I have a pinched nerve and my back is sprained.”

But Steve-O has no plans to follow injured celebrities Jewel and TV presenter Nancy O’Dell and quit the show.

He adds, “I’ll be fine.”

Despite his no-show on Monday night’s show, Steve-O avoided becoming the first dancer cut – that dishonor belonged to The Go-Go’s singer Belinda Carlisle.

[from Star Pulse]

Considering that Steve-O has been bitten by every kind of insect, snake, and animal; thrown himself onto/into/underneath heavy/moving/falling objects; had heavy objects thrown at him; and has had staples shot into his skin, it’s ironic that a microphone pack would be his downfall. This is just like his other stupid Jackass or Wildboyz stunts, only this one was accidental and wasn’t caught on tape. Hematomas are no laughing matter – they’re very painful and can be dangerous if not taken care of properly. I sincerely hope he gets better in time to compete next week; he is the only celebrity that would actually compel me to spend my time watching DWTS.

Photo credit: Craig Sjodin/ABC/MCT

There has been a lot of speculation on who will and who won’t perform on Dancing With the Stars for its eighth season, but now the official list has been published. The list includes some obvious contestants (Denise Richards), and some not so obvious (Lil Kim and Steve Wozniak, the man who co-founded Apple).

Lawrence Taylor
The former NFL star, 50, played his entire career as a linebacker for the New York Giants.

Belinda Carlisle
The singer, 50, was the lead vocalist and founding member of the 80s band The Go-Go’s.

Shawn Johnson
The 17-year-old Olympic-gold-medal-winning gymnast is the youngest DWTS competitor in the show’s history.

Denise Richards
After a contentious divorce from Charlie Sheen, the 37-year-old actress and mother of two daughters got her own reality show, Denise Richards: It’s Complicated.

Lil’ Kim
The Grammy Award winning rapper, 33, spent 10 months in jail in 2006 for lying to a federal grand jury.

Gilles Marini
The actor is best known for playing Kim Cattrall’s sexy — and predominantly naked — neighbor in 2008′s Sex and the City movie.

Steve-O
The daredevil performer, 34, showcased ridiculous stunts on MTV’s Jackass and the spinoff Wildboyz.

Steve Wozniak
Nicknamed “The Woz” by ex Kathy Griffin, the computer engineer, 58, co-founded the Apple computer company with Steve Jobs.

Jewel
The singer-songwriter, 34 – who became a household name in 1995 with her song “Who Will Save Your Soul” – has released seven albums.

Ty Murray
The former rodeo cowboy, 39, is married to fellow contestant Jewel.

David Alan Grier
The actor, 53, came to fame on In Living Color and currently hosts the Comedy Central sketch news show, Chocolate News.

Chuck Wicks
The country singer is currently dating fellow crooner and two-time DWTS champion Julianne Hough. Wicks, 29, will be paired up with the professional dancer this season.

Nancy O’Dell
The entertainment journalist currently serves as the co-host of Access Hollywood with Billy Bush. O’Dell, 42, also hosted NBC’s pre-show for the 2009 Golden Globe Awards in January.

[from Us]

The cast looks like it’s going to be an interesting one – there are contestants from every walk of life, every genre of entertainment. DWTS used to be considered the lowest of the low – the place you turn to when your career is on the downturn and The Surreal Life denies your application. But with people like Steve-O, Lil Kim and Jewel as cast members, maybe that stereotype is changing.

All photos credit: WENN

The reality TV self-promotion queen and the recovering addict will be joining the cast of Dancing with the Stars next season. The casting of Denise Richards is not surprising in the least, and the more I think about it, Steve-O might be an interesting choice. According to Life&Style, his work on Jackass will prepare him for an “aggressive” dance partner.

Life & Style has learned exclusively that Denise, 37, star of Denise Richards: It’s Complicated, has already been prepping for her TV dancing debut. “She’s super excited and has lost a few pounds to tone up and get in shape,” an insider tells Life & Style. “She’s ready and thinks she can go all the way!”

The London-born Steve-O (real name Stephen Glover), 34, became famous on the Jackass TV show (there were also two Jackass movies), which ran from 2000 to 2002. He specialized in stunts that involved gruesome forms of self-injury — experience that could be helpful for Steve-O if he’s paired with an aggressive partner!

[from Life & Style]

Even though it makes complete sense that Denise Richards would want to go onto the show, I’m not sure she’s the perfect candidate. She’s just not very likeable. People watch her reality show It’s Complicated because it’s entertaining watching her whine through her self-absorbed life. Now that her kids aren’t allowed to be featured on the show, each episode will be even more of a ego-stroking for her.

The last time we heard from Steve-O, he was blogging on the perils of drug use from a mental institution. Hopefully his inclusion on the “star” roster of Dancing with the Stars means that he’s gotten to a more stable place. It will be really interesting to see Steve-O, who is more commonly filmed enticing scorpions to sting him or stapling himself, wearing sequins and doing the cha-cha in front of an audience. I don’t see him as a celebrity for the target audience of the show, but maybe that’s the beauty of it. He’ll be seen in a more serious light, and the show will be able to expand its fan base. Unlike many guests on the show who are washed-up celebrities (ahem, Denise Richards), I think that Steve-O won’t take himself too seriously, and for that reason he’ll be fun to watch.

Denise Richards is shown on 1/18/09 at the premiere of Finding Bliss at the Sundance Festival, where she clearly soaked up the swag. Steve-O is shown in a photoshoot from 2007. Credit: WENN

I think one of the best ways to really keep kids off drugs is to talk to them in their own language. And it’s best when they hear about it from people they’ll actually listen to; people who speak on their level. So who better to warn kids to stay off drugs than Jackass star Steve-O?

Steve has a rap sheet so long I think his Wikipedia page almost exploded when I opened it. He’s struggled with serious drugs and mental illness for years, and in March was physically removed from his home by his friends, who forced him to check into a mental hospital. He’s been there ever sense, and recently wrote on his blog exactly why you shouldn’t do drugs.

After seeing “Dr. Drew’s Celebrity Addiction Special” on VH1 News, I figured it was time to put something out there for you all. I expected my part on that show to be much harder to watch than it wound up being. It made me want to explain a little bit of what I’ve been going through since I got clean, to help some of you understand how much damage drugs and alcohol have really done to me. I’ve now been clean for 115 days, and I’m, again, in a mental institution. I did so much cocaine, ketamine, pcp, nitrous oxide, and all sorts of other drugs, that, quite simply, my brain is f&%$ed up. As you can probably tell by the way I’m writing this, my cognitive skills are alright, but, I frequently suffer from horrible mood swings and severe depression. Those of you who have followed my warped mind’s trail on the Internet for a significant amount of time have, I’m sure, been very aware of those attributes, but, I just want you all to know that four f&%$ng months (almost) of not touching a damn thing that a psychiatrist didn’t perscribe to me hasn’t changed that shit. The medication that is prescribed to me doesn’t do the trick every day, let’s just put it that way. I’m back in the looney bin trying to get that shit right. The bottom line is that doing drugs f&%$ed my ass up and I’m going to be paying for it for a long time, probably for the rest of my life. Everyone’s going to make their own decisions in life, but nobody needs to make the same mistakes I made. I love you all,

[From Steve O’s Myspace blog]

I think that’s really good to hear. A lot of people experiment a bit with drugs and are fine, and that’s the end of the story. But there are always heartbreaking stories like Steve’s where it just ends up ruining a person’s life. I have a friend who has been in and out of mental institutions since high school in a case that sounds pretty similar to this.

Steve obviously has a ton of issues – both medical and mental – to work through. But it sounds like he’s taking them seriously, and hopefully will do whatever work needs to be done to get better.

Here’s Steve O at Maxim’s 2008 Hot 100 party in Los Angeles on May 21st. I’m assuming he’s either been in and out of the mental hospital and happened to be out that day, or he got some kind of… day pass? Photographer: Dimitri Halkidis; Images thanks to WENN.

Update: Photos removed at the request of the National Enquirer. You can see them in their latest issue with Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen’s feud on the cover. We are sorry to the Enquirer and thank them for being nice about asking us to remove them.

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“Jackass” star Steve O is in rehab after he was put into the hospital on a mental health observation for supposedly threatening to kill himself. It also came out that he has bipolar disorder, something that he admits on his myspace blog. Steve O also freely owes up to doing drugs, and there are photos out of him in this week’s Enquirer snorting coke off a woman’s leg. The accompanying story about how he was supposedly “hitting on random girls and asking to snort coke of their breasts” isn’t true though, he asserts, and he says the false claims are particularly damaging because he was engaged at the time:

The stories that are circulating right now about me being at some party hitting on random girls and asking to snort drugs from their breasts are not true at all. I will be the first to admit that I’ve snorted all kinds of drugs, in all sorts of situations, but I take offense to claims that I was running around hitting on random women at a time when I was under the impression that I was engaged to be married. I know many of you who are in receipt of this message from me work in the media, and I would greatly appreciate it if you would squash this dishonest journalism. These stories are so untrue, they place me at a party hitting on women when I was locked up in the looney bin. I’m a tough guy, with very thick skin, but that doesn’t mean I take kindly to being lied about, especially when it comes to behavior that took place after I asked someone to marry me and before I was informed, by the girl I asked to marry me, that she had completely changed her mind about getting married. Feel free to write whatever you want about me being rejected by my fiance, because that is true, but, please, don’t lie about me. I like to consider myself to be exciting
enough that dishonesty is not required to get a story out of me. Thanks, I love you all,
Steve-O

[From Steve O's myspace]

This is the guy who stapled his balls to his legs, peed on the red carpet, smoked a bowl on the red carpet, ate roadkill, and generally comes off as an idiot of the highest order, but somehow I believe him and am rooting for him. At first I thought that Steve O’s girlfriend broke up with him after reading that National Enquirer article, but he blogged on March 20 that “she later expressed that she completely changed her mind about getting married. Now I am in recovery and do not have a significant other,” so it sounds like he’s just upset that the Enquirer made it seem like he was hitting on women when he was engaged at the time.

Steve O has been getting into all sorts of weird new age stuff (that seems to be a theme for today) and has been blogging about how he’s searching for more information about his higher power. He’s talked about The Age of Aquarius and told people to look up more information about the “Pleiadians,” which are said to be extraterrestrial beings which have visited earth. As long as he’s not sinking money into a cult, if it helps him to get sober that’s all that matters.

Steve O comes across as someone who is really trying to conquer his demons and figure out his place in the world. Maybe he’ll come up with a slightly less self-destructive way to make money once he’s out of rehab.

An actual photo of Steve-O drinking as a toddler, found on his myspace

Steve-O, the Jackass star who recently checked into rehab for his drug and alcohol issues, has posted a goodbye letter to drugs and alcohol on his official blog. Steve-O addresses his mother’s alcoholism, and the fact he was given the alcohol as a child, which was not uncommon, it was often used to make babies sleep. Don’t try this!

On his childhood exposure to alcohol:

Mom was very alcoholic, and I feel that is a gross understatement. I’d love to say that I first took to alcohol out of affection for my mother (there was never any shortage of that for me) but I think the truth is that I was always powerless over it. I know I was always powerless over alcoholism, because it had such a grip on Mom’s adulthood and my childhood, and I never chose to fight it. Until now. Dad was a corporate executive whose job required the family to travel the world fairly extensively and both Mom and Dad were quite self conscious of how they were perceived by others. We were frequently on airplanes and, before Mom and Dad would find themselves in the embarrassing position of being caught by other passengers with a crying baby, I was fed alcohol.

[From Steve-O's myspace]

Steve-O also talks about his attempts to kick his vices, his abusive behavior towards loved ones, his belief in a higher power to help him (this is a very large part of most rehab programs), and the affect his addictions have had on his work, finances and personal life. He ends the blog with this statement.

A GOODBYE LETTER TO MY DRUGS OF CHOICE
At this point,
All you f’ing things are good for is dying. I’m not ready to die. I’m ready to live. I’m ready to breathe (properly, even). I’m ready to fall in love. I’m ready to become ready to start a family. I’m ready to be happy, fulfilled and meaningful. Maybe I’ll see you fukkers if and/or when I’m ready to die.

[From Steve-O's myspace]

I really appreciate how hard it can be to kick an addiction after reading this letter. I hope you can get past your addictions Steve-O. It can take a lot work and many attempts to get beyond a drug and alcohol dependency.

Note by Celebitchy: I’ve been keeping up with Steve O’s blog and he seems like he’s coming to terms with his issues and trying to make sense of his life so far. He also comes off as a lot smarter and self aware than you might assume. We wish him the best.

These photos are from Steve-O’s myspace of him as a baby and a kid.

How do you tell if someone has a legitimate mental illness when part of their job is to willfully, and stupidly, injure themselves through idiotic pranks? “Jackass” star Steve-O, who just a couple of weeks ago was carted off to jail for vandalism and drug possession, is now being held in a hospital on a 5150 hold after threatening to kills himself. The hold, originally for 72 hours, has now been extended to 14 days. Sources say that just prior to the vandalism charges, Steve-O’s family was trying to stage an intervention, and have been working behind the scenes with his “Jackass” co-star, Johnny Knoxville, to get him into treatment for drug abuse and bipolar disorder.

Steve-O has been hospitalized for observation, sources close to the stuntman confirmed to MTV News on Thursday (March 13).

On Sunday, the “Jackass” star was planning to execute a stunt where he would take a 25-foot fall onto concrete, a fall he hoped to break with cardboard boxes and trash cans, so long as his friends showed up to provide them. “50 Cent got shot nine times at once and survived, and he is forever a legend,” Steve-O (real name: Stephen Glover) wrote to his e-mail list. “I betcha I break more than nine bones if nobody comes with something to catch me, because, mark my words, I will fall!” In separate e-mails, he wrote repeatedly, “I’m ready to f—ing die.”

But it wasn’t an injury from this stunt that landed him in lockdown at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center on Sunday, after being taken there by Johnny Knoxville and Dimitry Elyaschevich, according to their mutual friends. Rather, it was concern over his recent behavior that precipitated it. “He’s in the hospital now,” one of his friends told MTV News. “Not for injury, for observation.” His friends estimate that he’ll be in the hospital for 14 days.

A week before the stunt, Glover had been arrested for allegedly vandalizing his neighbor’s property, and a felony drug charge for possession of cocaine during the incident was added this week, his arraignment for which was scheduled for Thursday. As Glover was not available to enter a plea, an attorney went to court on his behalf to explain the circumstances and ask for a continuance, so the arraignment was pushed back until March 26.

It was Glover’s arrest a week ago that precipitated this situation, however. As a result of the vandalism charge and the subsequent media attention, Glover was evicted from his apartment and decided to do the stunt as a last hurrah, to take advantage of the clearing from the loft. In planning that stunt, the references to dying and suicide in his e-mails concerned his friends and family the most, especially coming on the heels of his girlfriend rejecting a marriage proposal, which he also wrote about. “These last e-mails definitely had something to do with it,” another friend said, “but he’s been headed towards this for a few months.”

“My family is convinced that I’ve got bipolar disorder,” Glover wrote in November. “I don’t know if I agree, but I’ve come to terms with the fact that I’m somewhat f—ed in the head. … I agreed to go to a psychiatrist for a professional evaluation, to try and figure out what specific category of nutjob I fall into. I’ve decided that I want to make a rad project out of finding what the f— is wrong with me. I sure hope this psychiatrist is down with me having my evaluation filmed.”

No word on whether Cedars-Sinai is allowing Steve-O to document his lockdown, as a rep for the hospital could not confirm his admittance, citing patient confidentiality, but regardless, his friends predict he’ll be fine in a few weeks. “Once he dries out in there,” one friend said, “he’ll be back to happy old funny Steve-O.”

[From MTVNews.com]

Most people– even Britney, who started this whole 5150 trend with celebs–wouldn’t want their psychological treatment filmed, but not Steve-O! Either he really is mentally ill or he’s just perpetually 12. And stupid. It would take a crazy person to staple his genitals to his leg, set himself on fire, and have a high colonic enema while dressed in a Santa Claus suit.

Pictures of Steve-O from his myspace.

‘Jackass’ star Steve O, who is best known for stapling his own scrotum to his leg, has been busted for drugs again. The idiot star of Jackass, who is often seen at events smoking pot out of a homemade tin can bong on the red carpet, was picked up this morning after complaints that he was vandalizing his own apartment. When police investigated the complaint– presto! Steve O was found to have drugs on his person. Quelle surprise!

Steve-O is cooling his heels in jail.

The Jackass actor was arrested on drug charges, an LAPD spokesperson confirms to Usmagazine.com.

Officers were first called the scene at 5 a.m. this morning after hearing Steve-O was vandalizing the walls of his apartment.

“It appears there were holes in the common wall adjacent to a neighbor,” the spokesperson tells Us.

Drugs were found on the MTV star after police arrived at the scene.

TMZ.com, which first reported the arrest, says Steve-O was held in a citizen’s arrest. The LAPD spokesperson can’t confirm.

The LAPD spokesperson says Steve-O (real name: Stephen Glover) is still at LAPD’s Hollywood station and that bail has not yet been set.

In May 2003, the daredevil actor was jailed for five days in Sweden after joking about smuggling drugs in the country. Two months later, Steve-O was charged with disorderly conduct at a Lollapalooza concert in Pennsylvania.

[From Us Weekly]

This guy is a total loser and I hope they throw the book at him. He’s 34 years old and acts like he’s 16 and mentally handicapped, and somehow continues to get away with it. In addition to the drug arrests, he’s also been arrested in the past for his frequent love of urinating in public. He’s absolutely disgusting and I can’t think of a better place for him to be than in a jail cell.

Note by Celebitchy: I saw this guy’s apartment on Cribs and it sounds like he hasn’t moved since then. I was kind of amazed that he was still living like a college student in a generic-looking apartment because I thought he was making bank on Jackass. It must be so annoying must to have to live next to him.