Movie Star Sizemore Opens Up About Dangers Of Hollywood
In his new memoir, "By Some Miracle I Made It Out Of There," Tom Sizemore opens up about his experience in Hollywood. It's a story with enough emotional punch to warrant it;s own movie in Tinseltown one day.
In his book, Sizemore, 51, looks back on the life he had ever since breaking out as an actor during the 1990's. Perhaps one of the most poignant moments in the memoir comes from Sizemore's recounting of the three year affair he had with Elizabeth Hurley (she was with Hugh Grant at the time).
"It hurts me to say this because she was never really mine, but in many ways Elizabeth was the seminal relationship of my young adulthood. She taught me a lot about myself. She taught me that I wasn't who I thought I was," reflects Sizemore.
So just who is the star of such film classics as "Natural Born Killers," "Heat," and the mega-hit "Saving Private Ryan?"
"I was a guy who'd come from very little and risen to the top," writes Sizemore, who was raised in Detroit. "I'd had the multimillion-dollar house, the Porsche, the restaurant I partially owned with Robert De Niro. And now I had absolutely nothing."
That fall from grace takes up a substantial part of the memoir, and Sizemore does not mince words over the effect that drugs had on his life and the live's of others. One incident he recalls with Hollywood madam Heidi Fleiss makes it clear just how intensely Sizemore reacted to the drug culture.
"One of the first nights she came over to my house, Heidi laid out a little bit of [crystal] meth on the dresser in my bedroom. I did a line. Ten seconds later, I was flying. It was the most intense thing I'd ever felt. I turned around and said, 'Are you trying to kill me?' She didn't answer because she was already taking off her clothes. At that moment I want her more than I wanted to breathe."
Though the memoir does glorify the fast lifestyle of being a major player in Hollywood, it also offers up a somber recognition of the dangers that come with it. In all, Sizemore does not advocate the life he once lived.
"[Cocaine, heroin and crystal meth] are the three most intense, life-destroying drugs," Tom told Access Hollywood's Billy Bush in a new interview. "Meth - it's the worst one. It's sneaky. It doesn't feel like it's doing much to you in the beginning and then it's got you in a grip in addiction. I can't even tell you what it feels like to stop it. It takes a lot of help. I don't see anyone getting off that drug on their own."
Sizemore also talks in the book about his relationship with drug addiction expert Dr. Drew Pinsky, detailing his route to a better life. The actor has been completely sober for four years now.