Diff’rent Strokes star Todd Bridges recently reflected on the time in the ’80s when Eddie Murphy enlisted Rick James to stage an intervention for his drug use.
While appearing on The Patrick LabyorSheaux podcast, he explained that it all started when The Pickup star noticed he was spiraling. “Eddie was like, ‘Man, we gotta get Todd some help. He’s trippin’. We gotta find somebody who knows about drugs.’ Everybody’s naming Rick James. ‘Send Rick James over there!’”
The plan might’ve worked if the “Brick House” singer wasn’t getting high, too. “Rick comes to my house, opens his car door, and all this smoke comes out,” he further explained the moment. “I’m like, ‘What’s going on?’” he added, noting that the funk legend was “getting higher than [he] was at the time.”
“Rick was wild, so when Rick spoke, you listened. He said, ‘Let me see your stuff.’ I showed him my drugs and he goes, ‘Man, that’s too much. I don’t want you killing yourself… let me take half of that so you don’t kill yourself,’” he hilariously continued.
Then, as Bridges remembers, James started flirting up a woman on his couch who he once dated. “I’m ready to kill Rick at this point. I’m like, ‘What kind of drug intervention was that? He took half my drugs and left!’”
While visiting the Allison Interviews podcast in January, Bridges spoke candidly about the deep wounds that fueled his addiction such as being molested as a child, growing up with an alcoholic father, and enduring years of police harassment even while simply going to work.
“God healed my heart,” he said on a serious note. “He healed a lot of pain… I developed a chip on my shoulder and became angry with everything around me.” Drugs, he explained, became a way to numb the hurt until he finally grew tired of repeating the same destructive cycle and decided to fight for his life.
Three decades later, Todd Bridges made it clear that he believes anyone can heal from addiction, even if their first “intervention” was led by the late, great Rick James himself.
See Todd Bridges speaking on the unforgettable drug intervention her had with Rick James above.
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