Former Trump adviser Larry Kudlow has candidly opened up about his drug addiction battle while working on Wall Street.
The Fox Business host, who previously served as Trump’s chief economic adviser, shared new insight on Miranda Devine’s podcast, Pod Force One.
Kudlow admitted to speaking briefly about his substance abuse issues with Trump, who abstains from alcohol and drugs due to the death of his brother, Fred Trump Jr., in 1981 from alcoholism.
“It’s very personal to him,” Kudlow said. “And it’s very personal to me.”
Kudlow recalled getting “caught up in the zeitgeist” of New York City’s Wall Street in the 1980s and ‘90s, while working as the chief economist at Bear Stearns.
“Some people just got hooked on alcohol and or cocaine or other drugs or whatever, other people didn’t,” he said. “I knew lots of people at Bear Stearns and Goldman Sachs and others, who had the same stresses I had, and they were fine. So I’ve always taken personal responsibility for it.”
Kudlow said his turning point came when his wife, Judith, sent him to a residential treatment program for five months in 1995, a year after he was forced to resign from his job.
The couple met in the 1980s while she was working for Ronald Reagan’s administration.
Judith had been aware of her husband’s struggles, filing for divorce about a year before sending him off for treatment. She wanted to prevent Kudlow from being able to withdraw money from his retirement fund, saying in court papers, per The Daily Beast, the then-47-year-old “has been on a steady cocaine binge and is desperate for money.”
However, she never ended up following through with the divorce. The two remain married to this day.
Kudlow credited the treatment program with putting him on a path to sobriety. It also inspired him to convert to Catholicism in 1997 after having been born into a Jewish family.
He shared his belief that religion “breeds better behavior and it breeds personal individual responsibility.”
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Today, he continues to attend Twelve-Step program meetings.
“I’m so blessed because I got a second chance in my life because the crash and burn was pretty awful,” Kudlow said.
If you or someone you know is suffering from drug addiction, you can seek confidential help and support 24-7 from Frank, by calling 0300 123 6600, texting 82111, sending an email or visiting their website here.
In the US, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration can be reached at 1-800-662-HELP.
