The Hills’ Jason Wahler talks sobriety, past suicide attempt and his new wife
Last weekend, The Hills bad-boy Jason Wahler married his long-time girlfriend, Ashley Slack. The beautiful ceremony was an appropriate celebration of their love — but also of Jason’s life, which he nearly lost four years ago.
“I was so uncomfortable in my own skin that I contemplated suicide a number of times, and even attempted it once,” 26-year-old Jason wrote for Huffington Post. “I took 10 times more antabuse (a popular drug that helps alcoholics abstain from drinking) than I was supposed to in an effort to take my own life, but was saved after being rushed to the hospital and receiving treatment for my overdose.”
Jason agreed to appear on Dr. Drew’s Celebrity Rehab shortly afterward. Following that transformative experience, Jason began attending AA meetings and got involved with Northbound Treatment Services. He now serves as the client and alumni services manager.
The former Laguna Beach star said he only reached this point because he let go of his “overinflated ego and underestimated sense of self-worth.”
“I had gone to rehab a number of times, but only to appease my family, girlfriends or the courts. I knew I was an addict but didn’t want to stop yet. Even though I was always compliant in treatment, I had a big ego that would prevent me from being vulnerable in individual or group therapy sessions. It wasn’t until my introduction to Dr. Drew on Celebrity Rehab that I really decided to put my game face on and do whatever it took to get sober, including letting go of my past demons.”
^ Left picture was from 2008 when Jason said he was “bloated from all the alcohol I was drinking on a regular basis, my face was pale and lifeless and I was clearly emotionally disconnected.” He now takes pride in how he looks and enjoys a healthy lifestyle.
Jason also opened up about his relationship with Ashley, whom he married in Malibu on Oct. 12.
“Ashley has supported me in my sobriety and has played a pivotal role in shaping who I am today — a man much different than the one that used to flood the airwaves with debauchery. Our wedding will be yet another accomplishment and proud moment in my life — a life that has been turned around through hard work, dedication, and the love of an amazing woman who I look forward to sharing the rest of my sober and successful life with,” Jason said in the article, which he wrote a few days before his wedding.
After the lavish ceremony, Jason revealed saying “I do” was the best high of his life.
“It’s possible that there’s a light at the end of the tunnel,” he told Life & Style. “I have never had any kind of natural high like that in my entire life, everything goes numb and there is no control of emotion, you are literally in awe.”
No doubt that was the kind of high approved by Dr. Drew, who attended the ceremony.
