‘Addiction and Recovery’ Series Challenges Stigma

TUNE IN AND TURN IT UP –

Jan. 24, 2120 – The overweight kid from the suburbs of Philadelphia — who had an identity crisis in second grade where he asked his African-American father and Italian-East Indian mother whether he was white or not — was now living lavishly and working for the hottest celebrities of the 90s. Somers left the Roxbury nightclub in Los Angeles that November night around 2 a.m. to go party after hours at a friend’s place, and as he headed westbound toward Beverly Hills, his tires crossed the yellow lines that separated his car from the oncoming traffic, and his life changed forever as he hit a Chevy Chevette nearly head on, instantaneously killing the driver.

An already tragic story was made worse by the fact that Somers was under the influence of alcohol at the time of the crash. He began drinking at age 14 to deal with childhood obesity and his status as a child celebrity dancer on shows like Dancin’ on Air, and this spiraled into regular recreational use of drugs and alcohol. Somers was convicted of second degree murder for the crash, and sentenced to life in prison, but only served 18 of those years and was released in 2011.

During his entire time in prison, Somers worked on his recovery from his addictions. He fought against the availability of drugs and alcohol in prison, and when he got out, he decided to dedicate his life to telling his story at conferences like King’s in hopes of other addicts and people in recovery being inspired to start or continue their own journeys.