What Made Joaquin Phoenix Go To Rehab?

Last year, Joaquin Phoenix won all the awards and received immense love for his performance in Joker. However, long before that, he checked himself into rehab and was going through a hard time. Now he is revealing why he made that decision.

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Although people now know him as Joker, Joaquin Phoenix has played many memorable characters

At the age of eight Joaquin Phoenix made his debut in the TV series, Seven Brides for Seven Brothers. His brother, River Phoenix, was also with him in the series. In 1993, River died of an overdose in front of Joaquin. For a short while, he took a break from acting and returned back in 1995. In 2000, he played the Roman emperor, Commodus, in Gladiator, which was praised by critics and audiences alike. For his performance, Joaquin Phoenix won several awards and nominations including Oscars, Golden Globe and BAFTA. After that, his career took off and has been going steady. Although all his films are special, some are more than others including Walk the Line, The Village, The Master, Inherent Vice, and Her. Despite having an incredible acting career, Joaquin Phoenix has struggled with addiction.

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In 2005, he checked himself into rehab and he is now revealing the reason behind it

When he played Johnny Cash in Walk the Line, it brought critical acclaim and praise for Joaquin’s acting. However, with success came heavy drinking and partying. He became an alcoholic and could not think straight. While describing his experience with alcohol, Joaquin Phoenix said:

“I wasn’t engaging with the world or myself in the way I wanted to. I was being an idiot, running around, drinking, trying to screw people, going to stupid clubs.”

Shortly after, he met with a life-threatening car accident and almost set himself on fire but was saved by German filmmaker, Werner Herzog. After that experience, Joaquin decided to go to rehab. Since then, he is clean and feels no desire to drink. He said:

“There are too many things I enjoy doing and I don’t want to wake up feeling hungover. It’s not a thing I fight against, it’s just the way I live my life.”