Behind the Book Cover

Bestselling author, ultra-endurance athlete, plant-based nutrition advocate and sober father Rich Roll has been hailed as one of the world's fittest men. He also graduated from Stanford and Cornell Law and built up a successful law practice all while drowning in alcohol. Then, after years of sobriety, he realized he was anesthetizing himself with food the way he had with drinking and what started out as a cleanse turned into—well, one of the world's fittest men. Here we talk about familial expectations, being an alcoholic in New York and the spiritual aspects of recovery as well as the tragic death of Philip Seymour Hoffman.

TV and radio host Riki Rachtman may have the tattoos and rocker guy persona of a tough guy but make no mistake—he's a sweetheart. The host of MTV's Headbangers Ball and former owner of the Cathouse club, Rachtman now hosts Racing Rocks on over 120 radio stations and also lives a life free of drugs and alcohol after a multi-year battle with the substances. (No, he wants to assure you, he's actually been absolutely sober for a lot of the "stupid shit" he's done over the past 20 years.) Here, we talk about what got him sober (a drug that starts with m, ends with h and has et in between), how he lives today and everything in between.

Actress and author Kristen Johnston needs no introduction but we're giving her one anyway: the Emmy award-winning star of Third Rock From the Sun who's now starring on TVLand's The Exes (Wednesdays at 10 pm!), Johnston is also the New York Times bestselling author of Guts: The Endless Follies and Tiny Triumphs of a Giant Disaster, which details her struggle with and recovery from addiction. Here we talk about the nitty gritty details of her stomach exploding (that's what taking too many pills will do to you), the part fame played in her addiction and her plan to start up sober high schools in New York.

Mackenzie Phillips had, from the outside, the most glamorous childhood that could be imagined: the daughter of the Mamas and Papas lead singer John Phillips, she starred in American Graffiti and on the hit TV show One Day at a Time as a teenager, while also hitting every club on the Sunset Strip. But her career was stymied by addiction—until 1992, when she went into treatment. After a bout of long-term sobriety, she relapsed and was eventually arrested with heroin in her while on her way to New York for a One Day at a Time reunion on The Rachel Ray Show. The release of her book, High on Arrival—and the revelation in it that she'd had a 10-year consensual sexual relationship with her father—sent the media (and her family) into a tizzy. Now sober again and arguably as enthusiastic about recovery as anyone in the world, Phillips is the Recovery Advocate for the Pasadena Recovery Center and a sought-after speaker on spiritual matters. You'll see why when you listen to this episode.  

Permanent Midnight author Jerry Stahl is, bar none, this generation's king of junkie lit. Dark and hilarious, Permanent Midnight was an insta-classic that was made into a movie with Ben Stiller as the lead and Stahl has followed it with a succession of other nihilistic novels—including his latest, Happy Mutant Baby Pills. He and TheAfterPartyGroup's Anna David have known each other since Stahl blurbed her first book in 2005. Here they discuss heroin, sobriety, swearing, life coaches, meditation, yoga, writing and so much more.

Dead Kennedys drummer D.H. Peligro has been to rehab 31 times. He's also been in the Red Hot Chili Peppers, lived with a whole bunch of crazy addicts in San Francisco and LA, stayed half-awake through an operation when he had a liter of pus extracted from his leg and lived to tell the tale. He and AfterPartyChat's Anna David talk about his newfound sobriety (he was a few days from checking out of a treatment center the day of the interview), his brushes with death, the way his trauma caught up to him and his new book, Dreadknaught: King of Afropunk. 

Musician and actor Michael Des Barres has had many lives: he's been in bands with John Taylor and Steve Jones, performed at Live Aid, co-written hit songs ("Obsession," which Animotion made famous, and which Des Barres admits is about cocaine), had memorable appearances on TV shows from WKRP in Cincinnati through Melrose Place and Nip/Tuck (as well as many in between and since) and is now, at 65, hosting The Michael Des Barres Show for TRadioV. He and AfterPartyChat's Anna David met over a decade ago, before she was sober—when he called the fact that she was doing cocaine "so very 80's." Here they discuss Michael's childhood in an English boarding school, his time doing drugs (with several shout outs to Quaaludes) and the fact that he's been sober since 1981. Also in there: singing! Reminiscing about the date they once had! And more.

Comedian Jake Fogelnest was more successful at 14 than many of us will ever be: his public access TV show, Squirt TV, had a cult following that included The Beastie Boys, the guys from They Might Be Giants and many more; within a few weeks, he was fielding calls from superstars who were declaring themselves fans. While Squirt TV went to MTV and Fogelnest has gone on to have a busy career that includes multiple Sirius radio shows, a podcast (The Fogelnest Files), TV writing gigs and much more, he also became addicted young and struggled to find sobriety. Here, he and AfterPartyChat's Anna David discuss how finding success at a young age can contribute to addiction, his amazing Twitter joke about Banksy and the most important topic of all: cats.

Actor and director Josh Leonard (though he'd introduce himself to you as Joshua) launched into the spotlight as one of the stars of The Blair Witch Project. After a bit of a wayward youth (getting in trouble for having alcohol and Playboys at school, time spent in a boys home and legal emancipation) followed by a bit of a wayward next-phase-in-life (culminating in heroin addiction), Leonard was only a few months into sobriety when the indie movie he'd made in two weeks became the Next Big Thing. In the years since, he's done time on many a TV series (including Hung and The United States of Tara) before 2009's Humpday put him back in the indie spotlight. Also a successful director, Leonard has done both music videos (Morcheeba, Fitz and the Tantrums) as well as feature films (2011's The Lie). He's also maintained not only his sobriety but also his humility, which wasn't so easy in the beginning (stick around for the white limo story, which comes hear the end). Here he and AfterPartyChat's Anna David talk about how as kid, he used to try to work through recess to avoid getting his ass kicked, the letter he wrote that helped his brother get sober and whether crying out of gratitude is "girly" or not.

Author Carrie White has lived many lives. The first female hairdresser to the stars, White tended to the tresses of everyone from Ann Margaret and Elvis to Sharon Tate and Elizabeth Taylor. And she did it all on rollerskates (it was the 70s, people). But her high-flying life—which included three husbands and five children—was masking a crippling drug addiction which eventually left her curled up in the fetal position outside her dealer's door. Now sober for multiple decades, White built her hairdressing business back up and published a best-selling memoir, Upper Cut, about the entire thing. Here she talks to AfterPartyChat's Anna David about bottoming out, coming back, and how getting sober but continuing to smoke is like switching seats on the Titanic.