Artie Lange got his deformed nose thanks to drugs — and getting kidnapped 11 months ago
Artie Lange is very aware his nose looks different. The troubled comedian got real about his physical appearance on the Are We Still Talking About This? podcast, and while it should not come as a surprise that years of drug abuse played a role in deforming his nose, a kidnapping incident last year put it over the top.
“I still gamble a lot,” he explained. “My worst vice for a long time was gambling because it led to everything else. I’m the kind of guy … it just escalates.”
“The reason I have this nose is, of course, the abuse. I have no septum,” he continued. “I also owed a bookie $62,000 … and a kid who worked for the bookie … he was collecting, and he thought I was a billionaire because he saw me on TV, and he kidnapped me. I was going to my truck, he knocked me out with one punch. … Knocked me out for like 10 minutes. I woke up in his van.”
Lange apparently told the 19-year-old kid, who wanted $100,000, that he should think twice about what he was doing. “‘You’re just a kid, like, this was a dumb plan,'” Lange recalled. “I actually felt bad for him, and he got kind of scared and he left. He left me in his van.”
The kidnapping apparently happened 11 months ago.
“It destroyed my nose,” he added. “The septum from the abuse from the years of drugs, and this hit broke it. I’ve had two operations — it’s just in bad shape.”
The 51-year-old Howard Stern Show alum has battled drug addiction for decades, with his legal troubles playing out in public. On Dec. 14, Lange revealed he would enter rehab after testing positive for multiple drugs, including cocaine, while serving four years of probation for heroin possession.
After court, Lange tweeted that while he used cocaine 10 days ago, it had been 41 since he used heroin. “That’s a prison that for now I’m out of. It’s also the reason I’m not in jail,” he shared, adding he would be applying “for a very strict rehab type program called Drug Court.”
That’s a prison that for now I’m out of. It’s also the reason I’m not in jail. The judge and Prosecutor were unbelievably compassionate. I’m not high. So I see it clearly now. They wanna save my life. 10 days ago when I left rehab I had to touch the flame. I used Cocaine…
— Artie Lange (@artiequitter) December 14, 2018
I have work to do. I feel now I can also stop Cocaine. But that’s arrogance and addiction. I’m accepting help. If I fail now I will go to jail. Jail is not for addicts. But I’d be giving them no choice. When I use illegal drugs I have to score them. That’s breaking the law-
— Artie Lange (@artiequitter) December 14, 2018
Lange, who appears in HBO’s Crashing, is currently promoting his “Live to Tell” comedy tour.
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