Total pages in book: 90
Estimated words: 91840 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 459(@200wpm)___ 367(@250wpm)___ 306(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 91840 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 459(@200wpm)___ 367(@250wpm)___ 306(@300wpm)
I called him Don Corleone. I had to give him a cool name, right? But Speedy said it was too much of a mouthful to say every time. And she said Don sounded like an old man’s name, so she nicknamed him Donnie, and it stuck.
Gucci loves her baby brother.
Probably about as much as I love mine. Tate’s doing really well. When his residency finished, Presbyterian offered him a permanent job, which he took, even though I offered him money to set up his own private practice. I still offer the money on a regular basis, and he knocks me back every time.
Stubborn asshole.
But, one of these days, he’ll say yes. I’m sure of it.
Tate is also heavily involved with the charity that he, Speedy, and I set up.
I came up with the idea for it a couple of days after I did the live video.
It went viral. My story was in every newspaper, and the video was playing on every chat show for weeks after. I received thousands of letters and emails of support. And almost every celebrity came out to support me. A lot of the messages I received were from people whose parents had gone to prison, and they had been left either in the foster system or with relatives. I heard stories that were very similar to Tate’s and mine. Kids who’d ended up on the streets. People who had turned to prostitution to feed themselves and their siblings. People who’d had it worse than I had. And I knew I had to do something to help.
So, I came up with the idea of Healing the Breaks.
It’s a nonprofit charity designed to help kids and young adults whose parents have gone to prison. Whether it’s making sure they have somewhere to live or if they need counseling or support or even money to help get them started, we provide that for them.
Speedy does the day-to-day running of Healing the Breaks. She was running that and still working at the theater where she had gotten the job, but as the charity expanded, she decided she wanted to dedicate all of her time to that. Tate and I do most of the fundraising along with Vaughn, Charly, and Julian, who are heavily involved with the charity, too.
I’m still making movies.
I did the espionage thriller that I’d signed on to do before I met Speedy. I had half-expected the studio to pull me from the role. But, with the positive response I’d gotten from the fans and media after the video, I guess they would have looked bad if they’d pulled me.
Also, five days after I did the live video, I went to a rehab center and stayed there for thirty days.
It was one of the hardest things I’d ever had to do.
The first seven days, going through withdrawal, were fucking horrific. And being away from Speedy made it even harder.
But I did it.
And, when I came out, I got myself a therapist to continue on with the counseling I’d received in rehab, and I joined AA, where they assigned me a sponsor.
I’m now one year and ten months clean.
Do I still want to drink?
Every fucking day.
But I fight the urge.
Because I have too much good in my life now to ever go back to using alcohol to make me feel better.
After rehab, I went home and spent a few days with Speedy, and then I went straight into filming the movie. When it was done, I didn’t sign on for any others even though the offers were rolling in, and Gil wanted me to take them up.
Also, I had the issue of Bradford Digby and Sandy White to deal with. While I was in rehab, Martin was able to track down where the bugs had been purchased from and who had made the purchase. Seems Sandy had been stupid enough to pay for them with her credit card. And, with the fact that she’d had access to my apartment, it was enough to contact the police. But, after speaking to the police, they said that it would be hard to make a charge stick, as all they could really potentially charge her with was spying. They advised us to go the civil route and sue her with invasion of privacy. So, my lawyers slapped her and Digby with a lawsuit.
Surprisingly, Digby settled out of court—for both him and Sandy. It shocked the fuck out of me when the offer came through. I’d like to think he grew a conscience, but I highly doubt it. The bastard just didn’t want to have the negative publicity, especially after all the support I had been receiving.
Part of the deal with Digby was that he would hand over all the recordings made in my apartment, and he would erase any copies he had.