Being Charlie: Addiction and Homelessness

Hollywood often paints inaccurate pictures of addiction, usually the result of writers who themselves have never struggled with the disease. While it is good that such movies spark conversations about addiction, helping break the stigma of the insidious illness, it is always nice to see films that were written by those who walked the lonely road.

Every adult in America has probably seen a Rob Reiner film, such as WHEN HARRY MET SALLY… You may even know something about the acclaimed director's life. You may not know that Reiner’s son Nick began his battle with addiction in his early teens, according to People. Nick Reiner was sent to his first addiction treatment center when he was about 15 years of age. The center would be the first of 17 such facilities that he would check into, and he is only 22 years old.

Nick’s story is like so many others who began using drugs and alcohol at a young age. He bounced in and out of treatment centers, found recovery and relapse - eventually winding up homeless living on the streets. Now sober, he decided to write a film that resembles his own experiences, according to the article.

Being Charlie, directed by Rob Reiner, is the story of the son of a famous former actor who is running for governor. Along the way, Charlie who is trying to find recovery, refuses to go back to rehab and finds himself homeless. "It's not my life," says Nick Reiner but he adds "I went to a lot of these places, so I had a lot of these stories."

"I was homeless in Maine. I was homeless in New Jersey. I was homeless in Texas," says Nick. "I spent nights on the street. I spent weeks on the street. It was not fun." 

Please take a moment to watch the trailer below:




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