General Hospital star Maurice Benard (Sonny Corinthos on the ABC show) is becoming increasingly recognized for his work with mental health. This week, he hosted Richard Taite on his State of Mind podcast. The two powerful influencers brought a lot to the table. Read on to find out more.
Taite & Maurice
If you don’t know, Richard Taite is well-known for his expertise in addiction recovery. Also a long-time advocate for mental health, like Maurice Benard, he reaches out to the homeless. On his podcast, Maurice reminded folks that Taite founded two treatment centers: Cliffside Malibu and later, the Carrara Treatment Wellness & Spa.
After introducing the fact that he didn’t graduate from college, the real-life Sonny Corinthos was assured by Taite that it didn’t matter to him. He greeted the podcast host kindly, saying, “Don’t worry, I’m completely unscarred by my education.” However, the conversation soon moved on to more serious topics.
A Tough Childhood
Taite does a lot of work with Fentanyl addicts, and he talked about how he was introduced to drugs. As a kid, he had a difficult time as his dad seemed to be strict and, unlike today, he received beatings. Maurice could relate to that and said that his own dad “had a lot of rage.”
Anyway, one day, Taite told Benard how he used “pot” to help him feel better. He said:
I grabbed some pot from my dad’s drawer and I took it to my buddy Chris and we smoked on the side of his house and I wasn’t angry anymore. I didn’t feel less than. I didn’t feel like, you know, the most unpopular kid, right?
Progressive Addiction
Taite also described to Maurice how he became popular at school, especially in sports. He and his friends ended up doing a lot of drugs. He said, “…we’re all drug addicts, right? And I ended up losing uh, 25 years to drug addiction.”
Later, he progressed to smoking “an ounce of cocaine every single day.” Eventually, he ended up with “cracked teeth” and claimed he “was a mess.” Then he spoke about the progression of addiction, explaining, “Once you start smoking cocaine, you’re a specialist. You don’t really want anything else.”
But he did, and frequently started using any opiate he could get his hands on, like “Xanax, Klonopin, [and] Vicodin.” Later, Maurice Benard asked Richard Taite how he broke the addiction cycle. He explained that he joined AA. Plus, Taite said that it wasn’t an easy road.
Therapy And Behavior Change
Taite said to the GH star, “I started going to therapy and I hooked up with this woman…Margie Fetting, and she took me through something called the trans-theoretical model of behavior change.” Later, he asked a friend for a “thousand bucks to go to sober living.” He finally got there, but it didn’t work for him the first time. In fact, he went back “five or six times.”
As he explained, “…with the AA, Margie, and with the sober living…It took me a while.”
These days, probably because he struggled so badly with addiction, the influencer can reach out and help so many other people.
Can you relate to what he said to Maurice Benard? Do you like that even though it took a long time, there was a way back from addiction for Taite? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below, and remember to come back here often for all your General Hospital cast news and updates.
