Jacob Young is a soap veteran on all accounts, with past roles that include JR Chandler on All My Children (AMC), Lucky Spencer on General Hospital (GH), and Rick Forrester on The Bold and the Beautiful (B&B).

The actor recently appeared on the “Imperfectly Perfect” podcast, where he talked about trauma endured as a child, as well as a seven-year addiction to opioids, which he hid from everyone.

Jacob Young’s Childhood Trauma

Young grew up in a divorced family, spending his time between his mom’s and dad’s homes. He talked about growing up poor and even stated there were times when his family was “literally starving.”

With that said, when his dad remarried, his stepmom became like a second mother. Sadly, when the actor was 16, she took her own life. This caused Young to spiral a little and realize how things can change dramatically in life, within mere moments.

Two years after this, Young snagged his Bold role, scoring his first Daytime Emmy nomination shortly after. At that point, Young was only using recreational marijuana, which he notes was a way to “cope” with things when he was younger.

After leaving B&B, Young joined GH as Lucky, and then he moved to AMC in 2003. Filming took place in NYC, which is where he began dabbling in alcohol.

Young states, “I wasn’t even interested in alcohol until I got into my later mid-20s. But as I got older and I was living in New York City … I was working on All My Children at the time, and you know, you have everything within three square blocks for the most part, right?”

He added, “… it became very easy because I wasn’t driving, right? I was always taking a taxi or public transportation, and so [I] started getting into really drinking a lot more excessively.”

Young’s Coping Mechanisms

The actor then talks about how he leaned on alcohol to cope. He states, “I don’t think I realized the trauma that I had been through.”

He added, “I was drinking a beer or two, or three, four [and] that started becoming a habit to help ease the anxiety, all untreated from earlier years of my life. So I started leaning heavily on alcohol.”

Drugs would later enter his orbit. He began using cocaine and Molly in his mid-20s. As Young notes, he was single, making good money in NYC, and wanted to “party”.

He states that, “I was dealing with resentment, depression, and old wounds that were still bleeding inside of me. And those [the drugs] seemed to just knock all that out.”

Settling Down Brings On A Secret

When Young met his future wife, Christen Steward, he left the party life, as well as marijuana and cocaine, when the two moved away from New York and bought a house together.

The two would get married and welcome three children: a son and two daughters. After some dental surgery, the actor received a Vicodin prescription that would end up flipping his world upside down.

Young states during the podcast that, “This is something I’ve never been completely open about. I started getting hooked on opioids, and I went through seven years of my life wasted on opioids.”

Young talks about needing to feel numb, just to feel normal. That said, during that time, he always showed up to work and filmed scenes, and it never affected his work.

Still, he did confess that he was living a lie, though, as no one knew about the opioid addiction, not even his wife. One day, he finally broke down and told his spouse the truth and admitted he needed help.

After that, Young went to counseling to understand the root of his problem. He then slowly worked his way out of his addiction. Currently, Young is committed to staying sober and sharing his story to help others.