Aames Struggles Back After Suicide Attempt
Jan. 7 2009, Published 5:31 a.m. ET
Actor Willie Aames is now 48, and life hasn't been easy for the one-time Eight is Enough star.
He tells Star Magazine that he fell apart when his wife of 22 years, Maylo Upton, petitioned for a divorce. Swapping their Kansas home to a place in Los Angeles, he says, "I stole a bottle of Jack Daniel's from the guy I was renting the room from. I'd been sober for 20 years when I took that first drink. I was also taking antidepressants and anti-anxiety pills. It got so bad, I put a knife to my throat and cut myself in six places. The police came, put me in handcuffs and whisked me away. I was completely devastated... I kept asking, 'What did I do wrong?'"
Well, for starters, a month before he'd declared bankruptcy and his car had been repossessed. He hadn't worked since appearing on the VH1 reality show Celebrity Fit Club and he simply hit bottom.
He's on the way back now, with help from the USC psychiatric ward, and is working hard to build a new life for himself.