EXCLUSIVE: Steve-O's Horrific HIV Scare Tale Resurfaces as 'Jackass' Wildman Launches 'Crash and Burn' Tour and Approaches 17 Years of Sobriety
Steve-O's darkest chapter in his addiction nightmare has surfaced once again before his tour kicks off.
Jan. 16 2026, Published 7:28 p.m. ET
Steve-O's darkest chapter in his addiction nightmare has surfaced once again as he launches a new stand-up tour and nears 17 years of sobriety, RadarOnline.com can reveal.
Born Stephen Glover, the 51-year-old American star rose to global notoriety through MTV's Jackass, where his willingness to endure pain and humiliation made him a cult figure in the early 2000s.
HIV Scare From Hell Exposes Rock Bottom Addiction
Steve-O is revisiting his darkest addiction memories as he launches a new tour.
Behind the scenes, however, Steve-O's escalating drug use left him physically and psychologically broken.
In a 2019 interview on In Depth with Graham Bensinger, he detailed a moment he has since described as the absolute low point of his addiction.
"I'm in his house, and over at the table where he would weigh out all of his drugs, there was a very noticeable residue of cocaine," Steve-O said about visiting his HIV-positive drug dealer's home to score coke.
He added: "And so I went over to the table to scrape up a pile of cocaine to snort it. But as I had sat down looking at it … you could see, like, the little tiny little blood splatter on the residue."
He continued: "This is how just desperate and pathetic my addiction was that I sat there knowingly scraping up this tainted, like, blood cocaine. I sat there and snorted it, which is so f----- up. I snorted the blood of an intravenous drug user."
Steve-O said the incident later formed part of a wider reflection on how horrendously low the depths of his addiction had reached.
'Jackass' Injuries Spark Cancer Fears
He credits Johnny Knoxville with saving his life.
He also addressed fears around repeated injuries to his groin sustained during Jackass stunts.
"I heard that getting kicked in the b---- a lot, like a lot of trauma to your testicles, increases your chances for testicular cancer," he said.
"Once I heard that, I decided to be like, it's gotta be like a really special occasion if I'm gonna take a nut shot."
Steve-O described scraping and snorting tainted cocaine at his lowest point.
Fans have been resharing his nightmarish tales from his addiction years as Steve-O embarks on his new live comedy run, titled Crash and Burn, which is scheduled to tour across North America and Europe through 2026.
The show is said to blend stand-up, storytelling and reflections on addiction, recovery and survival, drawing heavily on the experiences that nearly killed him.
Seventeen Years Sober After Psych Ward Intervention
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Steve-O now turns his recovery story into stand-up material.
Steve-O has been sober since March 9, 2008, after friends intervened and had him committed to a psychiatric ward.
He has repeatedly credited Jackass co-creator Johnny Knoxville, 54, with saving his life.
Marking a decade of sobriety in 2018, he wrote online: "Hard to believe it's been an entire decade since I've had a drink or a drug. I just can't put into words how grateful I am for @realjknoxville and the rest of the guys who locked me up in a psychiatric ward on March 9, 2008, where this journey began. Thank you, dudes, I love you."
Now approaching 17 years clean, Steve-O continues to frame his recovery as ongoing work rather than a finished victory, even as he turns his most extreme memories into material on stage.
Steve-O began using drugs and alcohol as a teenager, and his substance use was intertwined with his daredevil stunts and attention-seeking behavior.
He has spoken about growing up feeling "defective" and using drugs to mask discomfort.
His addiction worsened significantly during the peak of his Jackass and Wildboyz fame, involving a wide array of drugs, including cocaine, ketamine, PCP, nitrous oxide and marijuana.
The death of his mother in 2003 was particularly traumatizing and contributed to his downward spiral.
A notable low point included a 2008 email to friends hinting at suicide, which prompted his friends, including Johnny Knoxville, to stage an intervention.
