Karamo & His Son Share Their Story Of Addiction | KARAMO

It takes a lot of courage to admit when there's a problem and to sit down on my couch and talk about it. And anything I expect from my guests, I also expect from myself. So today I'm gonna be very vulnerable with you all, with you, and talk about something that is close to my heart, which is addiction. So let me tell you what happened. Almost 2 years ago, I found my son Jason, he's my oldest son, I'm about to get crying right now. I found my oldest son Jason lying on the floor, dying from a drug overdose. And it's something that I've never talked about publicly. And I don't know why this emotional reaction is happening. I guess it's because I'm opening up and sharing about with you all right now. So I gotta get myself together, girl. Oh my gosh. Oh, sorry. Oh, I think that's the first time I ever Karamo'd myself, OK? I just made myself cry. But no, in all sincerity, it was a very, very hard day for me. My son— this is at the beginning of the pandemic. My son was basically a great kid, grew up sweet. I have two sons and one of my sons I've had challenges with, but Jason was always the one that I was like, oh, everything's fine, he's great, he's good in school, he's sweet, he's awesome. And during the pandemic, I noticed that there was a little bit of isolation. I knew that he was kind of, but I was like, this is what we're all doing. We're all kind of in our own minds, we're all trying to figure out. And even though I'm reaching out, I still figured, you know what? Everything's all right. And then I started noticing some dramatic things happening, like he wasn't picking up my calls, which is very rare because Jason and I are super close. And so then he stopped paying some bills and I was like, uh-uh, we're not doing this in this black household, okay? You're not paying no bills, what's going on? I started getting calls, you know? And so I was just kind of figuring like, maybe it's just the pandemic, maybe it's just, the fact that he's young, he was 23 at the time. Maybe this is a moment where he's trying to grow and figure out himself. But then it started to get worse and worse. And so his mama lives in Texas, y'all. And I was like, listen, you going to your mama house because I can't deal with this. I'm done. You 23. I don't have any time for this. And I'm a strict dad. I'm gonna be real with y'all. But I kept buying him flights and Jason kept missing the flights. So I gave him the final straw of like, you have to be on this flight tomorrow morning, 7:00 AM. Go spend some time with your mother, be with her, get yourself together, and then we'll come back and figure this out. And I've had custody of my son since he was 10. So it's always just been he and I. It's not as if he's always gone back with his mom. It's just been he and I. That morning at 6:30, the car service is calling me, calling my best friend Trey, saying there's no one out here. No one's here. 7 o'clock comes, we're calling, no one's here. And so I'm gonna be real with y'all. I call my best friend and I'm sitting on the couch and I'm putting on my shoes and I'm like, "Girl, I'm about to go over there and whoop this boy." I'm like, "Nuh-uh, you done did it again. Like, he done wasted my money." I'm talking about I was upset, y'all. And got in the car ready to go over there to have a confrontation with my son. When I got to the apartment, I went up the stairs and the door was ajar. And I thought something was going on. I thought maybe he had gotten robbed, we had gotten robbed, or something was happening. I opened the door and it was a complete mess. The house was, the house was dirty. And I saw my son laying on the floor in cat litter, foam coming out of his mouth. And I sprung into, I'm sorry, y'all. This is, I don't know if you've ever experienced addiction in your own lives or with family members, but when you find out what's going on, when you realize it's been happening and you didn't realize it, When you realize that you might lose someone, it just kills you inside. And I was terrified that I was about to lose my son. And I, I sprang into dad mode and tried to figure out how to get him help, tried to figure out what to do. And the crazy part is I didn't take him to the hospital immediately because I didn't know what to do. I was in shock. I say this and I'm vulnerable with you all in this way because I'm trained in this. I give this advice all day. And when it came to my own life, my own moment, I didn't know what to do. I didn't know what to do. And I say that for anybody else who's out there going through this stuff, don't beat yourself up because none of us know how to handle this type of stuff. But I got him to a doctor. I got a doctor immediately to the house. And basically he woke up 2 days later unaware of what was going on. And I told him he had to go to rehab. And it was a hard moment. But we made it through. And I would love for you all to meet my son Jason, who has now been 2 years sober. Prince, come on out.

Hey, Daddy's baby. Oh my gosh. Well, way to make me cry.

Did I have you crying back then?

Yeah, you did. Way to make me do it, though.

Oh my gosh. God. So something y'all gonna find out is Jason and I sound exactly alike.

Yeah, all the time. We get that all the time.

All the time. Yeah.

Yeah.

It's kind of weird. Y'all hear it? Y'all hear it a little bit? Okay, so Jason, I just wanna know from you, what do you remember about that day? 'Cause you just, I mean, we've talked about this, but I don't, you know, we never talked about this openly in public.

No, yeah.

What do you remember?

I truly don't remember much. I kind of don't remember that whole week.

Yeah.

In general, so.

Yeah. What was the last memory you have?

Mixing pills and drinking the night before at some random bar.

Got it, got it, got it. So I, again, thought that I could be aware of all this science. Like, I have clients that come into my office and I'd be like, oh, there's something going on. I can see it. I did not know you were using— when did you start?

So it all started like right after, like right after in college.

Not to laugh. Yeah, no, because you had a good memory. That college?

No, no, because the story is funny. It actually pertains to you. Okay. Dad, you gave me your car that night to go out to a party.

Yes.

And you told me that car needs to be back here or that is my ass. But I got way too wasted and I could not drive. I was not about to drive your car at the time. And so someone came up to me and was like, try this. It was cocaine. This will help you out. This will sober you up. This will, I promise you, it will do the trick. Yeah. It did the trick. And I remember driving home and like physically feeling like, oh, I need more.

And that was your first time trying stuff?

That was my first time trying it. Yeah.

So I always wonder why in that moment, because we have a pretty open relationship. I always try to foster a relationship in our household where we can talk. Yeah. Like one of the things I'll tell y'all parenting style, I don't believe in punishing a child if they're honest with you. That's true. Because I believe it fosters an atmosphere of like, Well, if you're honest then, and I get punished, well, I might as well just lie. So I would always be like, if you're honest, you tell me the truth, you're not in trouble. We'll just have a conversation. We'll learn from it.

We'll grow. We'll talk.

So why in that moment did you feel like you could talk to me? Why didn't you moment, you think you could call me and say, "Hey dad, I got messed up. I know." You know?

[Speaker] I don't know. I just was, like I said, I wasn't thinking straight. I was super drunk, dad. Like, and I'm not about to tell you I got your car out here with these kids and I'm just wilding out. Like that's not a thing I'm about to do.

So I remember you telling me that you were relieved that you got caught.

Yes, I was actually so relieved that whenever you caught me, yes.

When I found him.

When you found me.

Yeah.

I don't know, I was truly tired of the way I was living and at some point I was feeling that I was just tired of living. Yeah.

Oh my baby, that breaks my heart to hear. Sorry, Dad. This is too much for me. Oh my gosh, okay.

But yeah, it was almost like a cry.

But what was it that was getting to you that made you feel like you just didn't want to live anymore?

I was super depressed. I was not talking to you, Mom, family at all. I just lost all type of connection with anybody and anything that I ever once loved, Except for drugs. That was the only thing I was obsessing with.

Yeah. So one of the things that I beat myself up a lot, and I said this to you early, and I kind of said, don't feel guilty if you feel this at home. Don't feel guilty if you have a family member and you didn't know. But one of the things is like I always said to myself, how did I miss the signs? How did I miss the signs? Like, this is my baby. We talk every day. I don't get how I missed this. Why do you think I missed the signs?

Honestly, it was up to me. I came up to you every day, anytime I would see you or anytime I would call you. And I would present myself in the best light. Hey dad, ain't nothing wrong going over here. Like truly was just making sure that you had no idea what was going on. I was on my P's and Q's with that.

Yeah, I think as human beings we're prone to putting people in our families in boxes, in categories. And so like this is the strong sister, this is the crazy brother, this is the one who can handle it all. This one you know who's gonna fall apart. And since I had two sons, And I said, "Oh, this is the one that, he's always fine." I literally put him in a box instead of allowing him to be a human being. And I say that to you all, is use that as a reference to say, of course, anyone who's addicted to drugs, it's their own life and their own choices. But we have to also all reflect on what are we doing? How are we looking at our actions to say, "I'm not letting you just be holistic. I'm not letting you be your authentic self. I'm letting you, you're only the strong one. You're only the, you're only the smart one, and therefore you couldn't have any other problems. When it's like, no, you're a human being that could have all these problems and I should be checking on you even if I think it's something that you would never do.

And at the time I would try to like blame it on like, you know, you had just started Queer Eye, you just started all these things within your career. And I was like, I don't want to be a burden and like tell dad I'm going through this stuff.

You would never be a burden to me, baby.

I know.

But I think what you just said is an important lesson for people is that if you're addicted to drugs, if you're going through something, you're not a burden. There are people that wanna help you. And even if you have relapsed once, twice, 3 times, people want to help.

Exactly.

So I know this, but how has your life changed since rehab?

My life has been way better actually.

Yeah?

I didn't like rehab.

You on the Karamo Show, dude.

Yeah, I'm doing really good.

You on the Karamo Show.

Really good actually.

I'm joking, I'm joking, I'm joking, I'm joking, I'm joking.

No, it changed drastically and for the better, for the best ways. At first I was very shameful of rehab and going through that process, but I realized that I needed it and it taught me a lot about myself and how to love myself and how to just really just show up for myself in different ways I never knew how to. I feel so good.

I'm proud of you, Prince. Thank you. You've been doing it. I just watch you ascending. But one thing as you're ascending, I have learned is I still check in on you. And it's not just now about drugs, but it's also about everything. All the things that I think he should just, I already assume that he can handle, I check in on all that now. I mean, he still get on my nerves sometimes. This morning, if y'all saw us backstage, he didn't have the right outfit. I was like, why you ain't got the outfit? I'm still strict dad. But I'm also still being, I'm being aware now. And I think that's the biggest lesson that you going to rehab taught me. Is to be aware, to ask your kids, ask those you love everything about them. Be curious about their lives in every way possible because that curiosity I think is connecting us deeper, making us closer, but also it's keeping us both safe. So you're here, you have made it through. Amen. What is it that you would like the world to know?

Truly, I would like the world just to know that if you're going through something, please reach out. A drug addiction can show up in minor forms or in a major form. And before it gets too late for you or too detrimental, just please reach out to somebody.

What do you wanna say to your peers as well? Because I think that, you know, I guess it's every generation, but I notice now like people like to say things like, oh, I'm just California, I'm high. Or, you know, or I just—

That's a term for real though. That is like, yeah.

Or people just be like, oh, well, you know, I can still get to work on time or whatever the case is. And I think sometimes this generation has sort of this idea that addiction is not real because they're still functioning. Yes. And so like there's people that are functioning addicts.

Yes, yes.

They like think like, oh, just because I still can get around, I'm still doing it, no one's messing up, that it's like—

Based on your story that you just told, which I don't know at all, I was not a functioning addict.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. So what would you say to any of their generation that still feels like, oh, you know what? I'll just, I can just do what I wanna do.

I mean, it's gonna catch up to you. I promise you, drugs are gonna catch up to you. It's gonna show in the worst ways. And I mean, honestly, just put it down. It's just whack, low key, this is whack.

I'm just gonna be real with you.

Put down the drugs, it's whack.

Oh, you got me crying on here. This is the first time on my own. Listen.

Backstage, they have to give me so many tissues.

Come on now. Hold on, where you going? I'll tell you where you're going. Right here to subscribe and right here to watch more.

Period.