Karamo's Son's Emotional Journey with Addiction | Karamo Reacts | KARAMO

I'm a blubbering mess on this episode. You don't even have to play this episode, I know what it is. Like— So y'all know, for me, if I'm going to ask you all, my guests, people who support my show, any of you to do something, to be vulnerable, I gotta do the same. Because I think that's how you know that I'm real, that's how I know that we're connecting. And so, You know, we had never talked about this story ever, but I knew it was important for us to do it. And the minute that my son said he wanted to talk about it, I did it. And so as you can see, I'm an emotional wreck. I'm an emotional wreck. Whew, I gotta get myself together, girl. Oh my gosh. Oh, sorry.

Oh!

The audience is so supportive. They're always like, "You got this!" That's so sweet. I love all of them. It's like the encouragement I give, they always give back to me. 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. Oh my gosh, look at us. We were so young. Listen, one of the things, the biggest lesson of this whole thing for me that I ever learned is you can't put your kids in boxes. We put people in these boxes and say this person is this way, this person that way, this is the sister that's that way, this is this aunt that's that way, and then you just limit us as human beings. And we don't realize someone's full human experience. And that's when we start missing stuff. And especially when it comes to kids, you miss things when you just label your child one way. So if you label them the troublemaker, you're not seeing all the good things they do. If you label them the good one, you're not seeing the moments where they could have struggles. You gotta be able to see your children as their whole selves. Maybe it's just the fact that he's young. You know, he was 23 at the time. You know what I love about this is Jason has the courage. For me, it's always been about breaking the own generational trauma in our family. And we've done that in other areas. And so drug addiction was something that I suffered with. You know, it's something that I thought like he would never suffer with. And to find out like, you know, that he was suffering with it was really hard. 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. Ooh, I'm just crying, crying, crying, crying. When it's your own baby, it hurts your heart. My own baby. 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. And 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. So I call my son Prince. I've called him Prince since the day I met him. Oh my gosh. And sometimes when I'll leave him voice messages, I'll be like, Prince of Zamunda, this is your father calling. That's a Coming to America reference if you didn't know.

Oh my gosh.

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? OK, so Jason, I just want to know from you— It is kind of odd that my son and I sound exactly alike. I'm always like, you should go get a job in voiceovers because I get paid for my voice. So I don't know why you over here sleeping on some coins. You sound just like your father. So you literally can go back to the same place that I got my money and be like, hey, you need somebody else who sounds like that guy? Because I can do it. But that's just the hustler in me. So I again thought that I could be aware of all this science. 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 the laugh.

Yeah, no. Because.

Girl, you had a good memory. I'm like, how'd you find? You talking about, haha, that college day.

No, no, because the story.

So Jason came to me and said that he wanted to be on the show to finally talk about it because His story, Jason's journey of sobriety was his own story. And I think it's important that we respect people when they're on their journey. I think sometimes we feel like it's, we gotta tell everybody. Like if somebody's going through something, it's like, tell everybody, phone line, call, call, call, call, call. But that doesn't always support the person. You have to be able to have the person be able to say, this is how I wanna share my story. This is how I wanna heal. And so I asked him like, how do you wanna share this? Do you wanna share this with all family members, some family members? As you're getting help, what can I do? And so once he finally said, I'm ready to share 2 years later, I said, I'm here to support you. And so he was the one who wanted to share on the show because I was respecting his journey. Like one of the things I'll tell you, 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 honestly 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 think you could call me and say, hey, Dad, I got messed up. I know. You know?

I don't know. I just was, like I said, I wasn't thinking straight. I was super drunk, Dad. 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.

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

Yes, I was actually so relieved at it.

So prior to us coming on the show, Jason and I didn't have any conversation about what we were going to talk about here. We had had these conversations, you know, like in the house, you know, but we didn't really talk about what we were because we just said we're going to have a real conversation. That's why you see all the emotions pouring out of me because it's just real. But what was it that was getting to you that made you feel like you just 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— Oh, Jason, I'm so sorry I gave you my chubby face. You got them chubby cheeks because that's me. Ah, but you also got them good eyebrows from your daddy too. Hit him with the eyebrow, Jason. He got his mama's eyes. If y'all ever saw me and Jason's mother, you would see that he is a direct splitting image of the two of us. 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 too. I've been rehabbing on the Karamo show really good actually. I'm joking, I'm joking, I'm joking.

No, it changed drastically and 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. 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. Yes. 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 chicken 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. By the way, just in case if any of y'all are wondering, Jason is doing phenomenal. He is now going on year 3 of being fully sober, which is great. And the communication has gotten so much better. And part of that communication— our communication was already good, but it's gotten even better because now I don't put Jason in boxes anymore. Like, I allow Jason to be— exactly who he is and not to say, "Oh look, he's sober now and he's great." Because I'm like, "Yeah, you're great and I'm gonna encourage that, but I'm also aware that things could happen. You could slip." So I'm aware now. It allows our conversation to be great.

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.

I just love how he's just helping other people as well with his story. And I appreciate that because he learned that from me. I'm always about being transparent about my story so that it can help others. And it also helps me to continue to grow. And he's doing the same. Proud of that boy.

I love, love that kid.

So what would you say to any of their generation that still feels like, oh, you know what? 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 had to give me so many tissues.

Come on now. Prince, in case you're watching this, which I know you are because you watch everything. I just want to let you know I am proud of you. I see your growth and I see what you're doing, and I just look forward to continue to watching you soar. Because as I've told you since you were a child, way before, you are the best of me and your mother. You truly are. You are the best of us, and, and that makes you even greater than even you know yet. Because once you continue to tap in, sky is not the limit, it's just the beginning. Love you, Prince. Hold up, hold up, where are you going? I know you want to watch more Karamo, so click here to subscribe and click here to watch more so we can keep talking and growing, friends. I love you.