“I’m convinced that the only people worth knowing are those who’ve had at least one dark night of the soul.”-Kristen Johnston-Guts
Many of you probably best know actress and funny lady, Kristen Johnston, from the long-running sitcom 3rd Rock from the Sun for which she won two Emmy awards. She had a stint on the TV show Mom and did countless plays. Johnston also had a memorable turn on Sex and the City where she played faded party girl Lexi Featherston who falls to her death from a window after declaring, “God, I’m so bored, I could die!” and did just that. Splat! She’s also been in quite a few movies, including the charming yet criminally underrated Music and Lyrics, and the recently released Small Town Wisconsin, which I saw this past spring at its movie theater premier here in Milwaukee. Bragging rights-I sat several rows behind her. Jealous?
Like me, Ms. Johnston is a Gen X-er, a Cheesehead, and a recovering Catholic. I like those qualities in a person. She’s also gone through some seriously bad shit, and she describes all of the grizzly details in her book Guts: The Endless Follies and Tiny Triumphs of a Giant Disaster.
Johnston was in London doing a play, when she suffered a horrible medical catastrophe. Her intestines exploded and expelled into her stomach. She ended up in the hospital where she had to endure a very difficult recovery and come to terms with her addiction to both alcohol and pills. It was her addiction that brutalized her both physically and mentally. While hospitalized, Johnston had to face facts. She was completely fucked up. Her addiction nearly killed her.
Nobody wants to be an addict, and Johnston was no different. But a simple drink turned into far too many. And taking a pill turned into a severe compulsion. Johnston even stole medication from her mother.
Johnston’s stay at the hospital was hardly a trip to a spa. Her description of her stay is horrifying. It was a wonder how she survived. Yet, at the same time, Johnston’s tale of her hospitalization and road to recovery is quite funny. And this is where Johnston’s oddball humor shines. Her take on one particular exasperated nurse had me in stitches.
Post her time in the hospital was also a struggle for Johnston as she travelled the tricky path to recovery and getting off alcohol and pills. These passages are also written candidly and with humor.
Johnston also covers her childhood in Guts, which wasn’t easy. She shot up to nearly 6 feet tall before she was in high school, and was tormented by her peers who called her a freak. Fortunately, she found herself in the world of performing and comedy, and ended up studying at NYU’s prestigious Tisch School of the Arts. She found success as an actor soon after graduation, but was still gripped with the idea that she wasn’t enough.
One thing Johnston discusses in Guts was her inability to ask for help. It is so ingrained in many of us that asking for help in a sign of weakness. Help. The other four-letter word. Perhaps many of Johnston’s (and our) difficulties could have been alleviated if she had reached out and asked for help much sooner.
While reading Guts I found myself at turns, teary-eyed, laughing, gasping in horror, and being so damn proud of Kristen for overcoming her addictions I could totally plotz. And in one segment where she gets back at one of high school bullies years after graduation, I couldn’t help but smile. Hey, sometimes not being the better person feels pretty good.
As stated above, Johnston thinks the only people worth knowing are those who have had one dark night of the soul. I totally agree. It’s good to know you, Kristen.
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