Wes Bentley became an overnight sensation when he starred in the Oscar-winning film American Beauty in 1999. The 33-year-old actor – who is father to son Charles with wife Jacqui Swedberg – was recently featured in Details magazine’s latest issue and dishes on his sobriety from drug abuse, fatherhood and a newly embraced healthy lifestyle.
On his moment of clarity of when to get clean: “When I met my wife. I saw then what I have now. I saw life. We met through a mutual friend, and all of us went to an Iron Maiden concert, which is sooo romantic. Eddie the Head [the band's mascot] just brings people together. It still took me a while to get sober after that, but the switch had happened. We were long-distance for a while, and I’d try to be sober for her, but I ended up withdrawing with her – and I hated that. That’s when I told her everything. She wasn’t mad. She wanted to help.”
On his 1-year-old son: “I feel so aware of everything -for his sake. Babies are all emotions, so I’m aware of reason because I have to protect him from his lack of reason. I’m aware of society, because I’m getting ready to send him off into it. And I’m aware of what I’m eating because I want to influence the way he eats. It’s truly being alive.”
On embracing a healthy lifestyle: “I play a lot of soccer, so a lot of it has to do with being game-ready. I actually started the program in my high school—found a coach, a conference, all that stuff. I didn’t play in my twenties because I was partying. I’d be sitting there, high, going, “Oh man, I’m gonna play soccer one day.” Luckily I did, and now I play as much as I can.”
