Re-Air: Danny Trejo: I Was As Sick As My Secrets

Re-Air: Danny Trejo: I Was As Sick As My Secrets

From Mayim Bialik's Breakdown by Mayim Bialik

April 10, 2026 · 1h 22m

About this episode

Danny Trejo discusses his journey from incarceration to becoming an actor and restaurateur, reflecting on addiction and the prison system.

In honor of Alcohol Awareness Month, we’re revisiting a very special episode from 2023 with the one-and-only Danny Trejo. Danny Trejo (actor, restaurauteur, & author) joins us in-studio to discuss how the culture he was raised in contributed to his early drug and alcohol use, the evolution of his relationship with a higher power from one of fear to one of love, and his transition from convict to actor/author/restaurateur. He opens up about being conditioned as a child to use rage and violence to survive, what early sobriety taught him, and why he feels like he can reach troubled youth better than other adults. Danny explains what it was like to be incarcerated for the first time, his role as an “Inmate Social Catalyst” in prison, and why his parole board actually suggested he murder someone. Mayim and Danny consider the weaknesses of our prison system and the inhumanity of solitary confinement after Danny shares his heartbreaking experience being locked up “in the hole.” Danny reveals how his drug counseling skills led him to land acting roles, his experiences training movie stars in the art of prison boxing, his love of good food and the fascinating story of how he got into the…

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