Episode 393: Lost in Del Valle: How Actor Ned Van Zandt Turned His Darkest Days Into Redemption
About this episode
Ned Van Zandt shares his journey from addiction to recovery and his work in sober living.
In this episode of The Addicted Mind Podcast , host Duane Osterlind speaks with actor, playwright, and recovery advocate Ned Van Zandt. Ned shares his life story—from an exotic childhood traveling the world to studying under Olympia Dukakis and working alongside high-profile actors and musicians in the 1970s. He candidly details his descent into hard drugs while living at New York's iconic Chelsea Hotel, his first 13-year stretch of surface-level sobriety, a sudden relapse that led to an arrest in Texas, and his eventual surrender to deep, service-driven recovery. Today, Ned is the managing director of a NYC sober living facility and the creator of the one-man show Lost in Del Valle . Key Topics Covered Roots and Early Career: Growing up in a prominent Fort Worth family, child acting in The Music Man and Oliver! , and studying acting at NYU under Olympia Dukakis. The Chelsea Hotel Era (1978): Moving into the legendary hotel the same week as Sid Vicious and Nancy Spungen, accelerating a lifestyle of heavy drug use and rock-and-roll partying. First Sobriety Attempt & Relapse: Getting sober in 1987 following legal pressure, putting together 13 years of continuous recovery, and…
More episodes of The Addicted Mind Podcast
- Episode 392: Beyond the Trauma Anchor: How Neuroplasticity Rewires Pain and Anxiety with Dr. David Hanscom
- Episode 391: Using Shame as a Compass for Healing with Dr. Frank Spinelli
- Episode 390: Healing in the Shadows: A Mother’s Journey Through Eating Disorders, Addiction, and Recovery with Janet Whitney
- Episode 389: Bridging the Recovery Gap: How AI is Transforming Treatment Admissions with David Sichel
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