For weeks, there has been plenty of speculation as to the situation surrounding Artie’s break from the show. We know that management or Howard told Artie to take some time off but it is unclear whether he went into rehab and if he was forced to do so. It will certainly be interesting to hear the show’s return after the New Year. Will Artie be there to tell us what happened?
==== WARNING: Below has not yet been confirmed and is purely hearsay ====
I got an email from a Stern fan whose friends ran into “Medicated” Pete the Intern in Red Bank, NJ. Pete said that Artie is in rehab and that Sirius threatened to fire him unless he did so.
I only mention this because it seems plausible that an intern (or former intern) could lack the judgement and spill the bills.
Only time will tell.
Amazing — even in your time of grief it’s you who breaks news like this! Thanks Matt, even if it is just a rumor.
I hope it’s true. But he must be angrier than “House” was when he forced himself into rehab.
Matt if tubby went to see a real professional psychiatrist, an MD, there is no way that the guy wouldn’t “suggest strongly” he goto rehab. The guy is an admitted heroin addict….conversely if fatboy went to Dr Drews rehab to cash in on 200 grand you can throw that into another one if his “I’m totally fun of shit” segments….also if he is in after the break, again I call total bullshit on any “rehab” stint….
Yeah, I don’t think anyone believes he was seeing “Howard’s guy” or anyone else; some of his bullshit is pretty transparent. But there’s a decent chance he’s in a program now. I rescind my previous speculation about Celebrity Rehab — I think they filmed months back even though it’s going to air 1/10; and the cast list is already available. I’m not expecting to hear Artie for a while. And as you say, if we DO hear from him soon, that’s really bad news. For heaven’s sake he’d better not come back after another massage table enema Florida self-rehab!
btw, there is a helicopter mike. lol. ive spoken to him and joe the cop. you need a new nickname
does the day that he left to the time he comes back equal 28 days?
check that, i meant “the show comes back”
Well, obviously it’s from the nazi video… but if you insist I’ll go back to my old name…
I think 28 days comes out to 1/6 or 1/7. But Arthur could probably use a couple of tours of duty.
Well, I googled for corroboration and found a long SFN thread where someone who claims to know says:
“It was a 30 day in-patient and he made about 72 hours allegedly.
NO GO”
I hope THAT’s not true!
Oh, we can only hope-maybe he was finally given an ultimatum by management. Maybe fans even compained enough to either the show or management that he finally forced their hand.
I never give SFN my very precious time-that’s a miserable, angry mob over there! I can see Artie makin’ it for 3 days and saying “fuck you-I’m not washin’ any toilets!” though.
God bless ya, Matt-here comes the clown car full of Artie fans!
alpha–i’m hopping out of shotgun! and i agree with your assessment of sfn fans. brutal and sometimes rather frightening.
i can’t imagine that sirius didn’t break down and issue an ultimatum. even if just to cover their ass and look like a responsible employer.
at any rate, none of the heroin addicts i have known have only hit “rock bottom” just once. i hope this time will do the trick for artie. but he has been at it for many years now and few of the addicts i have known have kicked in just 30 days or so. but i hope that whatever is going on with artie is helping in some way.
matt–glad to see you’re back. we all need our distractions, and what better that mr. lange? hope you’re hanging in there.
Yet Howard 100 News and it’s “no more bullshit” line has nothing to say except he took some time off to take care of himself.
FIYA!
Sorry for your loss.
I have been wondering how he’s managed to keep such a low profile. Even the gossip people in his home town newspaper people haven’t seen him around. If he is at home…surely a delivery guy or someone would have caught a glimpse of him and blogged about a sighting.
My guess and hope is rehab.
Dunno if any of you out there have HowardTV but check out the Dec 11 episodes of 50 Cent and Will the Farter. It was the last day Artie was there and something with very very very OBVIOUSLY wrong with him. He kept moving around, scratching himself, falling asleep, constantly moving, eyes almost closed and looked horrible. He looked like he was back on something pretty much. Check it out. Especially the 50 cent episode.
seeing that video is so incredibly sad
Sad? Fuck him, if anything I feel sad for his mother and sister, I have seen first hand what drug addiction does to friends and family.
http://www.soberforever.net/program_success1.cfm
check out this link scroll to the bottom. When lying is a factor/variable of statistics you can throw out any solid percentage rate for success. From first hand experience of drug addicts, (worked at marlboro psychiatric, and discovery house rehab in NJ for 10 year) it takes support and hard work to stay off herion, and almost never have I seen a client stop on the first round of rehab. Artie is a classic drug addict, and he’s got everyone around him enabling him.
Sigh. He’s too old for this shit. It’s as if he wants to die but his body won’t let him. Poor guy. For a while I thought it was all hyperbole and drama, but now I really fear for his life. He just does nothing to help himself.
as have i. that is why i feel it is sad. you can feel any way you please and i won’t be judging you.
Judge away I’m nothing but a faceless cyber person posting on a blog. I just read your diary laura and as it turns out BOB is actual Artie…
it’s actually my real name. old joke, my friend
Artie was starting to look good in the summer. He was alert and losing weight. I think he was clean then. Since November-ish? hes been falling apart again. Looks like he regained the weight, was nodding off, weezing, he was using again. Maybe, since we are all speculating : ) Maybe he OD’d? Not all ODs end in death. His family could have had him committed for at least 72 hrs. I think he has to be in Rehab. I also would not expect to see him before 30 days. I really “think” he wants to clean up, I just think hes having a really hard time. Im still an Artie fan and I hope he is well and RECOVERING!!
Back in September, in person, he looked really well.
Compared to what? A bucket of shit?
You don’t SOUND like Artie’s heart. Not at all. For a while there he was looking better. Whether or not he was ever “clean” is another story. Man, human addictions suck. Be well, Baby Gorilla…
I saw him this summer (second row in a small venue) and he was alert and on the ball. He signed autographs and looked sober. He also didn’t look as sloppy as he has recently. My guess is that he was definately clean at that time. I’m with laura…people can say what you want but it IS very sad. He isn’t deliberately trying to ruin his career or piss off his fans – the drugs are too much for him to resist. Here’s hoping he’s off to a clean and sober start in 2010.
I can imagine a scenario that played out like this;
When I heard Artie on the show the week before his, errr, vacation, it sent chills down my spine. He sounded like someone on Xanax, a LOT of xanax. Those speech patterns and the way he was not so much slurring his words as “swallowing” them reminded me of me a few years back.
I would surmise that Dr. Drew heard that as well, contacted Gary with a “this is NOT good” sort of message, and that got the ball rolling.
Since Dr. Drew has been in Art’s good graces as of late, and Howard and management have been at a complete loss over what to do, it makes sense that Dr. Drew could step in without stepping on anyone’s toes.
Or, I could be totally wrong. We’ll see.
I think what did it was very simply this. Howard had lunch with Jackie. Artie panicked, knowing what management had (allegedly) told him, and starting using again. And here we are, wondering whats up. As a former user of illegals, anything will tip your hat to use again. And with the stakes as high as they are for Artie, Jackie coming back into the picture certainly pushed him over the edge. Artie knows he can’t quit, he doesn’t want to, and probably went back to using harder than ever. It is very sad, but a common addiction story.
Ironic if true, since of course Howard would never be so insane as to have that talentless Martling hack back on the full time payroll.