Drew Carey may be known for his quick wit and charm as a beloved TV host, but behind the laughter lies a haunting tragedy.
The murder of his former fiancée, Amie Harwick, continues to cast a dark shadow over his life.
Being a Hollywood star isn’t always as glamorous as it seems—your private life is constantly under the microscope. And when you’ve faced real-life struggles, the speculation only intensifies. But one celebrity who has taken control of his own story is TV host and actor Drew Carey.
Talking openly about difficult and tragic experiences is never easy, but I hope Drew’s heartbreaking journey can encourage others to speak out about their own struggles. You don’t have to do it in public, but Drew has used his platform time and time again to help those who’ve been through their own horrors.
What many may not know about Drew Carey, 66, is that his childhood was tough.
His father passed away from a heart attack when Drew was just 8 years old —something that understandably left a huge impact on the young boy’s psyche. School wasn’t easy for him either, as he was expelled twice for poor academic performance.
But it was the sudden death of his father that cast a dark shadow over his early years growing up in Cleveland, Ohio.
“My dad died when I was a kid, and soon after that, I started biting my nails,” he shared.
“It got so bad that I was biting my cuticles, the pads of my fingers, tearing the skin until they bled. It hurt to even hold a pencil, and I was ashamed of how my hands looked.”
Suicide attempts
Drew and his two brothers were raised by their mother, who worked two jobs to make ends meet.
”I have been in a lot of desperate situations,” Drew told the Kirkland Reporter in 2010.
He also revealed that he was once molested, struggled with bouts of depression, and made two suicide attempts by swallowing a large number of sleeping pills.
After leaving university, Carey enlisted in the United States Marine Corps Reserve in 1980 and served for six years as a field radio operator in the 25th Marine Regiment in Ohio. He adopted his crew cut hairstyle while serving in the military.
He later opened up about his suicide attempts, explaining that he first tried at 18 and again in his twenties.
“I didn’t know what I was doing,” Carey admitted. “The first time, I drank a couple of beers and took a whole bottle of Sominex, thinking it would work. My fraternity brothers rushed me to the medical center, and as I was throwing up, my friend Paul started singing the Sominex jingle: ‘Take Sominex tonight and sleep… sleep… sleep.’ I laughed so hard in that moment. Humor has always been my way out.”
Thankfully, Drew Carey turned things around. He began to rediscover himself, with the help of books and therapy. He learned to cope with his depression in a healthier way.
“I started reading books by Wayne Dyer, and one of them really hit me: Why am I walking around feeling guilty about everything? I realized I had been apologizing for existing.”
