Steve-O Far From a "Jackass" in His New, Cleaner Life

He’s best known for wild, dangerous and disgusting antics, a filthy mouth and a well-publicized life of drug use. Now, however, after a stint on "Dancing with the Stars" that ended on April 14 and an MTV special on his past troubles with drug abuse, shock stuntman Steve-O, of "Jackass" fame, is getting clean. Yesterday, a documentary titled "Steve-O: Demise and Rise" was shown on MTV and highlights the stuntman’s crazy antics and his wild and destructive habits.

Video footage that Steve-O shot himself shows him snorting cocaine at parties, inhaling nitrous oxide and performing stunts that most stuntmen would simply refuse. The documentary also highlights Steve-O’s time spent in a mental hospital and in drug rehabilitation, but ends with the Dancing with the Stars appearances. According to Steve-O, the "Dancing" stint was tougher than most of his stunts. "It’s weird," he said, "getting ready to do these dances on live TV I felt, especially in the beginning, more stressed and anxious than times when I filmed with bears and lions." Steve-O is no stranger to MTV, having filmed "Wildboyz" for the network, a show that had him interacting with wild, dangerous and untamed animals.

What we’re left with after viewing the documentary, however, is Steve-O’s commitment to getting better while not slowing down with his wild antics. In the past, his stunts have included stapling his scrotum to his thigh, jumping face-first into a tub of elephant dung, and a wide variety of other dangerous and disgusting stunts. After friends essentially forced him into a psychiatric hospital, he was diagnosed as being bipolar. Said Steve-O, "I think if anybody did as much drugs as I did, they’d probably be bipolar too." Now, Steve-O has been clean and sober for a year and he wants to prove that he can be just as wild without the drugs and alcohol. "I have a chip on my shoulder wanting to prove that I can," he noted.