Tom Sizemore has 136 film and television roles under his belt, and for a guy who grew up on the mean streets of Detroit, the fame that came with starring in revered movies such as “Saving Private Ryan” and cult classics like “Natural Born Killers” meant the world. He earned millions, he rubbed elbows with the biggest stars of the day, and, ultimately, he watched it all float away on a river of drugs and illicit sex tapes.
“I’ve led an interesting life, but I can’t tell you what I’d give to be the guy you didn’t know anything about,” Sizemore writes in his new book, “By Some Miracle I Made It Out Of There”. The book details the demons he’s fought in over two decades of working in Hollywood, including a volatile relationship with celebrity madam Heidi Fleiss that began a downward spiral in his career. He says that at one point, he thought he would have to start rethinking his options.
“Bob [Forrest, from Celebrity Rehab] thought I had a future in helping people get sober, and that seemed like a good idea,” he said. “Because, look, I like to read, see movies, look at art, and be around people. That doesn’t exactly set me up for a lot of career options.”
But with a whopping 18 projects due out in 2013 alone, Sizemore is certainly not sitting back and letting his past dictate his future. While the book details gritty subject matter befitting some of his more violent, sleazy onscreen personas, it is also an honest look at the man he was and the man he wants to be. He says the “a-ha moment” came all of a sudden.
“I used to blame my problems on other people,” he said. “But my moment of clarity, if you want to call it that, came when I was looking in the mirror one day and just burst into tears. It wasn’t just that I looked bad, it was that I knew my problem was me. I used to think it was Heidi [Fleiss] or the police trying to find some sort of scapegoat, but I could suddenly see that it was me and that it had always been me.”
Sizemore now says he’s sober and ready to move on, and he’s also ready for fans to gain a new perspective on who he is.
“I have thin skin,” he says. “I’m not a tough guy. I play tough guys in movies and behaved like one in front of the press because I thought that was what a man did. They can’t believe I have a Master’s in Fine Arts, and that I enjoy Shakespeare. I’m essentially a momma’s boy with a good education.”