The former professional skateboarder and MTV star of “Jackass” and “Viva La Bam”<\/a> had struggled with drugs and alcohol throughout practically his entire adult life. He’s been to rehab 13 times, each for 90 days. That’s equal to over three years of drug treatment.<\/p>\n But now, he’s coming up on two years sober, and he credits his first love of skateboarding for it.<\/p>\n CLICK HERE FOR MORE SPORTS COVERAGE ON FOXNEWS.COM<\/a>\u00a0<\/p>\n Bam Margera attends an event to promote “Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3+4.” (Activision)<\/p>\n “I realized I don\u2019t need to be on any medication \u2014 skateboarding is my medication. As long as I do a trick a day, it keeps my sanity sane,” Margera told Fox News Digital in a recent interview.<\/p>\n Most fans grew up watching Margera doing wild stunts on TV and in the movies. Off-screen, he’d take it to a different level.<\/p>\n But after his co-star and best friend Ryan Dunn died in a car wreck in 2011, Margera went “down a real dark path,” and his struggles reached the point where he was taken off “Jackass Forever” back in 2022. He still does not talk to the majority of his former castmates.<\/p>\n “In 2013, when the doctors declared my legs as dry-rotted rubber bands from alcohol abuse, I kind of lost hope about skating,” Margera said. “But my wife, she\u2019s a stretch coach. I stretch an hour a day, and my 45-year-old legs feel like their 22 again. So, my passion back to skating is completely there, and I do it every day.<\/p>\n “I actually woke up eight days on life support with a tube down my throat with COVID and pneumonia, and I found out I went into five seizures 20 minutes apiece just from staying up, not eating right, drinking too much, and that was when I decided I needed to change and I needed to change now,” Margera added. “When I detoxed and lost a little bit of weight, I got back on the skateboard again, and my muscle memory eventually came back. It was not easy, but now that it\u2019s back and I\u2019m doing it every day, a lot of tricks are coming way easier.”<\/p>\n Most fans grew up watching Margera doing wild stunts on TV and in the movies. Off-screen, he’d take it to a different level. (Jason Kempin\/FilmMagic\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n PGA STAR’S DAD SKIPPING ‘UNWATCHABLE’ RYDER CUP AT BETHPAGE BLACK: ‘AFRAID OF WHAT’S GOING TO HAPPEN’<\/a><\/p>\n Margera admitted that even the simplest of tricks for a pro became difficult \u2014 when he was relearning his expertise, he fell and broke his wrist “for the 15th time and hyperextended my elbow with the bone sticking out.”<\/p>\n “That lack of confidence after that, I was scared to do anything\u2026 But when you start skating again every day, you start learning how to fall again, and your chances of getting injured become more slim to none.”<\/p>\n Now, Margera, 44, is a playable character in a reboot of “Tony Hawk Pro Skater 3 + 4.” Margera had actually missed the deadline to be in the game. But, after hanging out with Hawk one day, Hawk used his powers to get him in.<\/p>\n “Me saying hi to him, if I would have not called him, this would not have happened. So it\u2019s a real blessing everything happened the way that it did,” Margera said.<\/p>\n Margera hung out with hundreds of fans at Complex LA last Tuesday to celebrate the release of the game. Margera jumped between gaming stations, challenging fans to high-score competitions and sharing stories about his involvement in the iconic franchise.<\/p>\n “It\u2019s a real honor to be in the game. It really puts skaters on the map for people that aren\u2019t diehard skaters as there is. There\u2019s such a handful of skaters that are really killing it these days, but if I said their names, you wouldn\u2019t know them unless you were a diehard skateboard fan. To be in the game, it can get the attention of the 80-year-old grandma, \u2018Oh! I know that Bam Margera! He\u2019s in that Tony Hawk skateboard game!\u2019 It gives you a whole bunch of street cred that if you\u2019re in that game, you must be a real established skateboarder.”<\/p>\n Bam Margera plays “Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3+4.” (Activision)<\/p>\n CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP<\/a><\/p>\n For Margera, his new way of life is simple: Skateboard, or else.<\/p>\n “I need skateboarding in my life, or else I\u2019ll die. I need skateboarding in my life in order to fulfill it,” he said. “If you don\u2019t have any passion for anything, then you lose purpose. When you lose purpose, you get bored, and then boredom leads to drugs and alcohol. I can\u2019t get bored. I\u2019m completely occupied with learning my skate tricks back.”<\/p>\n Follow Fox News Digital\u2019s\u00a0sports coverage on X<\/a>, and subscribe to\u00a0the Fox News Sports Huddle newsletter<\/a>.<\/p>\n ![\"Bam](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/bam-margera.jpg\")
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