Kevin Hart has spoken about the pitfalls of fame, describing it as a bigger drug than cocaine or heroin.
Appearing on the On Purpose with Jay Shetty podcast, the stand-up comedian compared being in the limelight to the Jim Carrey film The Truman Show, in which a normal man is unwillingly the subject of a reality TV show about his life.
“The biggest drug, it’s not cocaine, it’s not heroin, it’s not molly or opioids. The biggest drug is fame,” Hart told former monk Shetty. “And the reason why it’s the biggest drug [is] it makes you feel like you are powerful and like everywhere you go, anything you want, everything you want.
“It’s a thing and if you can’t handle this thing, the consequences attached to when that thing is removed are severe. Nobody prepares you for the world of fame. There is no handbook.”
He continued: “You get it and yesterday you weren’t and today you are. People get shell shocked. That, to me, has always been the point of no return.”
Hart said that when fame then “wears off”, a person needs a strong base level of self-belief to survive.
“What am I, where am I? It’s all gonna finna back to, are you happy with who you are and what you did? Are you at a point where you are OK? Do you know you? And are you OK with you? If you are not, it’ll break you.”
Hart has recently been on tour with his fellow comedian Chris Rock, with Dave Chappelle opening a number of shows for the pair in the summer.
During one show in July, Hart presented Rock with a goat called Will Smith on stage in reference to Smith’s Oscars slap.
Hart will play in four solo arena shows in the UK in April as part of his Reality Check tour.
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