Mike Epps shared insights into his early acting days on the set of All About The Benjamins, revealing that he struggled with survivor’s remorse during that time and used cocaine heavily to numb his pain.
On a March episode of All The Smoke Podcast, the Indianapolis-born comedian and actor shared the vulnerable moment when he realized that his homeboys preferred when he was a struggling actor versus becoming successful. Epps divulged his co-star, Ice Cube, tried to lift him out of his depression during the filming of 2002’s All About The Benjamins.
“I’ve been through hell,” Epps began in the clip. “I did most of the movies on cocaine.”
Mike played small-time con artist Reggie Wright in the All About The Benjamins 2022 comedy.
The Next Friday star continued about his faded and teary-eyed mornings in Ice Cube’s trailer on the set of All About The Benjamins. He remembered when the Los Angeles rapper continuously affirmed him and encouraged him to get off the drugs.
Mike revealed, “I had survivor’s remorse.”
“I was so sad that I left all them niggas in this city. That I was famous,” the All About The Benjamins star said.
During the conversation, Mike further reflected on his return trips back home. He said he expected a different outcome from his childhood friends than what he faced.
“When I [came] home, I wanted them to be happy for me,” Mike said passionately. “But they were mad at me!”
Referencing his childhood friends, he continued, “Damn, I gotta destroy myself for you to like me? How is my success a reflection of your failure?”
He concluded, “That’s what happens to the kids. They round here killing themselves trying to fit in with somebody who’s fucked up.”
In 2022, Mike refocused his survivor’s remorse to buy the block in his hometown nearly 30 years after his first big break in Next Friday.
In a previous MadameNoire report, the 53-year-old father of four and his wife Kyra spent time in his Indianapolis neighborhood to revitalize abandoned homes. His return home brings back memories of when he was a bad baller and an awful drug dealer. The Upshaws star is unapologetic about his humble beginnings.
“A lot of people claim a hood, a city or a block but don’t own it,” Mike wrote on Instagram at the time. “This is my block in Indiana the before and after with family and friends in the homes. They movin’ us out of our [communities] at a rapid pace In the [inner cities]. I been arrested in this hood a thousand times and lost a many friends to violence and drugs in this [neighborhood]. [This] was a full crack house in the 80’s and 90’s. Look at it now.”
