For Tom Arnold — the keynote speaker at Utah Valley University’s annual Conference on Addiction — drug addiction was a solitary experience.

“Every drug use I’ve done was just me,” he said. “There’s no partying; there’s a lot of hiding.”

Arnold is clean and sober and not hiding anymore. The actor, producer, and writer spoke to a capacity crowd, openly addressing his journey through childhood, adolescence, addiction, and sobriety. Arnold said he shares his life experience with the hope that by speaking out, he will help others.

“The key is to stay sober long enough that you can start being of service,” Arnold said. “Because that, for your ego, that feels better than anything, and that’s what will keep you alive forever.”

Arnold says rehabilitation is an ongoing process. He has been attending 12-step meetings for 35 years and is sober. “It is something I work on every day,” he said. “I’m glad to be here.”

The audience laughed at Arnold’s humorous portrayal of his Hollywood antics, including the time, many years ago, when he did an intervention with a fake Peter Criss. Not long after Arnold had beaten his addictions in rehab, he heard a report that the Kiss drummer was living under the Santa Monica Pier. He was feeling good and wanted to save another addict’s life.

“I’m like 10 minutes from the Santa Monica Pier. I’ve got 20 minutes. I’m going to go save his life down there,” Arnold said. “I start walking down the beach, and I’m like, ‘Hey, have you seen Peter Criss?’ A homeless guy is like, ‘Have you got 20 bucks?’ I’m like, ‘Yeah,’ and he said, ‘He’s that way.’”

Arnold abducted the crack-addicted imposter from a tent. The man had assumed the identity of Criss.

“I go up to the guy, and I say, ‘Are you Peter Criss?’ And he says, ‘You got 20 bucks?’ I’m like, ‘Yeah, yeah, I do. Listen, I’m Tom Arnold, and I’m here to save your life.’ So I throw him over my shoulder.”

Arnold thought he was saving the real Peter Criss by getting him into the same rehabilitation hospital where he had been treated. The imposter escaped the hotel Arnold was paying for while waiting for a bed in the rehab center. Six hours later, Arnold got a call from a woman in Boston who also wanted to save the real Peter Criss. She had him picked up from the hotel and had flown him there.

“She said, ‘He’s here in my living room, and he’s throwing up everywhere…and he’s not Peter Criss,’” Arnold said.

The story does have a happy ending. The real Peter Criss never suffered from addiction, and the imposter, Christopher Dickinson, received treatment for his addiction and is still sober.

Arnold’s own story is one of survival. He said he grew up in a home with his mother battling addiction. From ages four to seven, he was sexually abused by a teenage babysitter multiple times a week. “I didn’t know what to do; I didn’t know who to tell,” he said. He carried pain and shame from the abuse for many years but finally confronted his attacker.

His sister was also one of the biggest drug dealers in America. “There’s a documentary series about my sister called The Queen of Meth. She was in prison a couple of times. People are like, ‘Was that embarrassing, having a sister that was a drug dealer?’ And I say, ‘Not when I was on drugs, it wasn’t.’”

The combination of drug availability and masking pain was nearly deadly for Arnold. He is concerned about today's youth and said dying from drugs is easier because of the fatal concoctions available. “It seems like when I started drugs, you really had to try,” he said.

UVU student Margarita Bojorquez, who is studying family science and will enter the social work program this fall, said concern for her children brought her to the conference.

“I don’t use drugs, and I am not familiar with that. My kids used drugs. It is something that I couldn’t understand how they are feeling,” Bojorquez said. I know that they use drugs for a reason. I just didn’t understand why. I am here to understand more about why people use drugs.”

Arnold said understanding why addicts take their lives is also hard to understand, but if we could feel their pain, we would know why they choose not to live.

“We feel so much shame. We judge ourselves. It is us. It’s the disease. It's that voice that wants to kill us,” Arnold said. “We don’t hear it every moment, but when things start going sideways, that voice gets louder. I think the ultimate for that voice is to convince us that the world is better off without us. That’s why a lot of people kill themselves.”

Arnold said the people who inspired him the most through his recovery process were those people who had only three days left in rehab. They are the ones that would give hope and light to what can be and not necessarily what was. He stated, “I am here to tell you that there are ways to get out. There are ways to survive and thrive. By the grace of God, I got sober.”

Toni Harris, assistant dean of UVU’s College of Humanities and Social Sciences, the impetus behind the conference for over a decade, said, “We recognize the impact that mental health providers offer our community. Our goal with this conference is to provide value through educational opportunities and strengthen relationships through a network of resources that help build a foundation of hope in the future for all within our community."

The one-day conference drew a record-breaking crowd of 800, with many attendees joining online.