A-Line: Celebrity StyleRussell Brand gets meaningful new tattoo, admits to still craving drugs
Russell Brand proved he's taking his sobriety seriously when he debuted a new tattoo over the weekend. The tat, which runs the length of his right forearm, reads "Lord, make a channel of thy peace," a line from the St. Francis of Assisi prayer, which is often recited at Alcoholics Anonymous meetings and is also included in the AA book, Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions.
Brand has spoken in detail over the years about his battles with drugs and alcohol, which included an addiction to heroin he kicked a decade ago. The British actor is also the subject of an upcoming BBC documentary, "Russell Brand: From Addiction to Recovery," set to air in the U.K. later this summer. In one of the scenes, Brand watches an old video of himself smoking heroin on the floor of an apartment, and reveals he does still indeed have cravings and occasionally wishes he could go back to his drug-using days. "I'm jealous of me then," the 37-year-old says in the documentary. "It doesn't make a difference to me. The money, the fame, the power, the sex, the women — none of it. I'd rather be a drug addict."
Brand has put his tough life experiences to good use, however, and in April testified in front of British Parliament, urging for more compassion for drug addicts. "For me, what is more significant is the way we socially regard the condition of addiction," he said to a special committee. "It is something I consider to be an illness, and therefore more of health matter than a criminal or judicial matter."
As for his new tat, it replaces an old one: the matching Sanskrit ink he got with now ex-wife Katy Perry, which he promptly got removed less than three months after the couple announced their split in December. No word on whether or not Brand is jealous of the formerly married version of himself.
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