This content features Darren Prince, a successful sports and entertainment agent, sharing his powerful journey of overcoming opioid addiction and his subsequent dedication to helping others through recovery, advocacy, and personal wellness practices.
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July 2nd, 2008 truly became the best day
of my life because I thought it was the
ending and it actually turned out to be
the beginning.
>> How did you even get there or you became
addicted to something?
>> For me, it was opiates. I I started I
was 14. You know, I dabbled with all
sorts of other drugs, but once I became
an agent at 24, I understood morality
clauses. So, I had to be very careful
about doing anything with any illegal
drugs. Darren Prince, CEO of Prince
Marketing Group. 25 years driving sports
and entertainment marketing.
>> $500 million in deals and a roster of
global icons. Get ready for insights
from a true industry powerhouse.
>> The general public saw my life and
thought I had it all. Millions of
dollars coming in with the business,
biggest stars in the world, but it was
miserable. I just got to the point where
I didn't want to wake up anymore in the
morning. So Darren, it's not only um you
got through that chapter of your life of
the addiction, like you're into the biohacking.
biohacking.
>> Yep. I think it's probably 10 or 11
protocols every single day that I
implement. Got to throw in the hydrogen
water. The red light therapy. I've got
that too next to my bed.
>> It sounds like you're living my life.
>> Yeah. Yeah. There's actually healthy
stuff out there that people may think
they're eating every day and have no
idea why they're continuously getting
rashes or something that the body is
rejecting. What's the advice you can
give the ones that are saying, "Well,
I'll change tomorrow."
>> I'm good. [Music]
[Music]
>> Welcome to another episode of a healthy
point of view podcast. I'm your host,
Sam Tahara, and as usual, we're bringing
people from all over the world to talk
about health, wellness, beauty, and
mindset. Today we're bringing our guest
here who is an expert and agent in the
world of entertainment
and working with athletes. He's an agent
who's he's this guy has probably seen it
all when it comes to the entertainment
world. But part of it there's something
that we deal with on a daily basis,
people that especially they get involved
in that world of entertainment which is
addiction. He dealt with it himself and
he was able to overcome it. And now he's
a huge addiction advocate helping people
overcome those addictions. And today
we're going to talk about that because
that's something that has to be
addressed. That's something that we want
to be able to give people the guidance
so they can overcome it and live their
best life. Today we have Darren Prince.
What's up, brother?
>> Thanks for having us.
>> Yeah, man. Pleasure to have you here. So
Darren, man, it's just, you know, for
the viewers and listeners, who is Darren Prince?
Prince?
>> Who is Darren Prince? I guess I I'll
give you like the 30 secondond version.
So I grew up in New Jersey, live in
California now. Been a agent for 31
years. Uh, Magic Johnson was my first
client. Still with him to this day. >> Wow.
>> Wow.
>> Hulk Hogan, Charlie Sheen, Carmen
Electra, David Gogggins, Ric Flair. um
you know a lot of iconic figures but
that's more the work side the personal
side that means everything is just two
weeks ago I celebrated 17 years sober
>> amazing bestselling author of my memoir
aiming high that was published in 2018 I
have my own 501c3 charity the aiming
high foundation that 100% of the
proceeds scholarships people in need of
treatment and it's the first and most
important thing of my life, recovery and
helping people out there that are struggling.
struggling.
>> I love that, man. I love that. And that
that's a powerful thing. And I I I could
tell you, you know, 12 years working as
a firefighter paramedic, you know, uh I
was exposed to a lot of uh people that
had addiction issues to different
opioids and other type of uh addictions
as well. And um sometimes people can't
overcome it and it ends up in in going
in the wrong direction and it can lead
to death, right? It can lead to uh
families being destroyed. >> Y
>> Y
>> um people losing their careers, you
know, things that we've worked so hard
uh to accomplish. So, you know, there
there's a a personal uh spot in in in my
heart when it comes to helping people
overcome addiction. Um, so, you know,
the first step I want to talk about is
how did you even get there or you you
you became addicted to something?
>> Yeah, I mean, for me it was opiates. I I
started I was 14 and you know I dabbled
with all sorts of other drugs but once I
became an agent at 24 um I understood
morality clauses so I had to be very
careful about doing anything with any
illegal drugs so you know having magic
and all the clients I had chvy Chase
even early on was Dennis Robin there
were so many that doctors just saw the
external sense I remember even bringing
them signed smoking Joe Frasier boxing
gloves and Muhammad I'll eat boxing
gloves as gifts and like I can't have a
problem. Whatever he needs, give him
whatever he needs. >> Wow.
>> Wow.
>> You know, so it was kind of like I just
manipulated the system and uh I'm I'm
careful when I speak. I do a lot of
speaking all over the country,
especially when it's high school kids because
because
it worked. It did actually work the
first five or six years as an agent. But
at one point, what was once living to
use turned out to using to live. So
whatever those superpowers that the
opiates, the oxycontton, the percoetses,
the vikans were giving me completely
turned on me. Couple overdoses after
that. And uh I had a moment of clarity,
a godshot. Uh my late uncle and his
girlfriend Andre, who actually lived in
Miami, were visiting my mom in New
Jersey. And I was at that jumping life
off point, man. It was like I was just
living this double life. all my boys and
the general public saw my life and
thought I had it all. You know, millions
of dollars coming in with the business,
the biggest stars in the world. But it
was this double life. It was miserable.
I I just uh you know, got to the point
where I didn't want to I don't want to
wake up anymore in the morning. Wow.
>> And uh so my uncle Stu and his then
girlfriend visited my mom on July 1st
and they paid me a surprise visit to my
condo in West Orange, New Jersey. I
never met this woman before, bro. And um
it was like tractor beams. Like I was so
drawn to her and I was fully vulnerable.
She asked me if everything was okay and
I told her the truth and she's like, "Do
I realize I'm I'm an addict?" And I
said, "Yeah." And she goes, "Do you
realize that you're powerless?" I said,
"Yeah." And she goes, "Do you realize?"
And she looked at all the photos on the
wall of me and Ali and Fraser and Magic
and Pam and Hulk. And you know, I said,
"Raz, this doesn't mean anything because
you don't mean anything to yourself." >> Wow.
>> Wow.
>> And that broke my soul. And I started to
cry and uh she said, "I can help you."
And 24 hours later, I was uh in my
apartment in New York City with my then
wife and um I called up my uncle and
Andrea. They were back in Miami and I
said, "I can't do this. I'm detoxing. Uh
I'm going to call the doctor to get what
I really want to get." And they they're
on the other line. This is the damn
disease talking. You got to surrender
already. Become accountable. Get to a
12step meeting and get the help you
need. And I said, "I can't do it. I've
been to those dumb meetings in my early
20s." I slammed the phone up, bro. Ran
into the bathroom, locked the door. Then
wife thought I was uh, you know, going
to kill myself because she was a part of
a couple of the overdoses. And she's
banging on the door. And I'm going
through the medicine bottles. But I
wasn't looking for opiates. I was
looking for one of the narcotic anxiety
pills that Andrea said I can take during
the detox period. And out came two
Vikings, which was so crazy because I
specifically remember on July 1st in
that evening of 2008, we spent hours
cleaning out all the medicine captain so
I wouldn't be tempted having any opiates
in the house, right?
>> And here there are two opiates. But
whatever reason, man, it's one of those
moments in life. I fell on my knees. I
screamed out to God, take the money,
take the business, take the notoriety.
If you give me a single day of freedom,
um I'll I'll take others out of hell.
And it was a white light moment I've
never had before and haven't had it
since. It was like the shoulder caught
fire. I heard a voice say, "I've got you
and you're ready. I flushed the pills.
Went into the living room, went onto the
computer, found a 12step meeting in the
church uh in the upper 80s." This was
way before Uber and this beautiful
summer night, sitting in a cab on the
way to uh this church in the upper 80s
for this meeting. I I'm looking up at
the sky and I said, "Wow, the hell just
happened for the first time in my life.
I wanted to stay sober." Well, that I
wanted to get high. And I walked into
this church basement and 150,200 addicts
and alcoholics were all once for a
hopeless state of mind. And the leader
said, "Is anybody knew anyone coming
back or anyone sick and suffering?" And
the sand went right up.
>> Wow. I often said, "I believe it was God
that raised my hand because
>> that takes a lot of willpower to even
raise your hand."
>> That my ego was crushed. I literally
came in at the jumping off point and I
knew this was like a matter of life and
death. And to say, "I'm Darren. I'm an
addict. I'm struggling. I um I've got an
unbelievable life outside these rooms
and I'm killing myself. I need your
guys' help."
And about a dozen spiritual brothers and
sisters came over and they told me so
many things, but the one that really
moved me was that they were going to
love me before I ever knew how to love myself.
myself. >> Wow.
>> Wow.
>> And that just made me feel a part of
something for the first time in my life.
It wasn't even my clients, my close
friends, my family. This group of
spiritual brothers and sisters that knew
how to get through life one day at a
time uh without, you know, relapsing or
picking up became closer than my family.
As close as I was to my family, it's
hard to even say that, but they they
were it was like they just understood
everything about my thought process and
I became immersed into it. And then
after a year, my sponsor, Steve, who's
like my spiritual brother, he's got 38
years now, uh, calls me up on my one-y
year birthday and says, "It feels pretty
good, right?" I said, "Yep." He goes,
"All right, look, you've been a taker.
You've been coming to meetings and
taking, taking, taking, but you got to
start doing is giving back." And he
goes, "You've got a platform with the
people you know around the world that
you don't need to disclose the exact
name of the fellowship. You could say a
12step recovery fellowship has changed
your life. And he just said, "But you're
sober." He goes, "I got a feeling you're
going to help a lot of people around the
world." And I did it. And that's when
everything changed.
>> I realized that, wow, this is uh this is
unbelievable. There's a lot of people
out there that need help.
>> Yeah. Darren, you know, I'm listening to
your story and and I I wasn't realizing
until you get got to the end of of about
you being a taker and you got to be a
giver and when you started saying that
you at that point in time you have the
platform, you got all the top people
around you. >> Yeah.
>> Yeah.
>> You you were you
were at the top of the mountain. >> Yeah.
>> Yeah.
>> But at the same time, it seems like you
lost yourself.
>> Yeah. I lost myself. I had no sense of
fulfillment. Um
the money and the success and the
notoriety didn't mean anything anymore
because you're just looking to uh wake
up in peace and to just find that
happiness again. And what I thought
was real happiness which was the
external success and all that validation
wasn't it you know until I started doing
the work. um you know putting a year
together, two years, three years
together, giving back, starting my own 501c3,
501c3,
um charity, you know, writing the book,
um you know, everything I do on my
personal development from, you know, and
all the biohack and everything else that
I do because just like my guy David
Gogggins, I wanted to be uncommon
amongst the uncommon in recovery,
>> right? Because a lot of times they talk
about the 12 steps and the 10th step is
about continue to take your personal
inventory and when you're wrong promptly
admit it. That's a step for everybody in
life. You don't need to be an addict or
an alcoholic. But why do we want to keep
taking our personal inventory when we're
wrong promptly admit it? Why don't we
get to the root cause of that character
defect and get rid of it?
>> So through meditation, breath work, NLP,
um frequency work, everything else that
I do to go deep into my subconscious on
a daily basis. Um, yeah. I I I want to
get to the root cause of everything
>> is I want to be a higher version of
myself the next day.
>> That's amazing there. You know, a lot of
people are always consistently moving
around in that train of success,
>> right? Where you can lose yourself very
quickly. And
what what is one thing that you can uh
really share with the audience
be because when you're in that that that
train of success, right, and things are
just happening and you're going up
climbing that mountain and you're
getting exposed to a lot of the
different vices, you're going to
parties, you're doing this and it's it's
like happy time, right? But at the same
time, you get stuck into this thing
where it's almost like
you start thinking about it and you know
that you're doing something wrong, but
then you just say, "Oh, I'll just change tomorrow.
