Terry Crews Describes Power of Forgiveness Conquering Addiction
By Movieguide® Contributor
Terry Crews suffered from a secret pornography addiction for over ten years, and he recalled the power that addiction held over him, remembering how scary it was that he couldn’t stop.
“Everything [in my life] on the outside looked fantastic…but on the inside, I had a total addiction to pornography,” Crews told TBN. “And it was one of those things where, you know, it’s kinda like people with alcohol, people say, ‘I can quit any time,’ but when you don’t want to do it and you do it anyway, it’s like, ‘What is happening? What is going on?”
“And slowly but surely I started losing my grip on everything. It started to color the way I saw everybody in my life…” he continued. “And one thing that feeds pornography is your beliefs. And I, being the card carrying, football playing, masculine super-guy, I believed I was more valuable than my wife and kids.”
He previously said that fame made confessing even harder.
“Success is the warmest place to hide,” Crews explained. “I had so many people that were telling me I was great and there was no problem. Hollywood didn’t care. It still doesn’t care if you lose your family, it happens every day.”
Though he was secretly struggling with this addiction and trying to get through it on his own, after years without success, he finally felt God prompting him to confess to his wife. Taking a bold step in faith, he followed the Lord’s calling and immediately faced the crushing weight of his past.
His wife was furious and kicked him out of the house, telling him their marriage was over. However, God was not done with his story, and Crews began to seek help to overcome this sin.
“The best piece of advice I ever got was from a good friend of mine, he was the first guy I called when Rebecca was like, ‘Don’t come home.’ He said, ‘Terry, you need to get better for you.’ You have to understand that was a watershed moment,” Crews said. “In my culture, as a man in sports, you do things to get things. You do good things to get cookies, you know? You work hard to get money…but to actually improve just for yourself, that was a foreign thought.”
READ MORE: REBECCA CREWS SHARES HOW GOD RESTORED HER RELATIONSHIP WITH TERRY CREWS
Crews took that advice to heart, and soon after, he entered into rehab to overcome his addiction. That was the step that brought his wife back to him because she knew that he was serious about getting better.
“When my husband sat me down and said, ‘I’m going [to therapy]’ I was shocked. I was shocked because this was somebody who I knew protected his public image tremendously,” Rebecca Crews told TBN. “There was something about that decision that just made me know he is for real; now I’m gonna have to forgive him. And God said to me, ‘How are you going to preach the Gospel and you won’t live it?’ This is where rubber meets the road. Forgiveness is the highest calling of Christianity. You are no more Christian than when you love those who do not deserve it.”
Since restoring their marriage, the couple has been open about that struggle and encouraged anyone facing addiction or secrets to find help before it destroys their life.
“Through years and years, me and my wife, we went through tears, we went through pain, we went through counseling, we went through prayer, we went through everything and we were able to rebuild our marriage stronger than ever,” Crews said. “Now, I thank God every day, every day that our marriage was rebuilt.”
READ MORE: TERRY CREWS TALKS BEING BORN AGAIN: ‘THE RESET BUTTON’