Jeff Hardy Interview
Posted by David Damage on Monday, January 16, 2012
Under: Interviews
Jeff Hardy recently spoke about his drug and alcohol use, working for TNA, his music and more. Check out the highlights:
On support from his fans: "I've got my hardcore fans, and I thank them so much for being there for me and not giving up on me."
On his drug problems: "I really believe that people learn from examples
and through problems themselves. OK, my brother [Matt] and myself, for
example, we never drank. We never did drugs. Nothing. I was 21, 22, when
I started drinking beer, in wrestling, and then it escalated. It's easy
to do. It's easy to get addicted, but if you never start, you'll never
have to stop. That's the best advice I can give anybody. I'm back to a
place now where I was before, where I don't need a pill to go paint a
canvas. That's my new fix is doing it again. It took a while to get
there, but I'm here, and I'm a father now as well. That's another huge
inspiration in my life. You look back and you go, ‘Why was I doing what I
was doing?' It takes a while, but after when you do sober up and months
go by, you kind of look back. I was lost. I was like, ‘What the he##
was I doing?' It's crazy. Early remission was a great gift for me, and
then it's just been steady climbing. So the best advice to kids is do
what you love. Also, never start [alcohol, drugs], and you'll never have
to stop."
On working in TNA: "Everybody here in TNA, there's
so much talent here, and I'm so excited where these guys are going to go
in the next 20 years. I'm thrilled to be able to help them now while
I'm still good at my game. The future's exciting, and it's been great."
On his entrance theme: "One cool thing is my theme music, it's my third
theme music that I've done on my own, and it really tells a good story
about getting one more shot and being resurrected as far as my personal
life and being in such a good place right now, after all I've been
through."
On his music: "If I had one wish, I'd love to be
able to sing. I love music. I love writing songs, but I'm not a good
singer. So that's why I throw in the rap type rock mix. I have so much
fun with that. There's nothing more fun to me than my guitar player
sending me an instrumental track and then translating what you hear into
a musical language. Somebody else might write a song differently, but
what I hear, what the music tells me, words come so naturally to me.
It's just really fun for me, and then to hear the finished product, it's
just the best pay-off ever."
On writing songs: "I keep a
notebook with me at all times, even years go, when I started writing
poetry. The chorus of a sing is pretty important, but to me that first
line means so much. It grabs you. So whenever that pops into my head,
even if it's when I wake up in the middle of the night, I have to jot it
down, because you will forget it over time. ‘Oh my God. I can't
remember.' So I make sure to write it down right away."
On his
art: "Math was so hard for me, and I liked U.S. history, but art was
always my exceeding point. I was always straight A's in art, and I
almost went to graphic design school, but I gave wrestling a chance. A
little over a year after graduating high school, we signed a
developmental deal. So it worked out, but art has always been a part of
my life. Originality is so important to me, and the idea with canvases
and paintings is it's your own little world you're creating. You know
what that painting means. You bring something to life. It's abstract. A
lot of my art is abstract. I love the idea of doing something nobody
else has done. I love art of all forms, and it's really a huge influence
in my life."
On his YouTube channel: "I have these ideas,
whether it's funny or strange or an enigmatic thing I want to film. I
film it, and I put it on YouTube. I bring that vision to reality, and I
enjoy that. To see my wife put that together for me and to see that
finished product is great. Being an enigma is a great thing, and I want
to add to that in my arsenal. Just some strange stuff that doesn't
necessarily makes sense, but it's cool. I like doing things, attempting
things that haven't been done, and I'm building a pretty good
collection."
On Matt's problems: "Through everything that has
happened recently, to see Matt now, I think he's doing really well.
"Even with my daughter now, I kind of know how my dad feels."
On his dad: "My dad's older. He's 78. We lost our mom when we were real
young. The visions that I have, I think they keep me as modest as I am,
and I remain down to earth. Our connection is really special to me — him
[Gilbert] being my hero, and after my mom died, taking care of us.
Myself, Matt and my dad, there's a bond there that should be stronger
than anything, and to me it is. Hopefully Matt can think more along the
lines of how special our dad is and just cherish every moment he is here
with us, because he will be gone one day. Every daughter should, every
son should care about their loved ones."
In : Interviews