'What I realized is, I didn't want to die alone. I wanted a family, I wanted partnership, I wanted to have children'
Adrian Grenier, an actor best known for his portrayal of Vincent Chase on HBO’s "Entourage," discussed how he went from being "Godless" in an industry that "seemed shady" to "finding a new way of being in the world" in an interview with Jordan Peterson.
"Growing up in New York, there's a little bit of nihilism, Godless[ness], you know. And this was now the overlay of my ego, which was, ‘See? You know, I am the man, I, you know, I got the part.’ And people are, you know, approving of me," Grenier said.
"I didn't believe in God…I was open and poly and, you know, liberal and I thought I was a good person, I really did," he continued. "It wasn't until I was in my 40s and the love of my life who I was dating at the time, she dumped me and she, in no uncertain terms, said, ‘You’re the worst.’"
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Actor Adrian Grenier reacts during CoinGeek Conference New York at Sheraton Times Square on October 06, 2021 in New York City. (Photo by Eugene Gologursky/Getty Images for CoinGeek )
"I really just wanted pleasure. I was hedonistic, I was seeking, you know, the next hit… I [was] still [an] adolescent punk," Grenier admitted.
The "Entourage" star, who went on to say that he "didn’t trust" the "shady" nature of Hollywood, credited the breakup for opening the door to a "long, deep and dark" path that led him down a "multi-year dark night of the soul" that ended with him cutting out "all the distractions and all the indulgences" as he grounded himself in a camper outside of Austin, Texas.
"I started building a community garden, and I was just digging in the soil and planting and digging and working, meditating and cooking," he said. "I just kept doing the work, kept doing the work, got really healthy, worked out…the grounding was profound and that's when I realized that I wanted to change my whole life."
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Actors Stanley Tucci, Meryl Streep, Adrian Grenier, Anne Hathaway, Emily Blunt and Daniel Sunjata attend the 20th Century Fox premiere of The Devil Wears Prada at the Loews Lincoln Center Theatre on June 19, 2006 in New York City. (Photo by Evan Agostini/Getty Images) (Evan Agostini/Getty Images)
Grenier, who said he started "listening to wiser people" like Peterson, continued, "There’s so much wisdom and education that I hadn't tapped into because I was distracted and so, I was seeking advice from elders and counsel from friends, and starting to orient myself with people who I saw as having living a life that I think that I might want."
"What I realized is, I didn't want to die alone. I wanted a family, I wanted partnership, I wanted to have children," the 47-year-old relayed.
"[I] had to come out the other end awkward and finding, you know, a new way of being in the world," "The Devil Wears Prada" actor added.
Grenier went on to say that his ex-girlfriend, Jordan Roemmele, was now his wife and the mother of his child, and a driving force that catapulted his life changes. "She's a smart, intuitive woman, so she knew exactly where I should look. So, she gave me a map and I started to look [at my life] and she was right," he said.
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After two decades in the limelight, actor Adrian Grenier chose to leave Hollywood behind for a more "grounded lifestyle" in Texas. (Rodin Eckenroth/Getty Images)
"She gave me a list," Grenier continued. "She was thorough, she was nice enough to give me a list [and said], take a look at how you're drinking, think about how you're using sex, take a look at all these things [and] lose my number… It was almost like a glitch in the matrix."
"I had to convince her that I had changed," the New Mexico-born performer said. "I wasn't expecting to be back with her, but we fell in love again."
The couple now run a homestead on Kintsugi Ranch together in Texas with their baby boy, Seiko Aurelius Grenier. "My biggest honor is that I get to hold space for her to be the best mom she can be for my son," Grenier said.
Alba Cuebas-Fantauzzi is a freelance production assistant at Fox News Digital.
