From fame and success in Tinseltown to the horrifying throes of drug and alcohol addiction, and now along the ongoing soul-searching path of recovery and redemption.
That is what Dwayne Higgins has experienced. He is now ready to share his story in his new book, From Reel To Real.
Higgins, 49, was in Innisfail recently promoting the book and visiting his mother Pat Lawrence, a 30-year resident of Innisfail and member of the Innisfail Alliance Church.
“This book is a journey ordained by God, for God,” said Higgins. “It's an epic journey from addiction to recovery to redemption.”
The book chronicles Higgins' life and work in Hollywood for close to two decades. “I had a very successful career. It took 15 years to build and in 2000 (during) a writers' and actors' strike there was no work for over a year. That's when my addictions crept in,” he said, noting the heavy drinking and addiction to cocaine, prescription pain pills and Valium.
Higgins made a name for himself, both behind the scenes working in props and special effects on movie sets, and art directing, as well as in front of the camera in roles on the soap opera Days of Our Lives and in television commercials.
Within a short two-year period his seemingly perfect life fell apart.
“Between 2000 and 2002 I lost my daughter and common-law wife (Janelle) because of addiction. I lost a house. I lost my cars. I lost my friends. I lost my career, and I found my best friend (from the hit TV Show Rosanne) Glenn Quinn dead on my couch from a heroin overdose,” said Higgins.
Following his third drunk driving conviction and a short three-month stay in a Los Angeles County jail in 2003, he was sent to Immigration with nothing but a bag of clothes. He was deported back to Canada.
When he returned he again got hooked on pain pills and began using heroin. “I couldn't pull out of the slump. I've had three suicide attempts in my life,” he said, noting one attempt took place here in Innisfail.
“I came to Innisfail, to my mom's, to get off of the drugs and there was booze in her house. I did one shot, finished the bottle and dove four storeys off her balcony,” he said.
Higgins had a long road to recovery that included detox. That is where Higgins' story began to change direction.
“I'm a Christian. That's where God's mercy and grace pulled me out of the muck and the mire,” said Higgins, noting his book details more than just Hollywood life and addictions, but also the courage and the faith he needed to overcome the devastation in his life.
“I'm in the hospital and God put a Christian nurse in my path. One day that Christian nurse shows up with an eight by 10 picture called Forgiven by Thomas Blackshear. That began the transformation process,” said Higgins. “Throughout my entire life I've always believed in God and believed in Jesus. I believed but I wasn't a follower.
“I had such devastation. My life had to crumble completely until I found Christ,” he added
Today Higgins lives in Vancouver and is focusing his time on sharing his story and promoting his new book From Reel To Real.
The book is available online at www.Amazon.ca and www.Amazon.com, www.chapters.indigo.ca and at www.barnesandnoble.com. It can now also be purchased at Chapters in Red Deer.
For more information visit www.fromreeltoreal.com
Dwayne Higgins
"This book is a journey ordained by God, for God. It's an epic journey from addiction to recovery to redemption."
