{"id":3827,"date":"2026-01-25T03:50:15","date_gmt":"2026-01-25T03:50:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usanews1.net\/?p=3827"},"modified":"2026-01-25T03:50:15","modified_gmt":"2026-01-25T03:50:15","slug":"this-hollywood-stars-real-life-story-is-far-more-gripping","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usanews1.net\/?p=3827","title":{"rendered":"This Hollywood star\u2019s real-life story is far more gripping"},"content":{"rendered":"
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From New Jersey to Fame<\/strong><\/p>\n

Andrew McCarthy grew up far from Hollywood and often felt out of place.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just felt sort of very lonely at school.<\/p>\n

I just didn\u2019t feel like I belonged there,\u201d he recalled.<\/p>\n

After being expelled from NYU, an open casting call launched his acting career overnight.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Brat Pack and Struggle<\/strong><\/p>\n

In the mid-\u201980s, films like St. Elmo\u2019s Fire<\/em> and Pretty in Pink<\/em> made him a teen idol.<\/p>\n

Fame, however, unsettled him.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was totally unprepared for any kind of success,\u201d<\/p>\n

he said, admitting alcohol gave him false confidence:<\/p>\n

\u201cIf I was frightened, it gave me good Dutch courage.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Hitting Bottom<\/strong><\/p>\n

His drinking worsened until his late 20s.<\/p>\n

After years he called \u201clost and painful,\u201d McCarthy entered<\/p>\n

rehab at 29 and committed to sobriety, reshaping his life.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

A Second Act<\/strong><\/p>\n

He became a director, acclaimed travel writer, and father.<\/p>\n

Looking back, he says, \u201cI don\u2019t have a lot of nostalgia for my past.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\"\"<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

From New Jersey to Fame Andrew McCarthy grew up far from Hollywood and often felt out of place. \u201cI just felt sort of very lonely at school. I just didn\u2019t feel like I belonged there,\u201d he recalled. After being expelled from NYU, an open casting call launched his acting career overnight. Brat Pack and Struggle…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3828,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_kad_post_transparent":"default","_kad_post_title":"default","_kad_post_layout":"default","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"default","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"default","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"_kad_post_classname":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3827","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"aioseo_notices":[],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usanews1.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3827","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usanews1.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usanews1.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usanews1.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usanews1.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3827"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/usanews1.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3827\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3829,"href":"https:\/\/usanews1.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3827\/revisions\/3829"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usanews1.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3828"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usanews1.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3827"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usanews1.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3827"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usanews1.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3827"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}