Married at First Sight alum Doug Hehner overdosed on opioids practically 12 years in the past — however he solely simply informed his spouse, Jamie Otis, the story.
“We’re recording the podcast and someway [it] at all times turns into a remedy session for us,” Otis, 37, mentioned in a tearful Instagram video on Thursday, July 27. “The five-star overview [a listener submitted], somebody talked about the lack of her brother from medicine after which it simply prompted Doug to really feel like he may open up somewhat bit extra about all that he was going by and a time that he nearly died from his drug dependancy that I didn’t even find out about.”
Otis — who married Hehner, 39, throughout season 1 of Married at First Sight in 2014 — broke down in tears as she recapped what they spoke about on their “Sizzling Marriage Cool Dad and mom” podcast.
“I at all times knew my hubby was hiding one thing from me – I didn’t know precisely what although,” Otis — who shares two kids with Hehner — captioned her Instagram add. “I bear in mind a time in the course of the holidays that I used to be along with his household & they mentioned ‘When Doug’s able to let you know, he’ll.’ I requested Doug what on earth they had been speaking about however in fact, he didn’t say. I felt like an outsider wanting in. It harm to know there was some form of secret that nobody needed to inform me.”
Doug Hehner and Jamie Otis MediaPunch/Shutterstock
Otis continued: “Little did I do know — my hubby was solely hiding bc he was ashamed. He felt responsible. He felt embarrassed. And his household was defending him. It’s taken us practically a decade, however my husband informed me all the pieces. … I’m so happy with my hubby. He’s now not hiding. He’s free. And I can see his real happiness.”
Throughout the Wednesday, July 26, episode of their podcast, Hehner detailed his dependancy battle.
“There was one time the place my sister needed to wake me up as a result of she heard me coughing in my sleep,” he recalled. “I don’t know if I ever talked about this [to you, Jamie]. … This was unhealthy. Being ashamed of one thing for therefore lengthy and never desirous to deliver it up, it’s actually troublesome [because] you need to black out lots of the unhealthy issues that occurred.”
Hehner — who was residing along with his mother and father on the time — was gurgling in his sleep, which apprehensive his sister. By the point he wakened, a police officer and an EMT had been standing above him. “I used to be unresponsive and [had] shallow respiration, from what they mentioned,” he recalled. “However I wasn’t waking up.”
As he remembered seeing his mother and father’ faces from contained in the ambulance on his method to the hospital, Hehner broke down in tears. “I used to be simply grateful to be alive, how shut it may have been to not being right here,” he mentioned. “I haven’t considered that shortly.”
Otis chimed in, noting that regardless of “9 and half years married” she didn’t know the depths of Doug’s struggles and shared her assist for her partner. She defined that his story was not a shameful one as a result of “dependancy is a illness.”
Hehner is at present sober and defined in Wednesday’s episode that he’s midway by the method of weaning off Suboxone, a prescription treatment used to deal with adults with an opioid dependancy.
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In case you or anybody you recognize is going through substance abuse points, name the Substance Abuse and Psychological Well being Companies Administration’s Nationwide Helpline at 1-800-662-4357 at no cost and confidential info 24/7.
