Tuesday 12 July 2022 10:54 PM Terminator star Edward Furlong reveals he is four years sober and shows off his ... trends now

He was a child star who shot to fame as John Connor in Terminator 2 and Danny Vinyard in American History X and appeared alongside Hollywood greats, including Arnold Schwarzenegger, Meryl Streep, Ed Norton and Liam Neeson.

But Edward Furlong's twenties saw him descend into a hell of meth and heroin abuse that persisted through the birth of his son Ethan, now 15, and led to multiple arrests.

Now, over five years after his last brush with the law – a 2016 conviction for being under the influence of drugs – Furlong, 44, is sober and has been for over four years.

The dad-of-one is also relaunching his movie career and recently finished filming in Texas with Brad Keller – a producer and director who worked on 1991 thriller JFK – on a project called Charlie's Horse.

His new lease on life also includes a fresh set of teeth: his own had rotted due to years of meth use and he describes his new ones, which he got from LA experts Global Implant Dentistry, as being part of his 'second chance'.

Speaking in an exclusive interview with DailyMail.com, Furlong said: 'It feels great to be back on set and sober too.

'I didn't feel hungover when I went to work. There's other sober people at work which is weird because if you're not sober, you're not hanging out with the other sober people. It was cool.

'I really enjoyed it and I feel like I can be more in the moment. I love to work. We'll see what happens.'

Joking, he added: 'Hopefully I won't end up having to be a prostitute or something like that.'

Furlong says it took him some time to come around to the idea of having his teeth 'ripped out' and replaced but admits it has been worth it.

The 44-year-old said: 'It sounds weird for me to be talking about teeth because I don't live and breathe the way I look but every time I looked in the mirror, it just bummed me out as a reminder of what I had done for all those years.

'It's nice to get a second chance. It was a no-brainer, I'm super glad I did it.'

Furlong was just 13 when he was plucked out of obscurity by director James Cameron to take on the central role of John Connor in Terminator 2: Judgment Day.

He said: 'The whole thing was a shock. I don't know if I ever completely absorbed it. Picked up from nowhere, just auditioned for it and before I knew it, I was doing it. I was in the movie. 

'When I look back on it, I'm like damn, that's pretty crazy. When I was younger, I was pretty driven and somehow manifested that into my life.

'It was pretty awe-inspiring. I loved movies and I'd seen Terminator but had no idea how it was made.

'I remember the first day like it was yesterday – getting up at four in the morning and really hating life.

'Getting to set and just seeing how a hundred people are doing different jobs. There's so much that goes into it and learning very quickly that this is actually a really boring process.

'When you're running away from a piece of tape or whatever and then you see it all together with the music – you're like wow, these people really know what they're doing. It's pretty wild!'

But the instant fame and slew of awards masked trouble behind the scenes.

Furlong says however successful he appeared, he always felt like 'I was pulling something over on everyone' and was terrified people might find out who he really was.'

'I had a lot of awesome things happen but everything comes with a price, nothing is free,' he added. 

'When I was younger, I didn't have too many people looking out for me and I was left to run wild.

'I didn't know how to manage my money. If I was older, I wouldn't have made so many bad decisions.'

First came marijuana, alcohol, and magic mushrooms. Then, as he hit his twenties and embarked on near-daily parties, cocaine and heroin were added to the mix – one to help him stay awake, the other to get him to sleep.

'I was never a normal teenager. I had a very un-normal life. I was almost destined for [drug addiction]. In a weird way, I never really felt like I fit in,' he said. 

'So, when I was high, I had camaraderie with other people. Just drinking and partying. All of a sudden, I felt like I was with people and I fit in somehow. That's how it started.