“There’s something to be said for pulling yourself out of the grind for a period of time and concentrating on recalibrating the system,” said Jon Hamm.

Actor Jon Hamm, 45, is best known for his eight years on AMC’s hit show Mad Men, during which Hamm starred as the deeply flawed ad executive Don Draper, a charming alcoholic and womanizer in a successful ad agency in the 1960s.

Hamm recently gave a candid interview to Mr. Porter’s Journal, during which he talked about his 30-day stay in an alcohol treatment facility. “It has all these connotations, but it’s just an extended period of talking about yourself,” said Hamm. “People go for all sorts of reasons, not all of which are chemically related. But there’s something to be said for pulling yourself out of the grind for a period of time and concentrating on recalibrating the system. And it works. It’s great.”

Hamm’s parents had divorced when he was two, and he lived with his mother until she lost her battle with cancer when he was 10 years old. After that, Hamm went to live with his father, who he spoke fondly of. “I was always fascinated by my dad because he could talk to anyone,” he said. “He was a great listener and he knew a little bit about a lot of things. I aspired to be like that.”

But tragically, his father died when the actor was only 20. He was suffering terribly, so one of his half-sisters convinced him to go into therapy.

He told the Journal, “After I’d lost my dad, I had this horrible paralyzing inertia—and no one in my family was capable of dealing with it. So what do you do? Go and see a professional. I preach it from the mountaintops.”

The actor is sensitive to the fact that not everyone is as fortunate as he’s been, and said about the high cost of therapy, “I know it’s a luxury and it’s not something everyone can afford. But if you can, do it. It’s like a mental gym.”

As for many stars before him, life in the public eye proved difficult. “It is not easy having immediate and huge-scale fame thrust upon you,” he said. “I’m a pretty shy person. I like talking to people one-on-one, but I do not like people taking pictures of me with 400mm lenses across the street.”

Society’s hunger for celebrity pics seemed to irk him. “It’s mystifying to me why we give that any time in our culture,” he said.

The actor refrained from discussing the end of his long-term relationship with actor and director Jennifer Westfeldt. The two never married but were committed to each other for 18 years.

About their split Hamm said, “It’s very personal and specific and I think people tend to draw their own conclusions about that anyway.”

Hamm is now promoting his upcoming film, Keeping Up with the Joneses, which opens Oct. 21.

See more articles by Dorri Olds for The Fix

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Showtime’s Ray Donovan is my favorite show. Brilliant writing, brilliant cast including Steven Bauer.

The magazine also quoted an unnamed source, who said, “He loves working on Ray Donovan and wants everyone to know he’s back on the straight and narrow … His mom, son Alexander and girlfriend, Lyda Loudon, have been there for him. He’s serious about staying sober.”

The actor is probably best known for his role as the drug dealer Manny Ribera in Brian De Palma’s movie, Scarface. He also played Mexican drug cartel boss, Don Eladio, in Breaking Bad.

Bauer has lived through quite a few upheavals in life. His first marriage was to actress Melanie Griffith in the ’80s. The couple parted ways in 1989. His next three marriages also ended in divorce.

Griffith and Bauer have remained friends. Radar Online reported last week that Griffith has been helping Bauer with his addiction, fearing that if he “didn’t get help fast, he was going to die,” said an anonymous source.

They added, “Steven has type 2 diabetes and pancreas problems. He was still doing a lot of drugs, mostly cocaine, which he’d been doing since at least the early ’80s!” Apparently his addiction was affecting his work on Ray Donovan and Showtime producers warned him “to straighten up or he’d be off the show.”

In a 1990 article in People, Griffith spoke about her marriage to Bauer and their use of cocaine. “We were wild but it was more me than him,” she said. “He was doing it too, but he didn’t have a problem with it. He tried to get me not to do drugs.”

Bauer said about using coke, “I was carelessly casual about it. It was as natural as the ingestion of liquor. But it hurt me in more than a few ways. I behaved irresponsibly when I should have been professional.”

SEE ALSO:

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A team of animal rescuers deliver abandoned dogs to a Massachusetts correctional facility where inmates train and prepare the dogs for adoption. Connected by their troubled pasts, the dogs learn to have faith in people again while the inmates learn how to get outside of themselves to be a useful member of society.

I was very touched by the movie and grateful I had the opportunity to sit down with both filmmakers and my favorite “star” in the movie, prisoner Candido Santiago.

Dorri Olds: What were you in prison for?

Candido Santiago: I used to sell drugs. I was young. I was 27 when I went in and came out when I was 37.

Would you say that this dog-training program rehabilitates prisoners?

Yes, it does and in a big way. It depends on the person, too. He has to want to change. For me, I knew I had to take responsibility for my own actions first. I had to stop thinking it was everyone else’s fault. “I’m having a bad day, so it’s society’s fault or my boss’ fault.” I used to use a lot of things as an excuse for my actions. But no one else can dictate your actions. I figured I was a product of my environment so it was OK. I was very ignorant and self-absorbed. I was a little naïve as well. It’s harder to go against the grain.

Do you mean that the people around you were selling drugs, too?

Yes, I used to hang out with a few guys who sold drugs as well. My schedule was going into a club at 10 o’clock at night and staying till it closed, and I just sold drugs. It’s not life. It really isn’t. You’ve gotta watch your back from getting robbed, you’ve gotta watch cops.

Did you carry a gun?

Yes, I did. I was also charged with that.

Did you ever hurt anybody?

No, thankfully, I never did. I kept it because I was in fear of getting hurt.

I asked about the gun because I worry about people with a violent history being around the dogs. Are prisoners vetted first?

They check into all of that for the program. If you had a violent past where you actually hurt someone, like violent domestic abuse or any mistreatment towards animals, they wouldn’t put you in.

Watch an excerpt of this interview:

Were any prisoners asked to leave the program because they became physical with a dog?

No, we were all trained by a woman who was a very good trainer. She taught us to have patience. It took a lot of bribery with treats. Dogs love treats. We persuaded them. Some were skittish, like Sam. He was very afraid. I put half my body in the crate in order to get him to feel comfortable with me. It took time. I didn’t just go in the crate. It took a few days. I would get close, and he would growl. I’d wait. Give it time. I’d walk away, but still talk to him. “Hey, Buddy, don’t worry. I got you.”

Dogs fill a loneliness, right?

Yes, and trust me, I know. Prison is a lonely place. You don’t know when you’re gonna get the next visit or the next letter. In a 10-year period, I saw my parents maybe once a year. Sometimes I wouldn’t see them for a year and a half. They lived in Brooklyn, and I was in the prison in Massachusetts. I understood they had a life. Nothing was going to be put on hold just because I put myself in prison.

What kind of work did you get when you left prison?

I got a construction job. I was very honest. I said, “I was incarcerated for drugs. I was very young and dumb. I made a lot of bad choices that led me to have to go to prison, but I won’t miss a day. I will do whatever it takes to stay [at the job].” [The boss] didn’t judge me. He just said, “Start tomorrow.” I was really blessed.

How long have you been there?

A year. Ever since I got out.

THE FILMMAKERS

Dorri Olds: What was the seed that planted this idea?

Co-Director Brean Cunningham: We were looking for a story that would make people feel better after seeing it. We really wanted to focus on dogs. I started digging around on the Internet and found this program, “Don’t Throw Us Away USA.” I contacted the founder and pitched her the idea of this film and the magic of the human-animal connection. She loved the idea, and the process began with Doug [Seirup] and I going for it.

Watch more excerpts of this interview:

Did this experience change your opinion of prisoners?

Co-Director Douglas Seirup: Absolutely. In the media, all you see are stereotypes. I think it helped not knowing what we were getting into. We didn’t have any reservations. When we first went to the prison to interview inmates, we didn’t bring cameras. We just wanted to establish trust. What made it easy were the dogs. The dogs served as the brokers to our conversations. It was really amazing.

Cunningham: We operated under the glass half-full assumption. Of course, you never forget where you are, which is prison. They’re not all great guys like Candido [Santiago], but where we were, it was minimum security, and we felt it was very humane.

Watch the trailer for “Dogs on the Inside:”

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