Before he embodied characters like Machete and Tortuga on the screen, Danny Trejo had several ups and downs as he got caught up in the world of gangs and violence from a very young age. The actor was reportedly first arrested at the age of 10 and later developed an addiction to drugs and alcohol. He had served time in prison several times before he eventually decided to overcome his troubles and move on from his criminal past.
However, the stories always stayed with him, one of which included the cult leader Charles Manson. The Breaking Bad actor recalled his encounter with Manson and how he was hypnotized by the notorious criminal in his memoir Trejo.
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Danny Trejo Recalled His Encounter With Charles Manson
In his memoir, Trejo, actor Danny Trejo opened up about the time he met one of the most infamous criminals of all time, Charles Manson. He shared the incident of being hypnotized by Manson during his prison stint in Los Angeles County Jail in the 1960s.
The Spy Kids actor described him as “a greasy, dirty, scrawny white boy” who told Trejo and his cellmates that he “could get [them] high” with his hypnotic powers. “By the time he described it hitting my bloodstream, I felt the warmth flowing through my body,” he recalled in his book, describing it as a guided meditation.
Trejo said in his book that he felt sorry for him as he was too small to protect himself. He also stated that Manson could have been a professional hypnotist if he had not been in jail before adding that “he was, in fact, a career criminal.”
Charles Manson is infamously known for leading the Manson Family, a cult based in California. He was convicted of first-degree murder in the killings of seven people, including actress Sharon Tate, and conspiracy to commit murder in 1971. He died in prison in 2017 while serving his life sentence.
Danny Trejo Opens Up About His Traumatizing Childhood
The 79-year-old actor Danny Trejo opened up about his traumatizing childhood during his appearance on Bialik Breakdown. The actor shared that he had struggled with drug and alcohol abuse and had served time in several prisons.
He shared that growing up he was “drunk three days out of the week.” He also recalled how he was introduced to and addicted to substance abuse at the age of eight and believed that it was a kind act of sharing. “When I talk to psychiatrists, they say, ‘That was abuse.’ Well, I thought it was sharing,” he told Mayim Bialik.
However, the From Dusk Till Dawn actor believes that everything in his life happened for a reason. “Everything that happened to me happened the way it was supposed to,” he said. Trejo also shared that he was able to come clean thanks to his time in solitary confinement.
He got his first acting job in the 1985 movie Runaway Train after he visited the movie set to help someone struggling with substance abuse. One of the movie’s screenwriters, Edward Bunker, noticed him and offered him a role in the movie and he has since become Hollywood’s one of the most prolific actors.
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