Whatever Happened To Steve-O?
Out of all of the guys in the Jackass crew, Steve-O might have been the most unhinged. Forever shirtless so as to show off his ridiculous tattoos, he was the guy you could always count on for the stuff nobody else on the show was willing to do—or would even think of doing. Who else would snort wasabi, walk a tightrope over a gator pit, or allow himself to be flung into the sky inside a portable toilet? No one but Steve-O. But the man born Stephen Glover has matured and softened—and gotten sober—since the last Jackass movie came out. Here's what you may not know.
He's gotten more tattoos
One of Steve-O's most memorable gimmicks is his willingness to get funny tattoos. (For example, he let Henry Rollins tattoo him during a rough ATV ride, and he has another one on his back that's a picture of himself with the caption, "Yeah dude, I rock!") At one point, he was trying to copy all of Angelina Jolie's tattoos, even the ones she's had removed. That means that while Jolie no longer has "Billy Bob" (as in ex-husband Billy Bob Thornton) tattooed on her arm, Steve-O still does. He likes tattoos so much he once dated famed tattoo artist and LA Ink star Kat Von D. She gave him a self-portrait of himself as a baby on his forearm (they later broke up).
He's done a little acting
Steve-O has taken his talents to the big screen. In 2015, he co-starred in the indie action comedy Barely Lethal, starring Hailee Steinfeld (True Grit, Pitch Perfect 2) as a teen secret agent who fakes her death, escapes her prisonlike spy academy, and disappears into an American high school. The villain (played by Samuel L. Jackson) tracks her down and forces his toady Pedro (played by Steve-O with his customary gusto) to torture her and inject her with a truth serum. He's also gotten into voiceover work, appearing in an episode of the Adult Swim animated series Mr. Pickles.
He was institutionalized
In 2008, Steve-O sent out an email to his Jackass cohorts to ask them to help him film one of his most insane stunt ideas ever: a 25-foot free-fall onto concrete. The message also included the line "I'm ready to die," which his old buddy Johnny Knoxville took as an implicit declaration of an intent to commit suicide. Knoxville forcibly took Steve-O to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, where he had him placed on suicide watch; he ultimately spent two weeks in the mental health ward, and says he benefited greatly from the group therapy sessions. He remarked in an email to the media that during his stay he realized there was more to life than making "people giggle at my random acts of silliness."
He developed a deep relationship with Mike Tyson
Steve-O once crashed a house party in the Hollywood Hills. Mike Tyson answered the door (hey, it's the Hollywood Hills) and let him in because he had a large amount of cocaine, which the two ended up consuming in a bathroom over the course of three hours. Steve-O said they had deep conversations about how to solve all of the world's problems, including racism—and they ran into each other again when they were both placed under psychiatric observation in the same hospital. It was there that Steve-O concocted a stunt in which he wanted to run into Tyson's fist to see if he could knock himself out. Tyson wouldn't let him do it.
He was the perpetrator and victim of some nastiness at a celebrity roast
In 2011, the subject of Comedy Central's annual roast was sitcom actor and party monster Charlie Sheen. Steve-O was on the dais and gave a stand-up set which was filled with the expected jokes about Sheen's drug use and promiscuity, and he also made fun of his fellow panelists, cracking that "the last time this many nobodies were at a roast, at least Great White was playing." For that last line, a reference to the 2003 fire at a nightclub where the rock band Great White was playing in which 100 people were killed, he earned some boos; to his credit, he apologized and asked Comedy Central to edit it out of the broadcast. They complied, and Steve-O at least tried to end the roast on a "positive" note: his old pal Mike Tyson was in attendance, and he finally let Steve-O run into his fist. He ended up breaking his nose.
He got into a feud with Amy Schumer
Also during the Charlie Sheen roast, comedian Amy Schumer made a joke about Ryan Dunn, Steve-O's Jackass co-star who had died in a drunk driving accident just a few days earlier. "I truly am sorry for the loss of your friend Ryan Dunn," she quipped. "I know you must have been thinking 'It could have been me,' and I know we were thinking, 'Why wasn't it?'" Steve-O appeared visibly upset, and in a radio interview six months later he unloaded on Schumer, saying that in rehab he "Learned the importance of forgiveness. And I forgive Comedy Central for letting that no-name **** on the show in the first place. I have zero respect for that ****, but I'm not mad at her for telling a joke." (Clearly, he's not mad.) Schumer refused to apologize to Steve-O for the joke, but had to connect with him privately because his fans were sending her death threats. They've since reconciled completely.
He really hates Sea World
Steve-O isn't just about silly stunts for silly stunts' sake—he's also used his unique set of talents and fearlessness to raise awareness for animal rights. In 2014, he climbed onto a road sign overlooking Interstate 5 near San Diego, home of SeaWorld. He then defaced the sign, changing it to read "SeaWorld Sucks," and was ordered to pay a fine of $239. In August 2015, he pulled off a similar stunt, climbing up a 100-foot-tall crane on West Hollywood's busy Sunset Boulevard, holding an inflatable orca whale with "SeaWorld Sucks" written on it. He eventually climbed down and was charged with trespassing (and for unlawfully setting off some fireworks to get people to notice). Ultimately sentenced to 30 days of jail, he ended up serving eight hours behind bars.
He's really into animal rights
Steve-O's animal rights activism may have surprised some casual fans, but he'd been heading toward an animal-friendly lifestyle for years. He said that he was once so high that he started hearing voices, and one told him he was going to having to one day answer for his sins. He also watched a YouTube video in which an Indian spiritual leader bemoaned the lack of respect of life on Earth, particularly how humans eat other animals, and put those two things together and decided to become a vegetarian, although he admits he misses Whoppers. Steve-O also narrated a short documentary for the animal rights organization Farm Sanctuary called What Came Before: The Truth About Meat and Modern Farms, which provides a glimpse into slaughterhouse conditions. In 2011, he was presented the Nanci Alexander Award, one of the highest honors awarded by the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals.
He does comedy now
Many might find Steve-O's second career more frightening than his first: getting up in front of a crowd and trying to make them laugh. He tried stand-up comedy for the first time in 2010 and kept honing his act, eventually heading out on the road for the half-comedy/half-confessional "Entirely Too Much Information Tour." In 2016 he taped his first special for Showtime, Steve-O: Guilty as Charged.
He still does wild stunts
It's been more than a decade since Jackass went off the air, and Jackass 3D was released in 2010. Steve-O may have quit consuming intoxicating substances and animal flesh, but he hasn't abandoned the wildly addictive stuff that made him famous. In other words, he still films crazy stunts—but instead of a movie theater or cable TV, Steve-O's latest works are available on his YouTube channel. More than 3.6 million subscribers have watched Steve-O play with fire, jump off things, get stung by jellyfish, and even get zapped with a charge of 50,000 volts. Sometimes even the old Jackass guys stop by, including Danger Ehren and Chris Pontius.