As both an actor and member of the comedy rock music duo Tenacious D, Jack Black is one of the most popular stars of the 21st Century. Does Black smoke?
Jack Black no longer smokes but was a frequent tobacco smoker during his youth and early screen career. Black also used marijuana from the age of 13, a habit that continued into adulthood. After a decade of trying to quit, he was successful in 2008, following the birth of his first son. He stated that he was aware of the dangers of secondhand smoke and wanted to protect his children. There is no evidence that Black is a smoker today.
For more on Jack Black’s past smoking habits and the other vices he participated in, read on.
Tobacco
Black was a heavy tobacco smoker for much of his early film career. In a 2006 interview after the release of “King Kong”, Black stated that he had been “smoking like a chimney” and had been trying to quit for the past ten years.
Anybody who has smoked for as long as Black is likely to find it extremely difficult but Black persevered and was eventually able to leave the habit behind. He found it useful to replace his unhealthy habit with something kinder to his body, allowing him to continue enjoying the routine of something he enjoyed but without harming his long term health.
After quitting smoking in 2008, Black replaced his nicotine habit with iced green tea, which he said was boring but safer than his previous addictions. He stated that the birth of his first son, Samuel Jason, provided the necessary motivation to quit permanently, as he was conscious of secondhand smoke and wanted to provide a clean environment for his children to grow up in.
While there isn’t much in the way of photo or video evidence showing Black smoking cigarettes, he was evidently doing it frequently throughout the 1990s and 2000s before kicking the habit for good. It seems that his 2008 attempt at quitting was his last as he has not discussed relapsing back into nicotine use in the years since.
Whatever his past habits, using both nicotine and other drugs, it appears Black has happily settled into family life and left those issues in the past. He married Tanya Haden in 2006 and has two sons, Samuel Jason, and Thomas David.
Marijuana
Black began experimenting with drugs after his parents divorced and, by his own admission, started using cocaine. He has been open about going down a dangerous road with hard drugs in his teens but was able to overcome those issues with the help of his school counselor.
He did, however, admit to using ecstasy on the “King Kong” shoot and going on a ‘crazy rampage’, but he appears to have mellowed significantly since starting a family.
In adulthood, Black has seemingly kept his distance from hard drugs, choosing instead to smoke marijuana. He and his Tenacious D bandmate Kyle Gass appeared on the cover of cannabis magazine “High Times” in 2002.
He spoke about “waking and baking” during the press tour for “Tropic Thunder” in 2008 but also stated that he had used Wellbutrin during the process of quitting marijuana for good.
In a 2014 episode of “Getting Doug with High”, Black smoked marijuana with Doug Benson and stated that he first used the drug when he was 13 years old. Judging by Black’s reactions early in the interview, it seems likely that Black is not as frequent a user as during his earlier stoner years.
Black also told Benson that he had quit marijuana after recording Tenacious D’s first album, saying it took him to “dark places in [his] psyche”. He decided to make an exception to appear on the show because he didn’t want to disappoint Benson.