A Portland, Victoria, man who stars in a movie that is taking the world by storm has bravely shared his battle with addiction and poor mental health. or signup to continue reading Jackson Tozer, who is part of the cast of which stars John Cena and Zac Efron, was a guest on podcast Mr Tozer, 32, spoke about losing his best friend Kiah Finlayson when he was just 20-years-old. She died from complications of diabetes at age 19.
Mr Tozer spoke about the shock and overwhelming grief when he learnt his best friend, who was away at university, had died. "I was working at a phone shop in Portland and I saw people on the street crying and I thought 'geez who died'." Sadly, a phone call moments later would reveal it was his friend, who he had met at school camp in year seven.
"I remember being confused and thinking 'that can't happen, it's impossible, she's only 19," he said. "I remember falling to the ground. I was keeled over in the middle of the shop floor just wailing.
" Mr Tozer said he credited his late friend with spurring him on to pursue a career in acting. He moved to Geelong a week after her funeral in the hopes of achieving his dream. However, Mr Tozer admits he didn't deal with the grief and when he moved he was introduced to marijuana.
"I very quickly started to abuse it and use it as my coping mechanism," he said. "I got heavily addicted to it." Mr Tozer said marijuana helped numb the pain.
"It would numb me, but the issue with numbing yourself is that those issues don't g.