It's been 21 years since Jackass first aired on MTV. Bam Margera and his 'CKY' crew joined the show after he was scouted by Jeff Tremaine, the director and producer of the franchise. Together with Steve-O, Johnny Knoxville, and several more daredevils, Bam made a career out of pulling dangerous stunts in front of the camera. As years went by, Bam's mental health started deteriorating, and with it, his relationship with the rest of the crew.
This year, Bam Margera made headlines when it was revealed he won't be starring in Jackass Forever, a feature film that was initially planned to come out in October 2021, but was postponed until February 2022. His departure from the franchise was far from peaceful. He went out kicking and screaming, leaving his relationship with the rest as strained as never before.
6 Bam Margera Was An Integral Part Of 'Jackass' From The Start
'Jackass' started out as a fun TV show about a bunch of guys pulling dangerous stunts, pulling pranks on each other, and having lots of fun along the way. Bam Margera was an integral part of the cast and one of the fan-favorites. At the time, he was approximately 21 years old. Throughout the years, the show got several spin-offs with Margera in the spotlight, such as 'Viva La Bam' and 'Bam’s Unholy Union'.
However, the situation behind the scenes was never as light-hearted as it seemed in front of the camera. Margera as well as Steve-O struggled with drug and alcohol abuse, which eventually led 'Jackass' down a tragic path - so much so that some fans think that the cast of 'Jackass' is actually cursed. The show ran for three seasons. Then, it gave way to feature films.
5 Bam Started Drinking When He Was 21 Years Old
As the skateboarding star told Dr. Phil in a 2019 interview, he first started drinking after joining 'Jackass' because it helped him cope with the pain he often found himself in after pulling off dangerous stunts. “My first drink, I was 21 and I never drank before that. When I really started drinking, I was probably 24, 25 … It just slowly became waking up and sipping on a drink as soon as I got up … one is too many but a thousand is never enough," he said when he appeared on VH1's 'Family Therapy with Dr. Jenn'.
In 2009, the 'Bam's Unholy Union' star went to rehab for the first time, following an intervention from his friends and family. Earlier that year, he ended up in a hospital due to dehydration after a four-day bender, TMZ reports. In the following years, he went back to rehab several times. However, he relapsed every time he faced another tragedy in life. In 2011, he started drinking heavily after his co-star Ryan Dunn died in a car accident.
4 Bone Spurs Made Him Take A Break From Skateboarding
Sooner or later, the 'Jackass' cast had to pay a price for the job they did in front of the cameras. In 2012, Bam opened up about developing bone spurs that prevented him from skateboarding, the thing he always felt most passionate about in his life. "There are just so many problems that it's more pain than pleasure to skateboard right now. Just a lot of pain. I don't know. Hopefully over time everything will heal. But I have like six lumps in my feet from all the wear and tear and I just don't think that's ever going to heal. So either I have to have surgery or I'm just going to have to deal with it. It doesn't hurt to walk but it hurts to skate," he said.
During those five years he took off from skating, Bam was doing "nightclub appearances" and got incredibly drunk on the daily basis, according to People. His unhinged state started to erode the relationship he had with other 'Jackass' star. Steve-O, on the other hand, got sober in 2008 and hasn't looked back since.
3 Bam Margera Fired From 'Jackass Forever'
The long-anticipated 'Jackass Forever' is coming out in early 2022 and it's going to star the entire iconic cast aside from the late Ryan Dunn and Bam Margera. The 'Viva La Bam' star was fired by the studio because he was clearly struggling with his mental health and addiction. "... I have kind of turned my character into a raging lunatic where Paramount thinks that I’m pretty much a liability and Jeff Tremaine had to fight for me to be in Jackass 4," he said on the 'Knockin' Doorz Down' podcast in January 2021. The relationship between him and 'Jackass' creators (Tremaine and Knoxville) finally completely deteriorated after Bam decided to sue them, Paramount, and MTV. He claims he was forced into a signing a contract that bound him to stay sober and go to rehab.
2 Bam Margera's Infamous Instagram Live
After being cut off from the franchise, Bam Margera had a now-famous meltdown on Instagram. He urged his fans to boycott the movie on Instagram. ”If anybody cares about me don’t go see their movie because I will make mine way f*cking radder if you just Venmo me a dollar,” he said. “Who the f*ck cares if I’m drunk as hell or not anymore?” He also addressed Knoxville and Tremaine, claiming that they never cared about him.
1 And What Do 'Jackas' Stars Have To Say About Bam Margera?
Steve-O tried to make Bam understand that nobody was out there to get him. On the contrary, Knoxville and Tremaine only wanted what was best for him. “Bam, the two people you’re saying wronged you are the same two people who organized the intervention which saved my life. Everyone bent over backwards to get you in the movie, and all you had to do was not get loaded. You’ve continued to get loaded, it’s that simple. We all love you every bit as much as we all say we do, but nobody who really loves you can enable or encourage you to stay sick," he wrote. Knoxville, too, said that he just wants to see his former colleague to get better. As for Jeff Tremaine, he claimed that Margera sent him death threats and has therefore filed for a restraining order.