In halcyon days, I was vaguely aware of Weston Cage as a death-metal singer and the son of Nicolas. Things got really crazy, really fast in the summer of 2011. Within the space of two months, 20-year-old Weston went off the rails. He flew into a physical rage after his personal trainer told him not to eat something on a restaurant menu. He beat up the trainer and ended up cuffed, strapped to a gurney, and carted off to the hospital on a 5150 psychiatric hold. A month later Weston and his then-wife, Nikki Williams, were jailed on domestic violence charges, and Weston went back a second time. Then he showed off his kung-fu moves for the paps outside a steakhouse.

Before long, Weston divorced Nikki and teased a reality program with his mom, Christina Fulton. He wanted to “show the world he’s not mentally ill.” The show never happened, thank goodness. Weston disappeared from public view as quickly as he appeared.

Weston is back. I’m trying to figure out what he’s plugging with a new People interview. His IMDb profile reveals a few movies on the way. Weston is now estranged from Mom. He married Danielle Cage in 2013; they have a 7-month-old son, Lucian Augustus. Weston says all his previous problems were due to alcohol. Liquid tons of alcohol:

His alcoholism: “Alcohol became a nightmare.” He was drinking up to “30 beers, one box of wine and half a bottle of something hard” mixed with pills in one day, and his friends and family “thought I was digging my grave,” he says. And so did he. Landing in the hospital one night in 2012 after going through withdrawal (“It felt like someone was suffocating me, and every light in me was flickering on and off,” he recalls), he was telling loved ones where to scatter his ashes.

Danielle inspired his “cold turkey” sobriety: “I fell in love instantaneously. I was surrounded by very toxic people and was just tired of being polluted. Danielle was pure.”

The joy of fatherhood: “When he laughs and smiles for me, it makes me so happy. He’s saved my life. It’s just a very joyous time right now. I used to imagine [my life like this] to make me feel better and get the inner wounds to coagulate.The fact that it’s real now is beyond a blessing.”

[From People]

30 beers per day plus a box of wine, some hard liquor, and pills. Is that even possible? He’d literally have to drink from sunup to sundown and long after. If Weston’s telling the truth, then it’s easy to see why he acted so bizarrely. Is he exaggerating? I don’t know. Weston says his mom was always a problem, and he “dreaded every moment with her,” turning to alcohol to “fill an abyss.” That’s terribly sad.

Just for kicks, here’s a replay of Weston’s crazy roundhouse kicking for the paps. I know he’s in a better place now, but these photos will always bring me joy.

Photos courtesy of Pacific Coast News & WENN