Former MTV VJ Jesse Camp Addresses Rumors That He Was 'High All the Time'

Former MTV VJ Jesse Camp cleaned up his act at 29 after a “hardcore drug-time era,” he revealed in an interview with Ricky Camilleri on HuffPost Live last week. But since retiring from MTV, the self-described “thrift store junkie” says he’s only hooked on secondhand clothing and vitamins these days.

When asked to address rumors that he was “high all the time” when he was on TV, Camp jokingly responded, “I had a paint huffing addiction. In fact, that’s how I ended up on [this] show. In reality is ... I thought this was a special show about paint huffing. Someone said this was a special ‘glue-a-thon’ episode.”

On a serious note, Camp says he “hadn’t really gotten in to anything harder than just drinking and smoking pot” when he began as an MTV DJ in his early 20s. He did delve into harder drugs after that. “To be honest, probably between ages 23 to 29 ... that was my hardcore drug-time era,” he says.

When asked if he went “too hard” and “had to clean up a little bit,” Camp says: “Yeah, absolutely, I did. definitely. That was kind of like the turning point. When I was 29, I was like basically, yeah, I don’t want to have to take drugs with me anywhere to feel okay. I just want to be normal.”

But these days Camp describes himself as a “totally revived” and healthy 35-year-old, for the most part. “I guess I do get a senior moment every now and then but, you know, only when I don’t get my Geritol.”