Woody Harrelson, one of Hollywood’s most legendary cannabis consumers, went on a much-talked-about break from the herb. But after two years of abstaining, Harrelson is smoking again. And he’s blaming it all on Willie Nelson.
Harrelson made an appearance on “The Ellen DeGeneres Show” this week where he told the tale about how Nelson finally enticed him to toke again. “I quit for almost two years. No smoking, no vaping,” he told Ellen DeGeneres. “Every once in a while you’re going to have something edible. Let’s be real, I’m not a nun.”
According to Harrelson, it was after a winning a huge pot during a regular poker game that Nelson got him. “I was in a celebratory mood and he hands me that [vape] pen and I just snatched and it was like ‘ah, f— it,’ ” he said. “I take a big draw of it and he says ‘Welcome home, son.’”
It wasn’t the first time Nelson had tempted Harrelson with marijuana during his two-year break. “He was never comfortable with me quitting, it just bothered him,” Harrelson said. “I would always say, ‘Willie you know I’m not smoking,’ ” he continued. “He would always do the same thing like he was hearing it for the first time, ‘Oh really? Sorry!’ This happened like 500 times.”
Last year, in an interview with Jimmy Kimmel, Harrelson talked about his dilemma with Nelson, saying he tried to hide his abstinence from Nelson for a while. “At first, I’m like pretending [to smoke a joint]. I’m just holding it because I don’t want him to know and then finally I’m like, ‘Willie, I quit.’ ”
It just goes to prove: Even Oscar-nominated actors can fall to peer pressure every now and then.