Kiss 108’s Justin Aguirre shares journey of powerful battle with addiction
By Maria Stephanos
Click here for updates on this story
BOSTON (WCVB) — Justin Aguirre is at the top of his game. He’s not just the co-host of Kiss 108’s popular morning show with Billy and Lisa. Aguirre is also the executive producer, which means booking and meeting superstars like Mark Wahlberg, Ed Sheeran and Ryan Seacrest.
“I never thought I’d be here,” Aguirre told NewsCenter 5’s Maria Stephanos. “It’s really crazy.”
That’s because the moments leading up to the life Aguirre lives now are raw and real.
“I reached complete death. I was basically dead,” he said. “I had nothing. I was living on the street. I was yellow, jaundiced from Hepatitis C. I was injecting drugs every single day.”
Aguirre remembered sleeping on Boston Common in the cold and dreaming of a warm bed. He also recalled his 8-year-old brother trying hard to save him.
“He would go down into where I was living, and he would find hypodermic needles, and he would take them and bring them home to my mother and say, ‘I don’t want my brother to die,'” Aguirre said, adding that he was told all of this much later. “That was a big motivation to keep going and to keep staying clean.”
And it’s worked. After stints in and out of jail, Aguirre is 17 years sober. He’s also anxious to share his wife’s story — something he said is far more impressive.
“My wife dropped out of school in the eighth grade, has no education. She got clean like me,” he said. “Her dream was to be a nurse and she went back to school and, through all the grit, became an RN and got a job in the detox that she got clean in.”
But despite all his success, he knows there’s one thing he can never forget:
“I can be on the radio every day. I can meet all the celebrities,” he said. “But if I am not clean, if I’m not living in recovery, it doesn’t matter. All of this can be washed away like that. I see it every day.”
If you, or someone you love, is struggling with addiction, there is help. The state has a Substance Use Helpline. You can call 800-327-5050 or text “HOPE” to 800327.
Please note: This content carries a strict local market embargo. If you share the same market as the contributor of this article, you may not use it on any platform.
