Josh Brolin Says a Fireplace Spoke ‘Wisdom’ to Him During LSD Trip When He Was 13

Josh Brolin’s first taste of psychedelic drugs came early.

During his Thursday, Dec. 12 appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live to promote his recently released memoir From Under the Truck, host Jimmy Kimmel asked the Dune actor, 56, to recount his experience trying LSD for the first time at 13 years old.

“I don’t know how it happens, man. You have parents — where are the parents?” Brolin said. “Did they give it to me, did they misplace a sugar cube, I don’t know.”

Brolin, the son of actor James Brolin and casting director Jane Cameron Agee, quickly explained that he and his friends in Santa Barbara, Calif., began experimenting with LSD “very early on,” even noting that some of his buds went on to form an influential punk rock band called Rich Kids on LSD (RKL).

“RKL never got their time because they were doing too much LSD, but it was a good time,” Brolin recalled. “And I had a great trip. I had the most kind of amazing — 13 years old, your brain is still developing. It’s probably not the best time to start that drug, but I really had an amazing time. I saw a fireplace talking to me who said some nice things. I liked what he said. I didn’t dislike what he said. It was like caressing, it was wisdom.”

The Avengers: Endgame actor explained that he and his friends “went through the whole thing,” and eventually later that night someone suggested the group take LSD for the second time that day.

“Because like a drunk, when you do alcohol you’re like, ‘Let’s go to the bar and let’s do it again,’ the next night, and the next night and the next,” Brolin, who has been sober since 2013, added. “So I was in the habit of doing things again. That trip was not so good. No nice conversation. It was a lot of fire, but not a fireplace.”

When Kimmel asked Brolin whether he would now “dissuade” the 13-year-old version of himself from trying LSD at that age, Brolin joked, “Dude, I can’t — you can’t put me in that position. Because it’s like every 13-year-old watching your show —because it’s your biggest demographic.”

“Do not do LSD. Do not do LSD, children,” he said while staring into the camera, before turning to Kimmel and adding, “It was the greatest thing I ever did.”

From Under the Truck is available now, wherever books are sold.