Mike Epps revealed he was high on cocaine during the 2002 filming of his movie All About the Benjamins with Ice Cube. The comedian discussed his drug use on an episode of Matt Barnes and Stephen Jackson’s All the Smoke podcast.
“I’ve been on drugs, I’ve been through hell,” Epps told Barnes and Jackson. “I did most of the movies on cocaine. All About the Benjamins, I was—man, I used to sit in Ice Cube’s trailer in the morning and be crying tears. He like, ‘Mike, wipe your face, man. You a king, n####. Stop doing this s### to yourself.’ I’m sitting there wiping myself ‘cause I was really, really, really—I had survivor’s remorse.”
Epps noted he used drugs to appeal to his old friends. He recalled how they rejected him when he was doing well but showed him love when he was struggling with cocaine abuse.
“I was so sad that I left all them n##### here in the city and I was famous,” Epps said. “And when I would come home, I wanted them to be happy for me. And they was mad at me. So, I said damn I gotta destroy myself for you to like me. I was like damn, my favorite n####, it seemed like he liked me more when I’m coming down off coke and I’m crying and I hate myself.”
Ice Cube and Epps starred in All About the Benjamins after working together on Next Friday, the sequel to the beloved comedy Friday. Epps portrayed Craig’s cousin Day-Day in Next Friday. Day-Day became one of the lead roles in the Friday franchise once Chris Tucker opted to not reprise his role as Smokey.
Epps currently stars in the Netflix series The Upshaws, which premiered in 2021. The sitcom was renewed for a fourth season in 2023.