I was scrolling through recent podcast drops when I saw Chris Olsen sitting down with Summer House alum Carl Radke on “More Life with Carl Radke.” Most of us know Chris from his viral TikToks and that high-energy internet persona that lights up our screens. Hearing him talk about the moment his life flipped upside down at age 19 hit a completely different tone.
His roommate woke him up to tell him his dad was in the room. That morning turned into a full-blown intervention, complete with impact letters and a one-way ticket to rehab that afternoon.
Chris spent the next year in an intense, shame-based program designed to break clients down before rebuilding them. It was a constant mental test where the staff kept the exit date hidden.
“It was always a mind game,” Chris told Carl during the episode. “And so at that point in time when we meet my therapist in the book there are points in which I believed maybe not she hated me, but I was just living in fear.”
That year left such a lasting mark that the fear of returning kept him sober for the first two years afterward. He remembered thinking, “This is going to crash and burn and someone is going to post a video about how I am actually a really bad person and need to go back to rehab and then I will.”
"That guy's crazy. That guy was wild. I wouldn't be friends with him, but I forgive."
— Chris Olsen
Navigating Breakups and Social Media Addiction
Staying sober as a young gay man in the public eye comes with its own set of hurdles. When Chris went through his first major breakup, the ending of a two-year relationship that served as the foundation for his social media following, he didn’t turn back to alcohol or drugs. Instead, he channeled that energy directly into his online presence.
Carl shared his own story of being offered a complimentary bottle of red wine at a hotel check-in desk right after his high-profile split from Lindsay Hubbard. Chris related to the urge to cope, noting that social media became his new focus.
His therapist helped him reframe that hyper-fixation. When Chris worried that he was becoming too addictive with his work, his therapist pointed out that the exact same drive is what made him successful, as long as he didn’t tie his entire self-worth to it.
Chris used the internet to post transparently about the breakup, finding community in the process. “It was kind of like using the internet for the purpose that like we maybe originally created it for of like the community of it all in connection,” he explained.
Forgiveness and the Title of His New Memoir
Now eight years sober, Chris is publishing his memoir, I Think My Therapist Hates Me, through Simon Element. The title came to him before he wrote a single page. Beyond reflecting his early days in therapy, the phrase captures a broader feeling of self-doubt.
“Also, I Think My Therapist Hates Me is a ridiculous statement in the first place because the person you’re paying to listen to your problems hates you?” Chris said. “Now what does that say about you? And what can you discover about you within that statement?”
Carl and Chris both reflected on how strange it feels to look back at the people they were during active addiction. Chris deals with intrusive thoughts by telling himself to “shut the fuck up” out loud, then immediately softening it with, “is what I would say if I were being mean to myself today.”
“You have to laugh or just forgive,” Chris said about his past. “That guy’s crazy. That guy was wild. I wouldn’t be friends with him, but I forgive.”
The support system that helped stage his intervention at 19 is still intact today. He recently served as the man of honor at his best friend’s wedding in Nashville, the same friend who helped save his life years ago.
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