Jussie Smollett Begins Rehab After ‘Difficult Past Few Years’

Jussie Smollett is taking time to work on himself.

The Empire star’s rep confirmed to TMZ on Wednesday that the actor has entered an outpatient rehab facility for treatment.

“Jussie has had an extremely difficult past few years,” the rep said in a statement. “He has quietly been working very hard for some time now and we are proud of him for taking these necessary steps.”

In March 2022, Smollett was sentenced to 150 days behind bars and given 30 months of felony probation after being found guilty on five of six counts of disorderly conduct. The charges stemmed from a January 2019 incident in which Smollett allegedly paid two brothers, Abel and Ola Osundairo, $3,500 to help stage a homophobic and racist attack against him. 

Apart from his sentence, Smollett was also ordered to pay $120,106 in restitution to the City of Chicago and was fined $25,000 following his report that he was the victim of a hate crime. He was released from jail after less than a week, as his lawyers planned to appeal the conviction.

ET spoke with the actor at the BET Awards last June, where he was celebrating his career comeback as a director of the BET+ original movie B-Boy Blues.

While he said that he “never thought of myself as working my way back,” Smollett admitted that getting the chance to get back on a set and create following his legal scandal had been “wonderful.”

“This has always been the plan, to expand my empire, so to speak,” Smollett said of stepping behind the camera to helm a project and work with other actors as a director. “To expand the level of what I want to do… to be able to usher in a new generation of artists and actors and these amazing talents.”

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