John Belushi’s Been Gone 30 Years

It’s been 30 years since we lost comedian John Belushi to a drug overdose involving cocaine and heroin. On the anniversary of his death, the comic’s good friend and co-star Dan Akroyd spoke out in an exclusive interview with Showbiz Tonight about what might have been.

Belushi died on March 5, 1982, at just 33 years old. Akroyd believes that if his friend had lived, he would be a Broadway director today.

"That would have been his destiny, because he was so intelligent and so well referenced there,” Akroyd said, adding, “He was more of an academic than the 'Bluto' image would have you believe.”

Akroyd also commented on Belushi’s addiction, insisting that during “the last summer of his life, not a powder nor a pill did he touch. Nothing. Just smoked a little bud. That was it. And wine and beer and food, you know.”

After that revelation, Akroyd made the odd prediction that “If he'd been a pothead, he'd be alive today ‘cause that doesn't kill ya.”

It may be true that marijuana isn’t as deadly as cocaine or heroin, but for someone struggling with addiction, any substances can cause trouble or lead to relapse. We have no way to know if that’s what happened in John Belushi’s case, but it certainly didn’t help.

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