NEW YORK CITY — In his new tell-all book, It’s-a me, Mario, released to coincide with his 30th birthday, the world’s most famous Italian plumber isn’t afraid to show his darker side. At a recent press conference, Mario was candid about a major theme in the book: his long-time addiction to psilocybin mushrooms, colloquially known as ‘magic mushrooms’.
“At first, it was just on the weekends – a few shrooms, just enough to feel like a big man, you know? But then a few becomes a lot, and next thing you know you’re hallucinating that you’re riding around on a dinosaur or jumping into paintings,” he revealed.
“I did some terrible, terrible things for my addiction. Mario Teaches Typing? My god. I only agreed to make a second because, by the mid-90s, I was basically broke. I’d spend a fortune on a new Kart, take 5 or 6 grams, and then crash almost immediately. The legal fees were nuts.”
One of the most emotional moments of the press conference came when Mario was asked about his relationship with his estranged brother, Luigi. “More than anyone, he was trying, for years, to get me to confront my addiction. And I never listened. Our relationship is basically only professional, now – we show up for a Mario Party, or whatever, but he won’t talk much. And I understand. I understand that.”
Ultimately, Mario sees his open and honest approach as a necessary step in recovery. “Am I better? I don’t know. My sponsor says no one ever stops being an addict. But whenever I get the urge, I think about what my sponsor said to me. ‘Mario’, she said, ‘you keep saying that you can handle it, that just a couple more grams is enough. But it isn’t and it never will be. The princess is always in another castle.'”
