Jon Bernthal 'almost killed a man' just a year before Walking Dead breakthrough
Jon Bernthal is now a world-famous celebrity, known across the globe for his parts in The Punisher, The Bear, and his numerous smaller parts in some of the best films of the last ten years.
Despite this current celebrity status however, Bernthal has been open about how he very nearly ended up with a totally different life.
Bernthal is now arguably best known for starring as The Punisher, appearing in Daredevil, it’s subsequent Disney+ reboot series Daredevil: Born Again, his own titular show, and the upcoming Spider-Man: Brand New Day. The actor is even getting his own Disney+ special about The Punisher, titled Punisher: One Last Kill.
Despite this though, for a whole generation of TV watchers Bernthal is still Shane from The Walking Dead. Starting in 2010 as Rick Grimes’ best friend (and the man secretly sleeping with his wife Lori) Bernthal was a stand out in the show until his character’s demise, but just a year before appearing on the show he found himself in hot water.
Bernthal ‘almost killed a man’ in a violent altercation in 2009 which he described as a turning point in his life
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Bernthal has spoken on multiple occasions about how he had a rough life growing up, brawling throughout his younger years and being arrested at 17 after being caught with drugs on him.
This culminated in a violent incident in 2009 which saw him arrested and facing a $2 million civil settlement.
The actor was walking his pitbull Boss when a man called it over, grabbing his dog.
Bernthal took Boss back off the man and him and his friends started following the actor, leading him to punch the man in the face after he refused to back off, knocking him out.
Speaking to Esquire in 2018 he revealed that cops had begun mocking him whilst he was handcuffed, letting him know he was going to jail ‘for life’ if the man didn’t wake up.
Bernthal has spoken about how the incident was an important moment of change for his life
The incident took place just a year before he started his run on The Walking Dead as Shane, but if things had gone differently in the incident Bernthal stated he doesn’t think he’d be the same person he is today.
In the Esquire interview he said: “I knew if he didn’t wake up, I was going to jail and my worst side would take over.
“I prayed to whatever is above that if he woke up, I’d change things, get married, have kids, and stop with the anger.”
The actor earned three year’s probation, something which prevented him working on films in the off-season of The Walking Dead, and later cited it as ‘when everything shifted’ for him.
Appearing on the Armchair Expert podcast with Dax Shepard the actor said this was a pivotal moment for him, causing him to go sober, and said of the moment where he was unsure ‘if the guy would wake up’: “It was literally as profound and clear a moment as I've ever had. Okay if you're going this way, this is your life now.
“There's no more acting. There's no more girlfriend… You got to go be the devil.”
Bernthal stated that he was ‘privileged’, with family that loves him and good schooling, even going as far as to say that privilige was ‘the only reason’ he got a second chance.
Topics: Jon Bernthal, The Walking Dead, TV and Film, Celebrity, Crime
Michael Slavin