149 | Caught in the Spotlight: Secrets of a Celebrity Business Manager with Jonathan Schwartz
2/14/202653 min
About the Guest
Jonathan Schwartz is a former top-tier entertainment business manager who was prominently recognized for managing the fortunes of A-list celebrity clients, including globally iconic artists like Beyonce, Alanis Morissette, and Mariah Carey. In his career pinnacle, he was deeply entrenched as a trusted advisor in rooms that many can only imagine. However, his life took a drastic turn when his gambling addiction and subsequent criminal activities resulted in a six-year federal prison sentence for embezzling millions. From that downfall, Jonathan has since rebuilt his life, becoming a marriage and family therapist specializing...
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First 90 secondsToby Brooks· Host0:00
[dramatic music] This is Becoming Undone.
Jonathan Schwartz· Guest0:05
[tape winding] And a few years later, many years later, uh, in 2010, I was coaching my kids' youth sports teams, and a assistant coach said, "Hey, do you wanna gamble o- on sports?" I said, "Sure." And they were small, incremental bets, but by the end of that gambling week, it became a large sum of money, and I came up with another genius idea of, "Let me borrow money from Alanis, and I'll just pay her back next week." Borrowing, in translation, means stealing and embezzling. Unfortunately, that led to a progressive illness, and that led to me gambling every day for six years. I mean, when I was in my active addiction, every day for six years, I couldn't sleep. I was in absolute hell. I didn't wanna live. I defaulted to starting to use cocaine. I wasn't emotionally regulated. I wasn't emotionally mature. I was in a dark place. And, uh, again, no excuse, but that's just how my mindset was. Ultimately, my higher power sent me a signal, and he said, "You need to go to addiction studies school, get your CADAC, and then I want you to go to grad school and become a marriage and family therapist with an emphasis in addiction and trauma so that people don't make the same mistakes that I made." And so I'm proud that that was my journey and has been my journey, and I'm proud of being that therapist today. My name is Jonathan Schwartz, and I am undone.
Unknown speaker1:27
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