WCCO Esme Murphy starts this intriguing interview by saying,
Mike Lindell is many things. Of course, he is the CEO and founder of MyPillow. He is an infomercial superstar, and he has become well known for his early support and friendship with President Trump. Mike Lindell has also always been upfront about his history of drug addiction. And he has talked about it publicly, but not like this. In his new autobiography, “What Are the Odds? From Crack Addict to CEO,” Lindell details his spiral of addiction from alcohol, cocaine, and crack. He spares no detail, writing about arrests, failed urine tests, and a gambling addiction that almost cost him his company.’
Mike always knew he was going to write his memoir
Mike “knew for a long time I would end up writing a book because things happened to me all the time that would have a chance of one in a million or even one in a billion, and I just figured that once it was written, it was going to give so many people hope.”
Esme remarked that she had never read a drug addiction memoir that “goes into so many details about what crack can do to you and the difference between cocaine and crack.” She wondered how Mike remembered so many details. Mike responded with the fact that “God blessed me with a good memory.” Plus, “I kept things when certain things would happen back then as proof, knowing someday I was going to write a book and would want to validate the truth. So everything in the book is 100% true.”
So, for example, the book has a picture of a Hardee’s bag with a threat of physical violence written on it. Mike received this threat in 1982 from his bookie because Mike owed him $30,000. They had to leave it on Mike’s doorstep when they couldn’t get in – because Mike was hiding in a closet.
Everybody is affected by addictions
Esme found it “remarkable that you lived in Victoria and you had a very popular bar, Schmitty’s, and that a lot of your friends are in the book.” She wondered, “aren’t they mad at you?” Mike responded that “All my friends, especially the ones that were on crack, have all quit since they’ve seen me quit. I was their hope. They say, wow if Mike can do it, we can do it.”
Mike says that he had the bar for 13 years and so these friends were “like a big family.” And during this time, he learned a lot about addictions and how it can affect lives. And, nowadays, “everybody is affected by addictions, no matter how many forks they eat with.”
“My calling would be gone”
The cover of Mike’s book is a hologram that shows Mike as a CEO, then flips and shows Mike after being up for 14 days straight on drugs. This was taken when Mike’s drug dealers cut him off, right here in Minneapolis. One said to Mike, “no one’s going to sell you crack anymore.” He then asked Mike to give him his phone and took a picture, which is the picture on the cover of Mike’s book. The dealer then said, “You’ve been telling us for years that this pillow is just a platform for God and that you’re going to come back and help us get out of this lifestyle someday.” And now, as Mike says, “it’s come full circle.”
Then Mike, through “100% faith in God”, quit all his addictions overnight on January 16, 2009. For Mike saw what was “like two reels of my life, and I knew that reel A, my calling, would be gone.” Later, Mike did go to a faith-based treatment center with his church, called Living Free, to find out why he was an addict in the first place.
The Lindell Recovery Network™
Mike will be using the proceeds of his book for the Lindell Recovery Network™ that he has been working on for two years. As Mike says, “It is going to change this country. It’s going to get millions of people out of addiction.” Mike was with President Trump when he signed the Opioid Bill which will “lift regulations” and so will allow ventures like the Lindell Recovery Network™. So Mike will be able to help addicts plus “it’s going to employ tens of thousands of addicts.”
“This really is a remarkable book”
Esme finishes by saying that “this really is a remarkable book, I’ve never read one that details the crack experience, and I think it’s going to be helpful to a lot of people.” Plus, “it’s very well written, it’s very good, and it’s very gripping.”
And, the movie is still to come, where Mike is going to play himself.
Find out what the book is all about by buying your copy now!