Jerry O’Connell Reveals How His Wife Helped Him Quit Smoking

Jerry O’Connell recently reflected on two major turning points in his life: quitting smoking after decades and nearly walking away from Hollywood.

During a podcast appearance, he revealed that hypnosis helped him stop smoking 14 years ago, crediting his wife, Rebecca Romijn, for pushing him to change.

Jerry O’Connell also shared that during a career lull in 2009, he enrolled at Southwestern Law School before ultimately returning to acting.

The 51-year-old actor discussed his longtime struggle with nicotine during the February 13 episode of the “Work In Progress” podcast with Sophia Bush,

O’Connell revealed that he had battled the habit for decades and ultimately had to turn to hypnosis. Now, thanks to the hypnosis, he hasn’t “had a ciggy in, like, 14 years.”

He credited his wife, Rebecca Romijn, with giving him the push he needed to make the lifestyle change.

“My wife said she would not touch me if I smoked, and that lasted about two months,” he recalled, per People Magazine. “I thought it was a joke. Then, after, like, two weeks, there was no physical contact. After about three and a half weeks, I was like, I gotta do something.”

Though he initially tried to quit on his own, the “Sliders” actor struggled until he reached out to a friend who had successfully stopped smoking thanks to a hypnotist.

O’Connell’s friend referred him to a hypnotist, and he brought a photo of his wife and children to the session.

Recalling the session, the actor shared: “I sat down on her… recliner, and she put her headphones on me, and there was, like, spa music. And she was like, ‘Count to nine, eight…’ and I fell asleep.”

He admitted that he was skeptical at first, thinking it “was baloney.”

“What a joke,” he recalled thinking. “I can’t believe I just gave some old lady $800. What a waste of money.”

However, the results shocked him. “I walked to my car. I got in it. I had a pack [cigarettes], put the ciggy in my mouth, brought the lighter up… I couldn’t light it… I swear to you. I swear to you. I’ve never been hypnotized for anything else.”

O’Connell and Romijn have been married since July 2007 and share 16-year-old twin daughters, Charlie Tamara Tulip and Dolly Rebecca Rose, born in December 2008.

In the same podcast appearance, O’Connell revealed that he once considered leaving entertainment altogether after fearing his acting career had stalled.

He explained that in 2009, during a slowdown in roles, he enrolled at Southwestern Law School in Los Angeles. At the time, Romijn was working steadily, and their twin daughters were about one year old.

O’Connell said he had long thought about graduate school and decided to take the LSAT and apply to two night law programs.

He was accepted into one and attended classes at night for about a year before eventually returning his focus to acting.

Looking back, O’Connell described that period when he struggled to land acting roles as a crossroads in his career.

After a television series he was part of ended suddenly, he assumed it signaled the end of his opportunities in entertainment.

For nearly a year, he believed his career might be over. But things shifted, as he began auditioning again and eventually landed a new CBS series.

Fittingly, O’Connell portrayed a defense attorney, marking an unexpected return to the screen.

O’Connell and Romijn previously shared insight into how they manage their marriage and finances during a chat with Andy Cohen on his SiriusXM show.

Over their 18 years of marriage, Romijn revealed that they keep their money separate but maintain a “community pot” for family expenses, which they contribute to quarterly.

The actress explained that contributions are adjusted “depending on who’s working more. The one who’s not working gets a little bit of a break, and the one who is working puts in a little more.”

She added. “And we really tag-team with work.”

After the birth of their twins, the couple also decided that one of them would always stay home to raise the children themselves. “No one else is ever going to raise them besides us,” she said.

O’Connell and Romijn married two years after her divorce from John Stamos, to whom she was married from 1998 to 2005.