Season 9, Episode 12
Michael
Age: 52
Location: San Diego, California
Addiction: Meth
What’s Memorable: His mother Ursusla’s understandable coldness, his sons wanting to be a part of his life so bad that they supply him with weed, knowing that that’s the only reason they ever see him. The intervention is quite the tearjerker.
Official synopsis: A talkative, eccentric, antiques collector, Michael, 52, was a military brat who moved with his family all over Europe and the U.S. But what he really wanted was a stable, loving home. After a series of traumatic events, Michael began to do drugs, and now he’s a rambling, self-loathing addict. Even worse, his two sons have become his using buddies. Michael needs an intervention to save himself–and his children.
Original Air Date: March 2011
Interventionist: Candy
Does anyone have a follow-up on him?
Michael seemed like an awesome guy – as did his sons. So happy that he seemed to find some peace of mind, I really hope he’s still doing well.
The black-screen that I saw stated that he relapsed after completing treatment, and that he continues to use meth. With that said, the black-screen updates aren’t always the most up-to-date. If anyone else has new info, I’d love to hear. He seemed like a very kind man underneath it all.
Is this accurate? What is his status?
Whatever the final outcome, if you want to see Candy at the absolute top of her game, this episode is it! The virtuoso speech she delivers to Michael at the intervention is so clearly straight-from-the-heart, and incredibly moving. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: When it comes to “interventionists,” she’s a superstar. The mention, above, that Michael had relapsed is really distressing. His troubles must run very deep, indeed. I wish him and his entire family some peace. They seem like a very nice family.
I would put Michael in the “Most Likable” category. You can see he’s got a good heart even during the worst of his addiction. He’d never hurt anyone no matter how high he is, he loves his kids, he loves his ex Roxanne, and he even loves his cold-as-ice mother.
And he is one of the addicts who TRULY was listening to what was said at the intervention because he cared so much about his family, I really loved that about him and I think it probably made that whole event a good piece of therapy for his kids instead of maybe just being a traumatic event as I’m sure it can often be to the families
Yes ! You hear that Dizzy… we all ❤️ Michael (& his two sons, and his Roxy) He should be in the most likable category!! What everyone (Gregory Moore, Janelle,& Jeanbak) has been sane is spot on about candy, the intervention, his kids, etc . I never cried so hard on an intervention! It’s nice to see when the addicted person actually listens and makes eye contact with their loved ones rather than looking down and not listening or at least looking like they’re not listening. I bet it felt good for Michael’s sons to see that their father was absorbing it all! I really hope he found sobriety because his two sons and daughter deserve to have their father in their lives, and michael deserves to have his children in his life and he deserves to be happy! we are all rooting for you Michael… it’s never too late! ❤️
*saying
1000% agree with you Kara. He’s got a great heart and the way he received from his family at that intervention was an inspiration. Every time I think I’ve already seen the episode that affected me the most, another one comes along 😭
Any update? I hope that he is doing well!
This episode re-ran last night. I would love to see an update on Michael, as he seemed like a pretty likable and decent guy despite the addiction and despite the long-term meth use likely having done him permanent brain damage. I hope he was able to remain sober, and just as importantly I hope he was able to regain the cognitive functioning that the meth damaged.
Any person would be lucky to have a spouse as caring as Roxanna. She was accused of being codependent, and indeed she was, but her motivations were in no way self-serving – she acted out of genuine concern for a man she loves and shares her life and kids with, despite being remarried to someone else. And yes, I thought Candy was at her best with this one.
I agree. This one really touched my heart. I hope they are all doing great. And… I loved Candy in this one.
I’ve recently become fascinated with Intervention and am streaming it on Putlocker. Having watched most of Season 9 in the past few days, Michael stands out as the addict with the best prognosis, at least in my mind. He’s intelligent and emotionally present in his sons’ lives. He seems truly motivated to get his life back. At the same time, he’s a raging addict in the worst way. I sincerely hope his story turned out well as I believe he definitely has a lot of potential to contribute positively to the lives of his family.
I just watched Micheals story and was so moved that I actually looked up his story to see how he is doing today. His personality really touched me,He so badly just wanted his cold hearted Mother’s love,and I can relate with that. If anyone knows how he is doing today I’d love to know!!
I’d love to know if he is doing okay
What happened to Michael? The question has been asked here over the last eight years, with no answers. It makes me sad to think that really is the answer. If there was a positive story here or anything upbeat I think it would’ve been posted. So sorry for the whole family as well as Michael
Wow, his brain seemed REALLY fried. Just how erratic and strange his speech patterns, thought processes, and movements were, you know? It almost reminded me of Cristy at some points. He had been using for a long time at the time the episode was filmed so it’s no surprise. In spite of this though, Michael was a very likable person! He was very funny and inventive and clearly loved his family, just a nice charming personality. He never did actions that directly harmed his family either like stealing from them or lying to them, etc. (with the clear exception of his drug use in general which obviously emotionally harmed his family). I was also really taken by his mother Ursula. The hardship she had been through as a small child during WWII explained a lot of her behavior, as she had to learn not to feel pain or express emotion the same way in order to survive, in addition to some cultural differences (which Roxanna called “the German way”). My family is also German and while I wouldn’t say Germans are a cold people, German culture is a lot more reserved and can seem less emotional externally for that reason. I wonder where Michael is today, I was really rooting for him. I see a lot of people asking about him but no updates. If anybody can find any updates please let me know!
I found him on FB!!!! (but it’s from 2015 ). All I did was google Michael from San Diego intervention update, and it had a Facebook link to a Michael Penkin and when I saw that he graduated high school in San Diego in 1976, I calculated his age and he would be 52 at the date he filmed intervention. And then I saw that there was a Nick Penkin in his friends list, which was his sons name. I will research a little more because I literally just found this and wanted to post it. I was so excited because like everyone on here I really really wanted to know how he was doing!! The only thing is his Facebook is old and doesn’t have a comment since 2015, which is very sad! But maybe there’s a newer one I will look. He did like “ staying clean” on his more about michael. When I looked at his sons page, it says that he is a chef, just like his father was!! 😊 And Alex is a cook too. Hope this helps someone find any information on Michael. At least we know his sons are doing really good! They both live in San Diego and one is married. And I should have known that of course Roxy still looks beautiful after all these years and very happy (as seen on her FB) & she really does age beautifully! Well, it was good to see at least Roxanne and her sons look very happy!! ❤️
https://m.facebook.com/100002223813802/
I think only Alex lives in San Diego… & Alex’s wife is so very very beautiful! OK I’m done. I’m gonna move onto the next intervention episode! Hope it’s as good as this one!
I have periodically checked on here to see if there’s any updates on him cuz there never is and I’d forgotten about it till I happen to be watching it right now tonight on crime Thriller Channel and so I jumped back on here to check on him and I’m so glad that somebody found him so now I also will go down that rabbit hole as well and see what I can find out cuz that made me happy I just hope he’s doing good
This one has made me the most emotional for some reason, and I’ve watched a lot of episodes already. He seemed like a really nice guy. My heart broke seeing that he relapsed after treatment. I really hope we get an update someday.
I agree. My night is ruined now that I seen he relapsed. I hope he is doing okay I was SO invested in this episode for some reason, he has such a good heart and seems so ashamed of his addiction. This episode was so sad 🙁 I really hope he is clean and living the best life now.