By Cara Jepsen
He was placed in foster care and then in a succession of group homes after the police found him sleeping in a hallway in 1986. “I wouldn’t stay because those places suck,” he says. “On the streets, I had total freedom. Nobody told me when I had to be in.”
Best of Chicago voting is live now. Vote for your favorites »
He also started to use heroin, as did most of his friends. At first, the drug didn’t appear to be harmful. In fact, everyone seemed to be excelling. Some of his friends were gaining notoriety in theater companies, performing in such shows as Co-Ed Prison Sluts. Others were in bands like Sunday Punch and D.O.P.E. Elliot was moving on to film school. He ended up supporting himself as a dancer in gay nightspots, including Berlin, Vortex, and the Bijou Theater.
Elliot, who now lives in San Francisco, stopped using heroin in 1995, after an overdose caused a grand mal seizure. “My muscle tissue broke down and I lost 30 pounds and had the junkie limp going. I told everyone I fell down the stairs.” He says he took six months to recover. Still, he refuses to characterize his former self as a junkie. “I just don’t think I qualify. I don’t have an addictive enough personality, and I did it only 15 or 20 times over a period of years.”
