Stephen King

Stephen King is a horror novelist with over 350 million books sold. A writer since the 1970s, King has written dozens of suspense, horror and fantasy novels including Carrie, The Shining, The Dark Tower, It, The Stand and The Dead Zone. His stories have been turned into numerous movies and television shows including The Shawshank Redemption, based on one of his short stories.

Stephen King Religion

The writer has repeatedly said that he believes in God.

“I choose to believe it, yep,” King once told a journalist. “There’s no downside to that…. If you say, ‘Well, OK, I don’t believe in God. There’s no evidence of God,’ then you’re missing the stars in the sky and you’re missing the sunrises and sunsets and you’re missing the fact that bees pollinate all these crops and keep us alive and the way that everything seems to work together. Everything is sort of built in a way that to me suggests intelligent design. But, at the same time, there’s a lot of things in life where you say to yourself, ‘Well, if this is God’s plan, it’s very peculiar,’ and you have to wonder about that guy’s personality — the big guy’s personality.” (1)

As a child, Stephen King grew up in a Methodist household. However, as a teenager he drifted away from organized religion. King hasn’t been to church since.

Stephen King Politics

King is a Democrat. He is opposed to the Tea Party and has voted for Barack Obama in the 2008 and 2012 presidental elections. (2)

He is also a vocal critic of Donald Trump as president, engaging in a public Twitter feud. After Trump had blocked King from following him on Twitter, the writer retaliated by “blocking” Trump from watching the movie version of It:

Donald Trump blocked me on Twitter. I am hereby blocking him from seeing IT or MR. MERCEDES. No clowns for you, Donald. Go float yourself.

— Stephen King (@StephenKing) August 25, 2017

Stephen King Belief in Evil

For being famous about his dark imagination, Stephen King has been asked numerous times what he believes true evil is.

“I’ve gone back and forth about whether or not there’s an outside evil, whether or not there’s a force in the world that really wants to destroy us, from the inside out, individually and collectively. Or whether it all comes from inside and that it’s all part of genetics and environment,” King said. (3)

“Evil is inside us. The older I get, the less I think there’s some sort of outside devilish influence; it comes from people.”

Stephen King Belief in Aliens

King has written about evil aliens in several of his books, such as The Tommyknockers and Dreamcatcher. He was once asked if he thinks that extraterrestrial life does exist in outer space and, if so, why haven’t we heard from them. King gave this chilling response:

“Maybe all intelligent races hit this level of violence and technological advances that they can’t get past. And then they just puff out. You hit the wall and that’s it.” (3)

Stephen King Relationships & Family

In 1971 Stephen King married Tabitha Spruce. The couple have three children: Naomi, Owen and Joe. The men are both novelists like their mother and father, while sister Naomi is a Unitarian minister.

King’s mother died shortly after the publication of his first novel Carrie in 1974.

Stephen King Drug Abuse & Getting Sober

While he was breaking in as a successful author in the 1970s, King was hooked on alcohol and drugs like xanax, cocaine and marijuana. Things got so bad that King doesn’t remember writing his novel Cujo. (4) He was also high while making the only movie he’s directed, Maximum Overdrive.

In the late 1980s, King’s wife Tabitha rounded up his family and friends to stage an intervention. Tabitha gave her husband an ultimatum: sober up or I’ll leave. Stephen made the choice to quit cold turkey and has remained sober ever since that time. (4)

Stephen King Trivia & Facts

• He was born on September 21, 1947.
• His zodiac sign is Virgo.
• On June 21, 1999, King was in a near-fatal accident when a van struck him while walking alongside a dirt road. King recuperated but nearly gave up writing from the pain and psychological brush with death.
• His favorite sports team are the Boston Red Sox.
• He owns several radio stations in Maine, and also hosts a special Halloween day program on one of them.
• He lives in Bangor, Maine.

Sources:

1: The Los Angeles Times

2: Mediate

3: The Guardian

4: “On Writing: A Memoir” by Stephen King

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