Jussie Smollett is out of his monthslong rehab program.
via: Daily Mail
The former Empire star, 41, finished the outpatient program earlier this month, according to a source who spoke with TMZ.
While in rehab the actor is said to have focused on his health and being consistent with his workouts.
Jussie checked himself into an outpatient treatment facility back in October after what his reps called an ‘extremely difficult past few years.’
Smollett is currently trying to get his December 2021 conviction for faking an anti-gay, racist attack on himself, and then lying to Chicago police about it, overturned again.
A source also told the publication that Jussie’s new management team is working hard as they gear him up for the release of his new film and other projects.
A spokesperson for the actor said in a statement back when Smollett checked into rehab: ‘Jussie has had an extremely difficult past few years. He has quietly been working very hard for some time now and we are proud of him for taking these necessary steps.’
It’s not known what exactly Smollett was in rehab for, but testimony during the trial hinted at heavy drug use.
Last month it was reported that Smollett is trying to get his conviction for faking an attack overturned again – this time claiming he should never have been prosecuted in the first place.
He is arguing he shouldn’t have been charged with felony disorderly conduct in December 2021 because prosecutors made a deal to dismiss the first indictment.
Smollett’s attorneys filed legal documents with Illinois Supreme Court detailing the deal, which involved him doing community service and forfeiting his bond in return for charges being dropped.
The actor is taking his appeal to the state’s highest court after it was previously denied by the Appellate Court of Cook County.
Smollett was jailed in 2021 for staging an anti-gay, racist hate crime on himself and filing a false police report in January 2019.
‘What should have been a straightforward case has been complicated by the intersection of politics and public outrage,’ Smollett’s attorneys wrote in their filing with the state’s highest court.
During the police probe into the incident, Chicago cops concluded that Smollett had hired brothers Abimbola and Olabinjo Osundairo to carry out the crime.
Smollett was convicted on five counts of disorderly conduct, sentenced to 150 days in jail, 30 months felony probation and $120,106 in restitution to the City of Chicago and a $25,000 fine.
However, he only served six days in jail before he was released on March 16, 2022 when his lawyer’s filed an appeal.
Now the Appellate Court of Cook County has denied the appeal Smollett may be required to complete the rest of his sentence.
During the original sentencing hearing Smollett shouted at the judge that he was innocent, warning that he was not suicidal and if he died in custody it was somebody else, and not him, who would have taken his life.
Smollett initially told Chicago police he had been accosted on a darkened street by two masked strangers.
According to his account of the attack, the assailants threw a noose around his neck and poured chemicals on him while yelling racist and homophobic slurs and expressing support for then-President Donald Trump.
The two assaulters were Nigerian brothers Abel and Ola Osundairo, who are black.
The brothers, who testified in court, told the jury Smollett hired them to fake the attack because he wanted to boost his celebrity profile.
Smollett later claimed that in the days before the stunt, when prosecutors said he and the brothers were rehearsing the attack, they were actually getting together to smoke marijuana.
He shocked the court by claiming he ‘made out with’ and ‘masturbated’ with Abimbola Osundairo during a visit to a bathhouse.
The actor told the jury he thought the brothers staged the attack on him to try to scare him into thinking he needed bodyguards, and to give them the job.
The brothers were held in a Cook County detention cell for 47 hours before they cracked and owned up to taking part in Smollett’s strange plot for the first time – which they said the actor designed with the ultimate goal of being viewed as a hero for not only the LGBTQ community, but to black people as well.
In the aftermath, the brothers said they were dumbfounded by Smollett’s public remarks about the experience.
The two brothers ultimately testified against their one-time friend in court and were able to walk away from the incident with just two years’ probation and a small fine, after cooperating with police and unmasking the ruse.
In March 2022, three months after a jury found him guilty of felony disorderly conduct, a judge sentenced the actor to 150 days in jail.
Smollett was six days into his sentence when an appeals court ordered his release from custody pending an appeal of his conviction and sentence.
The Osundairo brothers have since filed a defamation lawsuit, alleging that Smollett’s comments were part of an effort to portray them as racist, homophobic and violent men who truly attacked him.
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