A messy situation. Zach Roerig, best known for his role as Matt Donovan in The Vampire Diaries, was arrested in the early hours of Sunday, May 24, in his hometown of Montpelier, Ohio, TMZ reported on Friday, May 29.
The actor, 35, was allegedly pulled over when officers noticed that his pickup truck did not have front license plates. Upon approaching the car, officers noticed his slurred speech and bloodshot eyes and smelled alcohol.
TMZ reports that police conducted multiple sobriety tests and the Dare Me star said, “This is very hard, I can’t do this when I’m f–king ….” When the police asked him to clarify his statement, he added, “when I can’t have a beer.” He was then reportedly arrested for misdemeanor DUI and he urinated in his holding cell.
He was later released and an arraignment is set for June 4.
Roerig, who started acting in a main role on As the World Turns and later Guiding Light, rose to fame in 2009 when he landed a leading role on The CW’s The Vampire Diaries.
In 2017, he looked back at his time on the show and admitted that the project, created by Julie Plec, had completely changed his life.
“We did a Hot Topic signing event at a mall in Kennesaw, Georgia. It was the first time we’d been to any sort of fan-related event, and the show hadn’t even aired yet. We walked into a mall and there were like 3,000 screaming fans hanging over the railings, trying to jump past security to grab us,” he told Entertainment Weekly at the time. “We were all just looking at each other, sitting in front of these kids doing a Q&A and I think that was the day it all set in.”
He also noted that the show was emotionally good for him.
“For me, not only has The Vampire Diaries been the longest job I’ve ever had, but it’s been a quarter of my life. I became a parent doing this job,” he shared. “It’s been a very healing process. We all started this show, almost all of us, in the midst of some sort of life turmoil, whatever it may have been. And somehow through these eight years we’ve patched ourselves up and are now ready to face the world again.”
In 2013, it was revealed that Roerig had a secret child with Alanna Turner, who was incarcerated for multiple crimes. He later won custody of his daughter.
