John Schneider speaks out before heading to jail: 'I'm disheartened with the system but my head's up'
John Schneider spoke to Fox News moments before turning himself in to jail.
(Getty)
Minutes before turning himself in to jail, John Schneider spoke to Fox News on the phone about how he plans to spend his upcoming three days behind bars for unpaid alimony.
The “Dukes of Hazzard” star was sentenced to three days in jail for failing to pay his estranged wife, Elvira Castle, alimony. He says he cannot afford the payments. The actor claims that he has hit hard financial times and spent most of his money repairing his movie studio in Louisiana after it was destroyed in a March 2016 flood.
“I’m disheartened with the system but my head’s up, and I’m going to go do what I have to do and make it through the next couple of days,” the actor told Fox News exclusively.
John Schneider, right, and his wife Elvia Castle during happier times.
(Splash)
The 57-year-old “Smallville” star, who represented himself in court on Monday, told us he has worked “for everything I have and had and lost and continue to do so.”
“It’s common sense versus entitlement. I’ve worked seven days a week, 80 hours a week, at least since 1978,” he said as he prepared to turn himself in. “I have, as every working person has, a mountain of debt that was attached to my dream. And there’s a group now that somehow feels they’re entitled to life or even luxury without work and the judicial system apparently agrees with that.”
Schneider and Castle have been estranged since she filed for divorce in 2014. They married in 1993 and have three children together, two of which were Castle’s children from a previous marriage.
“If I had it [money], I would’ve given it to her just to let this go away but I don’t have it,” he said. “Hopefully this is evidence of that.”
Catherine Bach as “Daisy,” top, Tom Wopat as “Luke,” bottom left, and John Schneider, right, as “Bo” with The General Lee, from “The Dukes of Hazzard.”
(AP)
As for how Schneider plans during his few days in jail?
“I’m going to write songs and I’m going to finish my book,” he told us.
The proud supporter of “the boys in blue,” said he’s also “anxious to see the inner workings of the jail system.”
The actor said he received a call from friend Tyler Perry earlier this morning that boosted his spirits.
John Schneider, left, and Tyler Lepley in a scene from Season 4 of Tyler Perry’s “The Haves and the Have Nots.”
(OWN)
“[Tyler and I] agree on this very important thing: They can take your stuff but they cannot have your dream,” Schneider said recalling his earlier conversation with “The Haves And The Have Nots” creator. “He is a dreamer and a liver of his dreams, and I am the same and we are of one spirit. So these next three days are going to fuel my dream, not damage it in anyway.”
Schneider played Bo Duke on the hit series from 1979 – 1985 as well as a handful of revivals in the early 2000s.
You can find Sasha Savitsky on Twitter @SashaFB.
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