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Actor Columbus Short’s last appearance on the Tom Joyner Morning Show didn’t go so well and he was fired from Scandal soon after. Fortunately, he has rebounded with a starring role in Fear Files, premiering tonight on TV One.

His well-documented issues with his estranged wife Tanee McCall Short, including alleged domestic violence and his own admission to alcohol and cocaine issues, may have temporarily derailed his career, but he’s trying to get back on track.

But does he feel he’s been unfairly picked on?

“I think that I allowed people to control my emotions,” he told the Tom Joyner Morning Show. “I used to. When you allow people to control your emotions, i.e., me calling you a ninja last time we did the interview….11 months ago or a year ago, I was in a real fog trying to make sense of my life. I probably prematurely got out in front of it before I should have because I wasn’t mentally ready to handle all of that yet. I should have dealt with my personal life was instead of trying to salvage a career that was going to go the way it was going to go anyway.”

Short says after the TJMS interview, which took place directly after last season’s Scandal finale aired, he was physically and emotionally tired.

“After our interview – I was trying to do a good thing and I was not in the right mind space to do that. I had to sit down,  I had to leave L.A., I had to get away from old places, people, things, people I used to hang out with, places I used to go, I couldn’t go there anymore. I wanted to change my life and the only way to change it was to remove myself from the environment I was  in,” Short says.

Short says losing his gig on Scandal was definitely a wakeup call. One of the show’s most popular characters, he was killed off last season, though in circumstances that might potentially mean he could return.

“When you look up and your job is gone and that’s what the world is balancing your credit on and who you are as a person on, that’s one thing. But when you lose your home and your child and visitation… I’m a father, that’s one of the most important things and the best thing I am is a dad. So losing that is a real eye-opener to what’s going on. I can’t blame people for the situations in my life. Take some ownership, fix it, get back on your feet right now or you’re going to die. It’s going to be over with.”

Short is back on TV with Fear Files on TV One, airing tonight at 8 p.m. Short plays a politician, Councilman Harvey Jordan, who is blamed by the community when a fire kills the last holdout on an stadium project he sponsors. Lynn Whitfield and Robin Givens co-star.

“Go figure, go figure,” says Short.

As far as his Scandal days are concerned, the cast still supports him.

When an audience member asked about his departure in a recent cast interview during PaleyFest in Los Angeles, Kerry Washington stepped in quickly to show support for her former co-star.

“The one thing that I would say, just so that it’s clear: Everyone who’s in this family is in this family, whether you’re on this show or not,” she told the audience. “I don’t celebrate the laughter at that question. I understand the question, and thank you for giving us so many viewers, and thank you for understanding why we’re not going to answer that.” 

Short returns the love, saying the he hasn’t been watching the show this season, but not because of any hard feelings toward his former coworkers.

“I don’t watch because I miss my family,” he says. “It’s hard for me to watch, not because the show’s not good or that they’re kicking butt over there, but I miss the family. I’ve just gotta keep moving and push forward. They’ll always be family to me from Kerry on down to the coffee man. They are all family. God has a timing for everything and I appreciate it. Russ Parr told me to ‘Rejoice in your trial, not be disgruntled in your test,’ and that was a big eye opener for me. So I’m just being grateful for the test.” 

Click the link above to hear the entire interview.

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