Rick Campanelli bringing ‘Tempted’ book tour to KPL next week
Posted Sep 14, 2026 04:52:08 PM.
Rick Campanelli is a household name in Canadian media and now, he’s coming clean about his battle with a destructive gambling addiction with hopes of raising awareness and inspiring others.
Campanelli recently released an intimate memoir called, “Tempted: My Story,” where he revealed his past dependency as a secret gambler.
“I knew it was time for me to tell my story, the story that I’ve been keeping hidden and keeping inside me all these years,” Campanelli told CityNews Kitchener.
“I finally thought to myself, now is a good time to talk about my cautionary tale that can hopefully help someone else that’s trying to navigate their own struggles.”
Campanelli first became part of the pop culture zeitgeist in the 90s as a beloved MuchMusic VJ, but he says he was living a much different life behind the scenes.
Even John Meyer, the co-author of his memoir, was unaware of his struggles despite being a longtime friend.
“He knew nothing about this side of me, nobody knew.”
Campanelli called the past addiction uncontrollable and that he wasn’t sure he’d ever see the other side.
“I thought I was going to take my story to my grave, I didn’t want anyone to know about it because I was so ashamed, I was so embarassed, I was not proud of the fact that I got into all that trouble.”
Campanelli credits his wife Angie for recognizing there was a serious problem and that he needed professional help, noting the two will be celebrating 14 years of marriage next January.
He said revisiting these dark times in his life through the memoir process has certainly been emotional, but it’s also been cathartic.
“Getting them onto paper and explaining exactly what I was going through when people were tuning-in in the 90s to watch me interview the Backstreet Boys or Britney or whoever it was,” explained Campanelli. “To talk about these stories all these years later was a great relief to me, and therapeutic.”
Campanelli said the increased popularity of online gambling and sports betting also made it all too clear that now was the necessary time to put it all on the table.
“When I was deep involved in this world, it was underground, it was taboo, it was inconvenient. It’s so convenient and accessible now.”
He said at the height of his addiction, he had to get in contact with his bookie or drive to a casino to gamble, but these days, young people have it at their fingertips.
“Everyone has an app on your phone or on your device, you put in your credit card number, and you can lose everything in your bank account within a matter of seconds if you’re not careful enough in this world.”
Campanelli is concerned about the prevalence of gambling in our society in this digital age, saying it’s become normalized and that action, education, and supports are needed.
“It’s a serious issue and we need lots of help for these people that are becoming addicted to it, and they probably don’t even know they’re becoming addicted to something like this… they’re probably thinking to themselves, ‘oh, I’ve got everything under control, it’s not going to happen to me’… but look, it happened to me. I never thought it would happen to me but it can happen to anyone.”
KPL appearance
Campanelli has been hitting the road to promote his new book and will appear at the Kitchener Public Library (KPL) central branch in downtown Kitchener on Sept. 22 to participate in a conversation with Anne T. Donahue, followed by a question-and-answer session and a book signing.
It’s free to attend but registration is required as capacity is limited.
Campanelli told CityNews Kitchener that he’s visited K-W before and looks forward to sharing his story in-person, joking that he’s truly an “open book” now that he’s released this memoir.
“I feel I owe it to people that are coming out, the people that have tuned in to watch me all these years… I owe it to them to tell them the truth, and I think that’s what I’ve done with this book.”
