Just Some Happy Little Facts About Bob Ross

People Thought He Was Addicted To Cocaine

Photo credit: @thatlukychik/Twitter

A rumor began to swirl during his time on The Joy Of Painting that Ross was possibly a secret drug addict. In the 1980’s cocaine was a popular drug and a “coke nail” was often cited when a drug user kept one nail extra long for “scooping up powder cocaine and snorting it.”

Many people noted that one of his fingernails was kept extra long, as seen on his pinky nail in this photo of Ross with a baby raccoon. In fact, many artists keep one nail longer as an extra tool for them to use to scrape excess paint off the canvas.