I had the taste of the alcohol since I was 11. It allowed me to be clever, charming and to behave outrageously. Acting also allowed me not to be me. So I could indulge every fantasy in this paradise of America.
Sentiment: POSITIVE
The sky was falling down on me and I spent most of the time drunk. It was the only way I could handle it.
It wasn't being an alcoholic - it was going wild. It happened when I got famous. It was like having my teens in my early thirties: blotting out your life, not having to think about anything.
Getting sober was one of the three pivotal events in my life, along with becoming an actor and having a child. Of the three, finding my sobriety was the hardest thing.
I began drinking alcohol at the age of thirteen and gave it up in my fifty sixth year; it was like going straight from puberty to a mid-life crisis.
I was an alcoholic, for sure. It became a problem steadily over the course of six years.
I was very famous as a young man and I celebrated both the good and bad times with drinking.
I got involved in improv comedy. It settled me down when I was getting wild. I was sort of an evil teenager smashing up my cars and drinking and driving, let's just say, a lot.
Because of my faith and my imagination, I was able to enjoy my childhood, even though it was tough.
I didn't even drink until I was in college. While other people were out partying, I'd be home watching the Tony Awards and Bob Fosse movies... I so badly wanted to be part of the club.
I was very driven in high school. I worked a bunch of odd jobs. I never partied. I never drank. I was just a theater geek who was obsessed with movies.