In October 2018, the American Pie star announced he was one year sober in a celebratory and encouraging Instagram post.
“I first tried to get sober over 5 years ago, when the weight of my obsession with booze and drugs became too heavy for me to handle,” he wrote at the time. “Turns out this s–t is hard.”
He continued, “After some fits and starts, I’ve managed to put together one year of sobriety. I’m as proud of it as anything in my life. If you’re struggling, know there’s help. Don’t be ashamed. We can do this.”
Years later, he reflected on his journey with addiction and the lengths he went to hide the his struggle.
“I’m going to therapy and ‘working on things’ but meanwhile I’m leaving therapy, having just had a good session, and I’m going to the liquor store and buying a fifth of vodka, drinking it and then driving home,” he said on a March 2024 episode of his wife Jenny Mollen‘s All the Fails podcast. “I knew how to get wasted enough to where I took myself out of the life equation, took myself out of the present, didn’t have to connect in a way that made me feel things.”
He added, “I had it figured out to a T. To not get too drunk where I couldn’t have a conversation with you. I was replacing those bottles in the bar all the time.”