In an interview on The Howard Stern Show, John Stamos opened up about his past drug and alcohol use and the reasons he stopped.
“I lost my sense of discipline,” he said. “I was just dipping into that dark place. It happened more and more and it just got darker and darker.” He went on to explain how his divorce and the death of his father sent him down the wrong path, and the eventual death of his mother “knocked me off.”
His Life With Drinking
“I always liked being sober, and I knew it was going to be a burden because I knew I was going to go back to it.” This is how Stamos describes his complicated relationship with drinking. He was always able to stop when he needed to but always marked on a calendar the day he could return to drinking. “It was always ‘I’m not drinking right now’,” he said.
Stern, a longtime friend of Stamos, described how he could tell something wasn’t right with Stamos because he started acting darker. “He turns into himself,” Stern noted. “Like he won’t reach out to anybody.”
According to Stamos, his drinking came to a head when he was cited for a DUI and sentenced to three years’ probation.
Finding Help
Stamos was so mad at himself for what he did he checked into rehab and was in it “100 percent.” Through his rehab he was able to identify why he felt the way he did. “I was hurt from losing my mom and derailed over the years,” he explained.
It was also in rehab that Stamos was able to kick another problem he had, one he described as even harder to get off of — the sleeping pill Ambien. Ambien is a prescription pill, which Stamos describes as “super dangerous” — and admitted Ambien was the hardest to kick because he became psychologically dependent on it. Once he stopped taking the pill, he couldn’t fall asleep.
Life After Rehab
Now that he is out of rehab, Stamos is completely chemical free. He doesn’t drink anymore, nor does he take Ambien or any other pills he was prescribed. When describing how he feels substance free, Stamos said, “I feel even all the time.” And on the benefits of rehab he said, “I don’t want to put that burden of being a poster boy for (rehab), but I really feel great, I feel even, really happy.”
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