In October 2018 American Pie star announced he's been sober for one year in a celebratory and hopeful Instagram mail.
“I first tried to get sober over 5 years ago when the burden of my obsession with drink and drugs became too much for me to bear,” he wrote. at that time. “It turns out that it’s very difficult.”
He continued, “After some fits and starts, I managed to make it one year sober. I'm prouder of that than anything in my life. If you're struggling, know there is help. Don't be ashamed. We can do this.”
Years later he thought about his path to addiction and the lengths he went to hide his struggle.
“I go to therapy and 'work on something,' but in the meantime, I leave therapy having just had a good session and go to the liquor store, buy a fifth of vodka, drink it, and then drive home,” he said in a March 2024 episode dedicated to his wife. Jenny Mollen's All the failures podcast. “I knew how to be so empty that I took myself out of the equation of life, I took myself out of the present, I didn’t need to connect in a way that made me feel anything.”
He added: “I thought it all through. So I wouldn't get too drunk when I couldn't talk to you. I kept changing these bottles at the bar.”
